Scale diagram of bowling lane

[renenkel]

Does anyone know where I can get a pdf (or other) diagram of a bowling lane, drawn to scale, with the approach and lane markings and pins shown? I've found many diagrams via google, but none drawn to scale. This would be useful for visualizing the relationships between the markings, release points, and pins when throwing straight balls etc. I was about to make my own, but I thought I'd ask first if such a diagram exists already somewhere...

[Mike White]

Does anyone know where I can get a pdf (or other) diagram of a bowling lane, drawn to scale, with the approach and lane markings and pins shown? I've found many diagrams via google, but none drawn to scale. This would be useful for visualizing the relationships between the markings, release points, and pins when throwing straight balls etc. I was about to make my own, but I thought I'd ask first if such a diagram exists already somewhere...

You usually don't see a lane drawn to scale because the width would be so small compared to length, that if you could display the whole length on the screen, the markings on the lane would be too small to see on the screen.

To give you a feel for the comparison.

Take an 8 foot long piece of 2 by 4 (inch) lumber.

The first 1 1/2 feet would represent the approach, the next 6 feet the lane, and the last 1/2 foot would be the pin deck.

It really is that long and skinny.

[djp1080]

Renenkel, I, too, looked and looked for a scaled drawing quite a while back to get a better idea of where to play on the lanes. Mike's description is right on! It's way too skinny. How the heck do we bowl on such a thing anyway?
Here's an idea for you though. The distance from the foul line to the head pin is 60 feet. Even though the arrows are in a V shape they're about 15 feet from the foul line. If you're lucky enough to be bowling on lanes with range markers on the tenth and fifteenth boards on each side, the 10th board range markers are at a distance of 40 to 43 feet and the 15th board range markers are at a distance of 34 to 37 feet. So the arrows are about 25% down the lane, the 50% point is a little ways short of the beginning of the 15th board ranger markers and the 75% point is a little longer than the end of the 10th board range finder.
Using this information and using the arrows as your target you can determine that if you use a certain board to target (let's say the 2nd arrow which is on the 10th board) and you move your slide foot one board to the left or right that the ball rolled straight will move approximately three boards at the 60 foot point. If you instead move your target (let's say to the 9th or 11th board) and you roll your ball straight while standing on the same starting point (and walk straight again) the ball will move approximately four boards at the 60 foot point.
Hope this helps...

[bowl1820]

Does anyone know where I can get a pdf (or other) diagram of a bowling lane, drawn to scale, with the approach and lane markings and pins shown? I've found many diagrams via google, but none drawn to scale. This would be useful for visualizing the relationships between the markings, release points, and pins when throwing straight balls etc. I was about to make my own, but I thought I'd ask first if such a diagram exists already somewhere...

Here is one of the best to scale diagrams of a lane you can find, it doesn't include the approach though. But it shows from foul line to pins, the range finder, a 40' THS oil pattern on it, also entry angles:

It's about 10" wide and 107" long so you'll have to scroll if you view it at size.


Click on the this link to see the full size image.
https://s5.postimg.org/52re2nhjb/lane_full_length.png

here's a smaller version with a ball path on it
https://s5.postimg.org/wc2rh5imf/lane_small.png

[renenkel]

Thanks very much Mike, djp, and bowl1820 for the info and pointers. You're right, it really is much longer and skinnier in a bird's eye view than it seems when you stand on the approach! I gave this some more thought, and I think I managed to convince myself, using geometry, that for the purpose of drawing straight ball paths to see how the arrows and pins line up, you don't actually need a scale diagram. It's okay if the vertical scale and the horizontal scale on your diagram don't match. If you roll the ball over a certain dot at the foul line, and over a certain arrow, then it will hit the same place on the pin deck whether you use a correctly scaled diagram (long and skinny) or one where the length has been reduced to make it more tractable on a piece of paper.

[djp1080]

Actually if you take a photograph or find one that suits you of a given lane with the foul line, dots, arrows, range markers and pins shown fairly clearly from a point a little overhead, you can convert it to a pdf and then mark it up using straight line drawing tools in your favorite reader to see where you should roll your ball assuming you're throwing pretty straight. Using that method I was surprised to find out that the 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 10 pins weren't where I thought they were. I was lead to believe that the arrows were guides straight down the lane to each of those pins NOT. They're not far off, but they're not five boards apart. I suppose it doesn't matter a whole lot, but it was an eye opener for me.

[renenkel]

Yeah! I thought the arrows corresponded to the pins as well. But the pins are arranged on equilateral triangles with 12" between pins, which makes for horizontal distance of 6" (= 6 boards) between adjacent pins, while the arrows are 5 boards apart. As you said, not a big difference, but an eye-opener!

[bowl1820]

Yes, Most of the diagrams out there make it appear that the pins are on the same boards as the arrow when they are not.

Here's a diagram I made a long while back that gives a better indication of how the dots & arrows & pins line up.

[LOUVIT]

when someone says move your approach 2 boards left they mean 2"s ...correct?

[Mike White]

when someone says move your approach 2 boards left they mean 2"s ...correct?

No, they mean two boards, which is very close to 2".

Each board is slightly wider than 1".

39 boards combine to make 41.5" +-1/2 inch.

What isn't clear is where on the lane they want those 2 boards to occur.

Some people move the 2 boards back at the beginning of the approach, others move such that their slide foot at the foul line is 2 boards left of previous.