Originally Posted by
DMS
Yeah... I have sort of the same situation here! Living where I do, there's bowling centers every few miles. I've bowled six of them in all, and bowl three of them frequently enough to catch them on different days and times.
My home house is by far the toughest... I'd swear the lanes are surfaced with Teflon! I've got to be super-careful with my strike ball to be extremely accurate, have my speed just right, and my hand just perfect on the release. I've played several lines at various times, and always have trouble with carry.
The other two houses I frequent somewhat regularly are a cakewalk by comparison. I consistently score 30 or 40 pins higher at the other places... I'm not kidding.. THAT big a difference. It seems like at these other centers, there's the true 'walled in' shot that you always read about in books, where even a really green player can score pretty well.
So here's the reveal: I'm a total old-school stroker. My benchmark ball is a Brunswick Vintage Series Danger Zone in OOB finish. I even have a conventional grip! I throw a plastic spare ball with a dead-straight delivery... You can hear the thumb thudding as it rolls.
At my home house, my scores would be disgraceful if not for the luck of my being able to do a perfectly straight, end-over-end spare release. My cranker buddies are jealous of my straight ball.
As you might expect, I don't have high revs, and when my home house shot is fresh, I need to keep my speed low or I'll be taking out only the right side of the rack on every shot.
My 'A' game there is down and in, usually on the five or seven boards, where there's just enough friction to keep my skid phase from extending all the way to the pin deck. As the lanes get burned up, I finally start getting some better ball reaction and can throw faster, which improves my carry, and makes me tend to score higher as the night goes on.
I'm not the only player who plays this condition the same way, so sometimes I get some help burning a hill of friction out on the twigs.
The folks that score high(er) at my home house are MASSIVE crankers. The place is run by experienced and active bowlers. I think they're putting out a sport shot as the THS! Nobody will tell you what they're putting down for the THS shot... It's like they'd have to kill you if they told you. Not kidding.
I've learned that these lanes are fairly new, and some say they have less friction because they aren't scratched up from years of use. Also, the oil on my ball seems like it has a much lower viscosity compared to other houses I've played.
(I) Have no idea how often they change the pins, but sometimes I could swear they seem a little 'dead', particularly when I'm forced to play lower ball speeds and am hitting with just a little lower inertia than the power players. Other places, I seem to enjoy a little better pin action, but that could just be a byproduct of being able to throw a slightly faster ball speed. I dunno.
Here's my theory: I think my home house is using one of the slicker (cheaper?) conditioners, and they're putting out 'sport-like' pattern. By that, I mean it has a very low wet-to-dry ratio, and an overall lower volume.
I've played all the animal patterns, and I'll be damned if my home house doesn't play exactly like that. I think the other houses are putting out a shot that's more what we'd all call a THS, with a high (maybe 10:1) ratio in a block or Christmas tree pattern, middling in length... maybe 40 or 42 feet, and of much higher overall volume.
When I play the outside at these other houses the whole shot just feels a lot less twitchy, and has way more margin of error. If I play the usual 10 board track, it feels perfectly 'normal' and the ball does what you expect. With the huge ratio, I can even play a pretty convincing inside shot, if I feel like it.
It seems a little counter-intuitive, that the low volume shot is more slippery than the higher volume shot, I know. I think that might be because of the lane surface AND the type of conditioner being used. I know there's significant difference in lane surfaces depending on their manufacturer / model.
What about conditioners? Are some 'slicker' than others? Anything any of you could add to these thoughts?
I'd love to be more educated on this. It drives me nuts! I like that I practice and play league in a tough house, because when I go other places I look like a bowling God (which is a helluva lot of fun!)... But it comes at a cost... I must have ZERO ego at my home house!
Our house shot is really humbling, and there's some really good players that are there all the time.
Note: Post edited to eliminate 'wall of text' resulting from 'Quick Reply' mode... Which didn't work.... How do you do a carriage return on this forum software???
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