How common is it that a trip to the local lanes damages your ball?

[foreverincamo]

I remember back in the 1970's during a pro tournament the guy leading the tournament had the ball he used all week to lead the tournament " disappear " before the TV finals.

[Goose]

I've only seen it happen once. The went off the ball return underneath the lanes. The mechanic came and took the covers off between the gutters and did a quick check and couldn't find it. I'm not sure if they ever did.

Later that week, the mechanic through his first high series with the very same brand of ball....

[Hawk]

Just last week got a gouge so bad the establishment, sent it to their pro shop they use it was so bad they had to fill it. Looks great now.. Ball has less the 50 games on it..

[stargell1]

Most of the balls I have purchased end up getting damaged. The center always will fix it for free. Sometimes I have to wait two to three weeks to get my ball back which sucks.

[dmet225]

Earlier this season my ball came back with a hole the size of a nickel and about 1/4 in deep with cracks seeping out the sides of the ball right next to a finger hole. The PSO had never seen a hole that had. They house agreed to replace the ball with a different ball since mine was no longer available. Worked out OK, because I just shot a 300 with the new one last week!

[ccbehrens]

So I just went and shot some today with my brand new ball (same alley) and came away with two divots in my ball in just 3 games. That's not normal, right? The divot in my spouse's ball is 3 times bigger than the large one here.

[KYDave]

Those are gouges!! No not normal. Did you report it to the desk?

[J Anderson]

So I just went and shot some today with my brand new ball (same alley) and came away with two divots in my ball in just 3 games. That's not normal, right? The divot in my spouse's ball is 3 times bigger than the large one here.

These things happen, probably more often than they should. I hope that you brought it to the attention of the management of the bowling center as soon as you noticed the chips. The best case is that they move you to a different lane or lanes, then have the pro shop repair the damage for you after you finish bowling, and keep the lanes where the damage occurred out of service until they fix whatever caused the damage. We can complain all we want here about how centers don't maintain things properly, but if bowlers don't tell them what's going on they either think they're getting away with the deferred maintenance, or they're wondering why their only customers are kids throwing house balls during cosmic bowling.

[LOUVIT]

I've only seen it happen once. The went off the ball return underneath the lanes. The mechanic came and took the covers off between the gutters and did a quick check and couldn't find it. I'm not sure if they ever did.

I worked in a house growing up and some balls were real hard to find, they are there just maybe not where they can be got to easily..lol

[Tony]

It's the nature of the equipment that balls will get small gouges and scrapes, if you get a larger one show it to the center manager and if it's fairly large and would effect the balls use they will normally repair or replace it, also they should be interested in what pair it happened on so they can check the equipment.

So far over the years I only saw one ball get "lost" my buddy claimed it was in his locker and went missing, they replaced it with a new ball and drilled it for him. Imagine our surprise, when clearing out his machine shop a couple of years later, we found the exact same type of ball he "lost", under a shelving unit right near where he stored his bowling gear, he has never figured out how that happened ! lol I'm pretty sure he thinks I found an old ball like his and planted it there......BTW the span and finger holes did fit him.