A Question

[Amyers]

I bowl at a 16 lane center here in Southwest Wyoming. It's the only center worth bowling at within 100 miles (there is one 15 miles away, but you better bring some cleats if you plan to stop sliding). This year, they opted to go with the same house pattern on all leagues as they are allowing up to 7 weeks of pre-bowling (wyoming runs a high-5 tournament with a 66 game minimum, we have a lot of shift workers in the area with the mines). So, that being said, I bowl both Tuesday night and Wednesday night mens, both which receive fresh oil right before we start bowling. From the very first ball in practice the lanes don't play the same from night to night. Wednesday has a tendency to start out a little slicker, but they transition a LOT faster, even bowling with the same guys from night to night. Tuesday, while it starts out with snappier back ends, tends to transition at a slower rate. The heads tend to stay much more in play on tuesday night than they do on wednesday as well. However, I have subbed a few times on our friday night mixed league and it's completely different there as well, especially the transition, which is to be expected. So, from night to night, it's a constant struggle to figure out how to play the lanes correctly. For instance, last tuesday, I felt something a bit off, but still managed a 2 open 176. The 2nd game, things started to click in my game, but I was getting a strange wet/dry reaction down lane, couldn't cover a spare (4 splits btw), and shot a 5 strike 142. Last game, move deep inside where no one had been all night, and shoot 256 with a greek church in the 3rd frame. Sometimes, you just have to battle through the frustrations and figure it out lol

Sounds a lot like the houses around here. you never know where your going to be playing from night to night

[chip82901]

Sounds a lot like the houses around here. you never know where your going to be playing from night to night

I think our big thing is that our oiling machine is almost 20 years old. It's an older Red Kegel Phoenix S. They don't even make many parts for it any more. Our proprietor is pretty cheap as well, and doesn't use new oil or anything. He finds stuff that has been discounted down and uses that. Last year, we used oil that sat on the shelf for 4 years. It gets rough some nights, but then again, that's why our high average in the house last year was a tweener lefty at 212. Add in the fact that we have twister pins, and it's a struggle lol

[Aslan]

As to Rob's original questions: Three Reasons (in no particular order)

1) Bowlers (especially older ones) absolutely SUCK at adapting to anything bowling related. They will throw an oil soaked ball they bought in 1990 up the second arrow until the ball breaks in half...then they will buy a ball by the same manufacturer that their pro shop buddy suggests...and go back to throwing it up the second arrow until it breaks in half.

2) The sport is vanishing because the lanes are no longer standardized and the patterns are too variant and MOST OF ALL...the game is far too dependent on oil patterns for scoring. I can bowl a high 600 series 3 out of 4 nights at a given center...then go there during the day on some weekday and struggle like hell to bowl in the high 400s. Same center, same lanes...just lack of oil or oil that has been pushed around by plastic ball "fun/cosmic" bowlers.

3) Truly adapting your game to lane conditions is extraordinarily complicated and you (Rob) tend to downplay this. Most bowlers have 1-2 balls...which makes adapation a matter of changing where you play on the lanes and altering your approach/release/speed. Even pro bowlers often struggle with changes to things like approach/speed/hand position and even pro bowlers have a hard time playing a certain part of the lane (versus 2 other places on the lane). In THEORY...you are correct and the bowler in question might have benefitted from doing things differently. But in REALITY...you have 10 minutes of practice to throw 4-6 shots with a limited arsenal. If you misread the lanes or throw bad shots in practice...you might need 8 frames to figure out where you should be playing. By then, you've lost the game and likely the series. Pros have coaches, a van full of ball choices, and decades of experience...not to mention hours and hours of practice on tournament conditions so they can make the right choices. League bowlers have 2-10 shots, no coach, no ball rep, and a limited arsenal or in many cases only one ball.

So...it could be any one or combination of those.