Lane Materials

[Squidude]

Of the bowling alleys I frequent, most are synthetic, and the alley with the last remaining natural wood lanes is going synthetic next month.

What I've heard is that wooden lanes are softer than the material of the ball, so the oil serves as a protective measure as well, but synthetic lanes are harder than the ball. Because of this, many alleys with synthetic lanes put down only very light oil, and as a result it dries up or carries back too soon.

In my experience, house shots with synthetic lanes are much more dry than I'm used to, and the conditions change rapidly. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on how your ball reaction changes with different lane materials or how alleys change their practices.

[ffemtreed]

in my experiences, places with synthetic lanes are usually much slicker than wooden lanes.

[JAnderson]

There are a couple of common types of synthetics out there as well, such as Guardian overlay, AMF's HPL and Brunswick's Anvilane and ProAnvilane. The latter is the hardest surface in use today while I believe the first is the softest (not sure about that though). The harder the surface, the more difficult it is for the ball to create friction and friction is required to create hook.

Every center is unique in the way they treat their lane surfaces. It's not just makeup, but age, wear patterns, conditioner used, frequency of conditioning, humidity, heat, etc. etc. That's why no two centers are exactly the same and why you really don't know how a center is going to play until you bowl there.

[Jord_84]

When my house switched from wood to synthetic, my coaches told me that you make adjustments completely opposite what you would on wood. Instead of moving out, I had to learn to move in to adjust etc. That was the best piece of advice I got during that transition. Hope it helps you.

[Big Dog]

Synthetic lanes definitely different than wood. The roll on wood is more particular than synthetics. No matter how wood lanes were built, each had a peculiarity to them. The gentleman before was right. It depends so much on other factors. I believe oil carries down more on synthetics also.

[Chris2game]

On wooden lanes you run into much more friction. So in general they will hook a lot more then synthetic lanes. They also get worn down a lot over time so groves are worn into the lane in the track areas.

As for synthetic lanes, there are different types. They all depend on how hard of a surface the synthetic material is. The harder the material, the less friction you will see, which means less hook.

Hope this helps!
-Chris
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