Showed up at the lanes tonight to bowl and they turned the lanes on for practice.

I was the first on my pair to throw, my ball landed on the lane and it looked like someone had kicked it to the left a foot and it then proceeded to hit the 7 pin.

Everyone else on the pair threw and either guttered in the left channel or got the 7 pin.

I was finally able to get a blue dot to the right of the head pin but it was a struggle and it still started hooking at the 10 foot mark.

Turned out the lane machine had stripped and hadn't put any lane conditioner down on the lane.

They stopped practice and tried to run the lanes but they couldn't the machine to put down any oil.

The league then voted to postpone the league for one week.

I've bowled on some messed up conditions, dry, extreme wet, but this would have been a real challenge if we had gone ahead and bowled.

Turtle Wax works wonders too

The lane machine stripped, but didn't oil. 

Is the mechanic paying attention at all?  Can he not see that the lanes are lacking that clear, shiny stuff that goes onto the lane surface?  This boggles my mind.

Except maybe in your house, managed by you, why would you believe that the machine guy would even look at the just oiled lanes, except out of sheer boredom?

I'm not being pessimistic, just reporting what I've seen maybe 95% of the time, watching guys putting down oil.

The lane machine stripped, but didn't oil. 

Is the mechanic paying attention at all?  Can he not see that the lanes are lacking that clear, shiny stuff that goes onto the lane surface?  This boggles my mind.

A lot of the centers here have a walker type machine and it is "set it and forget it."

I believe the machine is a kegal kustodian ion.

The lane man watches the machine and cleans the approaches at the same time.

The impression I have is that it had oil in the tank but was not putting any down.

I believe the machine is a kegal kustodian ion.

The lane man watches the machine and cleans the approaches at the same time.

The impression I have is that it had oil in the tank but was not putting any down.

On the Ion machine there is a switch that allows the machine to clean only, without oiling, in case that is needed.  This happens when people come to inspect the lanes each year so they aren't slipping all over the place.  I wonder if that was accidentally selected.  Either way, he should be occasionally watching whether the machine is actually applying oil to the lanes...

Showed up at the lanes tonight to bowl and they turned the lanes on for practice.

I was the first on my pair to throw, my ball landed on the lane and it looked like someone had kicked it to the left a foot and it then proceeded to hit the 7 pin.

Everyone else on the pair threw and either guttered in the left channel or got the 7 pin.

I was finally able to get a blue dot to the right of the head pin but it was a struggle and it still started hooking at the 10 foot mark.

Turned out the lane machine had stripped and hadn't put any lane conditioner down on the lane.

They stopped practice and tried to run the lanes but they couldn't the machine to put down any oil.

The league then voted to postpone the league for one week.

I've bowled on some messed up conditions, dry, extreme wet, but this would have been a real challenge if we had gone ahead and bowled.

Similar happened to me 3 years ago.

50 lane house. Mechanic strips and dresses lanes 41-50, 31-40, has a problem come up, then strips and dresses 1-28.

Our league shows up, and we're placed on 29-30. Same thing as what happened to you happened to us. We couldn't do anything on it because the rest of the league had already started, plus were saying that their lanes were fine.

We couldn't even keep a blue pearl hammer right of 20. Best person on the pair walked away with shooting 540. What made it worse was that all of us were in the running for the last 5 spots of a POA tournament that was being held at the time. That cost all of us the last 6 spots. All the house could do is give us an "I'm sorry, the mechanic messed up, we'll give you 3 free games whenever you come in next."

I haven't been back to that alley since to bowl league (now a Bowlmor joint), but I will say that if this happens to anyone, there is a USBC rule that you can invoke at any time that states that if conditions are not proper before league play starts, you can have them condition the lanes so that they are. If the first ball of league play is thrown, then the lane conditions can not be modified, and you have to bowl with what you are given.

BL.

Quite a few years ago, before reactive, the lane machine malfunctioned.  Before anyone noticed, it did a full oil down 45 feet and oiled back 45 feet.  All we could do was throw the ball at the head pin and hope for the best.