Ok, I'm gonna warn you...this will be lengthy. So get comfortable.
"Blocked" lanes began in the early 80's, back when 20 units of oil was considered a flood and I could oil all 24 lanes with a grand total of 4 ounces of conditioner. Lanes were stripped by hand. The entire lane was stripped once a week and, if you were lucky enough to have a lanesman with a lot of pride and cared about his bowlers, the backends were done again on Wednesday or Thursday...also by hand. We actually lino-dusted multiple times per day to get the dirt off and protect the lane surface.
You want to know where all the high scores began? The technological advancement of the lane machine! Yes, much of it is in the ball, and the funnel shots, but let's be honest. If we all had to still bowl on the lane "conditions" of the bug sprayers and Century 100's, we wouldn't have the scores we do today.
Why? Fresh backends, fresh oil and lane pattern consistency! What makes a high scoring house what it is? THE SAME SHOT and CLEAN backends day after day after day. Who actually has to walk into their home house on a weekly basis and "find" the shot? Heaven forbid someone might actually have to move their feet. You stand left, bounce it right and the backends are fresh and (often) synthetic, which produces a higher, more consistent co-offecient of friction. You don't have to worry about the women's league who bowled Tuesday, or the mixed league on Wednesday, or the Junior league at 4
m. Why? Because the house will give you a pristine shot at 6
m EVERY day because it CAN.
You think that $7 an hour kid is gonna get the out the towels and mix the stripper and and put on his gorilla suit to strip the lanes every afternoon at 4
m just so Johnny Wannabee can play the same shot every day? Hell No!
Our game has simply evolved to the point where the scoring environment, in general, has become a thing of beauty across the country. What if all golf courses were to suddenly install astro turf to cut down on maintenance costs? Isn't that why the synthetic lane came upon the scene? Yes, putting might still be a challenge, just as spare shooting is. But man, could you pick up some extra yardage if you could learn how to keep it in the fairway!!! Read that as, "man, could you learn to put up some big scores if you can learn to just hook the ball".
Now to the big question. What can be done about it TODAY? Yes, I have an opinion. Are you ready? Still with me? Cool....take a deep breath...
USBC simply cannot govern the lane conditions. They don't have time.
#1 ASSOCIATIONS! Hello? Remember when, after a 300 was shot, the lanes were roped off, the ball was taken out of play, and even the pins were all checked prior to the next league match was thrown? What happened to all that? Now, you get a notice that your lanes will be checked at the end of the month, "so get them ready". Someone shot 300? Better get out the lane machine quick and run pattern #1 over it.
Are your local reps, who actually bowl in the same center, ever going to turn down a 300 there? Hell NO! Simple solution. The NEIGHBORING association reps are responsible for verifying all scores! Oooohh! Wouldn't that be fun? Reps could actually come into a house and INSPECT it for legality! If you are the rep for Association #ABCD, you are there to HELP your centers with their problems and paperwork, but you do NOT verify scores there. You verify the scores for association NEXT DOOR, #QWERTY! Every 2 years, the neighboring associations rotate. Do you think that would produce a couple of rejections? Maybe put a little pressure on the houses to ensure everything is on the up-and-up? Make the penalties VERY stiff and expensive if a house fails an inspection. I can go on over this one...but let's move on.
#2 The equipment....wow! What can you say? This stuff is amazing! Every ball company makes great stuff with chemical advancements on the veneer and dynamic bowling bombs that impact the pins like never before. What to do here? Easy....Put a MAXIMUM weight allowance on the weight block! Yeesh...forget all the numbers and make it more simple. If the heaviest weight block you can put in a ball is, say, TWO pounds, how dynamic can these things get? Let's be honest. Where is the bulk of the scoring phenomenon coming from? The house player who thinks the "breakpoint" is the 5th frame beer frame. Why can the cranker, who has no idea where it's going, get get away with 15 boards of area at 40 feet? Because no matter where he throws the ball, it gets into a heavy roll (RG) and instead of rolling out when he misses right it flares 27 inches (differential) around the ball. How about the guy who throws the ball with 8 revs? How on earth can he get the ball to hit that hard? Bet it's got a big "B" somewhere over the fingers!
If everyone had to use a ball no stronger than, say, a Tropical Storm (great ball on the right shot), would we see the scores we do today? You bet we wouldn't! Oh, we'd still have plenty, don't get me wrong. But the cranker would roll that ball out because of too much hand from the dry (not enough flare) while skating by when he missed in the flood, and the weaker hands would never get it into enough roll to carry. My God, what would happen to the game if people actually had to practice to get better. Obviously, this would be a grand-fathered process, where each year, the ball companies would ony be allowed to manufacture balls with less and less core mass. Yes, this would take awhile. But it would also give the industry and the bowlers a chance to evolve. People would start to stockpile bowling balls and put them in storage, but check it out. In 5 years, and with all the NEW USBC members, eventually it will curtail the bogus scoring.
#3 (and lastly for now) The PINS! How about we RAISE the minimum pin weight to, say, 4 pounds? Yes, the seniors and the women and kids would lose some pin action, but they aren't the ones averaging 225 and throwing 300's and 800's like they were nothing! Let's cut down the duckpin messengers! Yes, they are fun to watch, heck I even had one the other night and my entire team was shocked! But let's see the no-thumber who averages 230 try and make 4 more of those puppies a night! Now THAT'S entertainment!
Who am I? Who cares! But just an FYI...
I learned to bowl with rubber and plstic on laquer lanes and shot my 1st 700 with an Ebonite Mag 7 at 14. Shot my first 800 with a Carmel White Dot in 1985. I've been drilling for 25 years and I can proudly say I was sanding White Dots and using exotic drillings while most drillers were still trying to understand why we even needed to drill anything but over the label. I'm a Vincennes University grad (thank you Jim Sullivan!) who has worked within the industry since 1980. I currently operate 2 pro shops and still bowl 5 matches a week, including two in travel leagues because I WANT to be challenged. I'll never get rich drilling equipment simply because I feel guilty charging the industry standards. I learn something new every week because I CAN. I've been a lanesman, mechanic, shop operator and center manager for a national chain. I currently have thrown a 700 in 79 different houses across the country and my only true bowling goal is to get to 100. No, I'm not good enough to turn pro. I'm not even close...
Have a great day, and thanks for reading.
Jim Stem
Keglers Kave Pro Shop
Coaches Corner Pro Shop
VU 1985
FairLanes, Inc
DonTerry, Inc.
IBPSIA trained (and no, I don't agree with it)
AMF 82/70-82/90 Mechanic
blah, blah, blah....BOWLER. period.
