poppop
I can't speak for all associations, however I can answer for whawhen lanes are inspected here in the Elgin Bowling Association in Illinois. A zero line reading (oil condition test) is done in every bowling center at least once a year (usually late in the summer). A zero line must also be taken within 30 days of any award score. We schedule the houses with higher scoring leagues for zero lines every 60 days. We will check with the lane man ahead of time so that we can take readings within an hour of the time that the lanes are stripped and oiled. For the 3 houses for which I am personnally responsible, the readings are done at 7am on saturday in one center, 5:30pm on wednesday in another, and 4pm saturday in the last. We take 3 readings per lane, and inspect 2 lanes. The readings are normally at 15', 25' to 30', and 2' past the end of the pattern. We use a tape take up device and then read the tapes with a Brunswick tape monitor computer inteface, print out the pattern and check the readings to make sure that they meeet current ABC standards.
In addition to the zero lines, every center has a thourough inspection once a year, generally in june or july. This involves measuring every lane for depressions at three different distances, checking the pin decks for levelness, gutter depth, width of pin deck, distance from kickback to kickback, and pin spots. These inspections are normally done with an inspection team of 2 to 10 inspectors and volunteers. They are usually scheduled at 7am on weekdays for the smaller houses and weekends for the larger centers.
If anyone ever wants to see an inspection, we are more than happy to let our bowlers know when we have an inspection scheduled so that they can better understand exactly what we do.
StormLefty: Thanx for saying virtually the same thing. You must be much quicker with the reply button.
Edited on 5/26/2004 10:12 AM
