Guardian is a thin plastic sheet that "overlay"s on top of the existing wood. It is usually when the owner can''t afford the large expense of installing synthetics. The wood underneath should be put in as perfect a condition as possible, because the contours of that wood surface come right thru the sheet (it is really thin).
Guardian has the highest friction of any surface, as far as I know. One really nasty side effect is that it also seem to create a lot of carrydown.
If people start off with aggressive balls, expect transition to be fast, large and brutal. Keep your eyes wide open for ball reactions that indicate carrydown. You usually won''t see weak ten pins. You''ll start off seeing 2/8s and 2/8/10s.
On league nights, when we had 60 feet of Guardian, for just those 3 games, we used to move 15 boards deeper with our feet, as standard, as the night progressed (with two 5-person team per pair). If you''re bowling more than 3 games, I wish you luck. A lot rides with how the oil man handles this and in what kind of condition the Guardian and the underlying wood is.
Good luck.
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"None are so blind as those who will not see."
Edited on 5/12/2010 8:46 AM