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Question about wood lanes vs. synthetics General bowling discussion
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Pro Member 1,757 posts BowlingOldies Pro Member 1,757 posts
BowlingOldies
Since I returned to bowling following a 30-year absence, I've bowled on nothing but synthetic lanes surfaces.  Of course once I started back again, I also had to build a whole new arsenal.

So I'm wondering, is my modern bowling ball arsenal of any use at all on wood lanes?  Or do I need some old-timey equipment (urethane, plastic, even rubber balls) if I ever bowl on wood lanes?

Honestly, I only know of one center in north Georgia that has wood lanes, and it's nowhere near me.  But if I were to drive there just to see the difference, would I find my modern bowling ball arsenal of little use?  Will it tend to be too strong for wood?

Just curious.
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SpareWhiffer Master 578 posts
SpareWhiffer
BowlingOldies wrote:
Since I returned to bowling following a 30-year absence, I've bowled on nothing but synthetic lanes surfaces.  Of course once I started back again, I also had to build a whole new arsenal.

So I'm wondering, is my modern bowling ball arsenal of any use at all on wood lanes?  Or do I need some old-timey equipment (urethane, plastic, even rubber balls) if I ever bowl on wood lanes?

Honestly, I only know of one center in north Georgia that has wood lanes, and it's nowhere near me.  But if I were to drive there just to see the difference, would I find my modern bowling ball arsenal of little use?  Will it tend to be too strong for wood?

Just curious.


Randy,
My 'home' house is wood, but almost all the tournaments I bowl on are synthetic.
My opinion is the oil pattern is more relevant than the surface. 
With an identical pattern, wood will likely hook more, and probably break down sooner.
I've never had 'wood' balls vs. 'synthetic' balls.  I think you'd be fine with the same balls...but you'd likely use your 'weaker' or 'longer' balls more on wood.

I'm sure some of the guys around here that are much better bowlers than I am (Champ...Bowlymania), will provide a more insightfull answer than mine...but I do bowl on 'both' quite a bit.
"bowling equipment doesn't cost money, it makes money".
MF
in the league bag:
Primal Impulse
Marauder Madness
Misfit
The Classic U2
add for tournaments:
Vivid
Mission
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champ Amateur 377 posts
champ
I think the spare whiffer nailed it. In my experience wood lanes and modern equipment work just fine together. Wood lanes create more friction, so you'll want something that you know is super clean through the heads and the mids. Keep your speed up, and pay close attention to roll out issues. And they do tend to break down much more quickly, so be ready to make big moves.

With all of tht said, we only have one center here in Tucson with wood lanes, and whenever I bowl there I make sure to have a urethane (my old Black Rhino.) It serves as a double edged sword; First, I know I can use it to good effect when other equipment doesn't work, and second, when young guys see you succeeding with urethane, they get their urethane out of the bag, but most of them have no idea how to throw urethane. In those situations, the old guys from the 80s always take over.
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plamormick Beginner 138 posts
plamormick
What I have experienced is that wood is more mellow, less drastic compared to synthetic surfaces, ie. where there is oil on a synthetic, it tends to be very slick, and conversely, where the lane is clean, there is plenty of friction. Wood seems to blend out this difference in oil/clean, mainly because of the grain and finish seems to have a larger footprint in comparison.
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themrfreeze Moderator 3,820 posts
themrfreeze
I bowl on both surfaces regularly, and throw the same exact equipment on both wood lanes and synthetic.  I am throwing urethane with some amount of surface on it though.

My experience is that synthetics tend to be a little more skid/snap, while wood is a more even in how the balls hook on it.  I'm sure oil patterns play a part in this, and resin will likely react stronger than my gear, but that's what I generally see. 
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mikeanthony8 Master 553 posts
mikeanthony8
Wood:  Breakdown earlier in the heads with less "scoot" of the oil so you don't get the down the lane mid 2nd game scoot like synthetics.  The break down will be more gradual and a board by board process.  The heads will break down sooner as the oil absorbs into the wood (yes it really does), carries down (but not nearly as far as synthetics) and also comes off the lane on your ball.  The back ends will never have the snap of synthetics as they just don't it's wood not a kitchen counter.  Thus, as they break down they may and most likely hook sooner, they will also hook much more gradual, and yes your ball could roll out as they break down and runs out of energy so watch for that.  As you move deeper you won't kick the corners out nearly as often, won't messenger as many, and also won't leave as many "power" taps like 8's and 9's as the ball will finish more along the 1-3-5-9 like you see on old videos.  That's why in the old days a solid 8 was called the only true tap in bowling, it was rare.  8's and 9's are pretty common now days with the ball entering the pocket from some very erratic angles.  The other challenge is as they break down you could be faced with being too deep in the heads for your ball to hit and carry as the wood back ends won't bail you out like synthetics.  There isn't such a thing as "bounce" on wood like on synthetics, so when you throw it right even if there is dry, the ball burns up a lot of energy fighting (and yes it's working much harder on wood than synthetics) it's way back to the pocket.  So you have a choice of moving deeper and facing that, or staying where you are with more loft, or a lesser surface ball and trying to make that work.  Funny thing, some of the best bowlers in the old days would use thumb weight which is counter intuitive on dry lanes when the heads burned out.  Thumb weight makes the ball roll early and not snap, just roll early.  The reason:  They would use a little extra speed, loft the ball a little extra to get it through the burned out heads, and let the ball do the work as the thumb weight kicked in, it naturally wanted to roll.  By the way, my 2 cents,bowling on wood is like golfing on grass.  Bowling on synthetics is like playing golf on astroturf.   

Synthetics:  Just wait until the 2nd game for the burn and the carry down, make your one adjustment before it happens which if you bowl league in a house you'll learn within a couple weeks (otherwise if you wait until it does you get either a big four or a 2-8-10) make your step left and keep drilling them.

My opinion is resin is a waste on wood, and you're much better off with balls from the 80's made of urethane, and sometimes plastic.  Also would suggest a shinier surface on wood, so if I was to go bowl a league on wood, I'd probably get an urethane ball polished up made to finish, and a yellow dot and have a lot of fun.   Best part would be watching all the guys that think they can make a ball hit find out that it's the ball that's been doing it for them the last 15 years and all of a sudden they're shooting 2-3 more spares a game.

Randy, to answer your question, yes your resin equipment would be less than ideal unless they really flood up the heads.  I found a place near here about a year ago and it took me about two games to figure out the best shot with what I had was to limp wrist it and throw the ball like my ten pin shot.  The ball hooked, and then went straight at about 35 feet as it rolled out until I did that.  Was like bowling on an old burned out track shot about 12 board.  Couldn't got deep and have it recover because you couldn't get the ball to skid to the track.  Only way to play it was stare at 3rd arrow and throw your ten pin shot and try to miss a board or 2 to the right and keep it in the track between 12 and 15.  Desk guy came down and said hi and we had a real good laugh.  He's was entertained watching me go through all the adjustments and four ball changes and then finally realizing I didn't have anything that would work so just heave it down the track which worked fine, but it would have been a lot easier with a yellow dot.
Mike Anthony
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Chipper Pro Member 2,161 posts
Chipper
Last time I bowled in a wood house, the lanes were not well maintained so there was a ton of oil on them.  My resin stuff either burned up all its energy before it ever reached the pins or never got in a proper roll every night. (You can tell I never had real luck bowling on wood).  Probably should've used urethane there or something more designed for that day and age.
High sanctioned game: 300
High sanctioned series: 812
High league average: 218

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str8drvr Master 926 posts
str8drvr
I bowl on both wood and synthetic. Use my hardest reactive and a urethane on wood, and all reactive on synthetic. Wood lanes break down so much faster that I have to make major moves left all night. When that fails, I just heave the urethane as far as I can down the lane.
Cleveland Ohio
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mystrsyko Master 843 posts
mystrsyko
From what I've seen, wood will actually have more of a "carry down" effect than synthetics, which I speculate to be due to oil soaking into the wood over the years. As the shot breaks down it will also just eat up the ball's energy rather than cause it to hook.

When I bowled at Tivoli the other day, the shot was completely eaten up and every ball I had was rolling out by midlane. Some of the more reactive stuff was by the arrows. If I lofted, it would hook at midlane, then slide for the remainder of the lane and hit soft. It took me 9 games, but I finally found a decent shot...by standing 3 boards onto the lane to my left, slowing the ball down by 2-3mph, and cranking it like no tomorrow. My Crossroad had enough polish to cut through the left side of the heads, then the slow speed enabled it to gather up enough angle to carry in the pocket. It was by far the most interesting shot I've ever played on, even though I know it was just a terribly broken down house pattern. It was actually kind of fun having to throw out all the "if it does this, make this change" thinking I had developed playing on synthetics and seriously think about what exactly the ball and the oil were doing.

To answer your questions though, your current arsenal should be fine. Oil conditions aren't what they were back in the days you used to play, so going back to an old school ball won't be any more advantageous than picking up a modern ball for similar conditions. If it's a well maintained house, it should play very similar to synthetics for the opening games (maybe 5-8).
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TCJ Moderator 1,106 posts
TCJ
So far I've found that most of the wood lanes I've bowled on favor an inside shot. I hardly see anyone bowling from the outside because either they have too much ball reaction (high rev bowlers) or the ball skids (low rev bowlers) and often misses the headpin unless they have pinpoint accuracy. I used to start left, bowl over the middle arrow to just outside the headpin and have a very mild turn back into the pocket. Even with low revs, I found it preferable to trying to angle in from the outside. I had a pretty good average at my home house using that method.
Now I bowl on synthetic lanes most of the time since my favorite house closed. I carry a much higher average (but I'm bowling more, too). That doesn't really mean anything though. Yesterday I bowled some games on wooden alleys and they chewed me up and spit me out. Ouch! Thankfully, it wasn't just me. They terrorized the majority of the bowlers that day.
Highs: Series (Sanc.): 794 | Game (Sanc.): 300/257 (LH) | Game Sport: 263 Averages: High (RH): 213 | High (LH): 175 | Sport: 166 (56) | Shark(8): 149 | Scorpion(8): 184 | Chameleon(12): 170 | Viper(12): 169 | Cheetah(12): 160 | US Open(3): 175 ___________________________
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TCJ Moderator 1,106 posts
TCJ
So today my old teammate called to see if I wanted to bowl in the tournament again at the same house I mentioned above.  I'm going to see if I can tame the beast and shoot over 500 this time! 
Highs: Series (Sanc.): 794 | Game (Sanc.): 300/257 (LH) | Game Sport: 263 Averages: High (RH): 213 | High (LH): 175 | Sport: 166 (56) | Shark(8): 149 | Scorpion(8): 184 | Chameleon(12): 170 | Viper(12): 169 | Cheetah(12): 160 | US Open(3): 175 ___________________________
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Buckeye_Nut Pro Member 1,999 posts
Buckeye_Nut
IMO............old wood houses are much more unique from house to house.   Inconsistency issues arise because boards may become loose/warped over the years.  Some wood lanes can be complete crap!  I've played wood houses and killed it (bowled great)...........and I've played others and wondered if the lanes were really flat.  LOL...because they probably weren't!!  It really depends on the house.


I bowl a wood house on a regular basis, and I never know what to expect.(sterling lanes)  One thing I have learned from bowling at Sterling is  I had better NOT loft the ball in the slightest!!  If I do, it will bounce sideways.......  I've bowled others, and the lanes were solid as a rock.  It just depends on that particular house.   I suppose part of the beauty of real wood is the lane character of wood. LOL
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TCJ Moderator 1,106 posts
TCJ
Buckeye_Nut wrote:
I bowl a wood house on a regular basis, and I never know what to expect.(sterling lanes)  One thing I have learned from bowling at Sterling is  I had better NOT loft the ball in the slightest!!  If I do, it will bounce sideways.......  I've bowled others, and the lanes were solid as a rock.  It just depends on that particular house.   I suppose part of the beauty of real wood is the lane character of wood. LOL


I wonder... I might have to try your method.  I typically use some loft when I throw and am usually fairly accurate about hitting near my mark, but last time I bowled at this house, the ball seemed to go all over the place.  Now I wonder if the ball was landing on uneven boards because it would go anywhere but where it was supposed to.    It won't hurt to try a smoother roll to combat that if it is the case.
Highs: Series (Sanc.): 794 | Game (Sanc.): 300/257 (LH) | Game Sport: 263 Averages: High (RH): 213 | High (LH): 175 | Sport: 166 (56) | Shark(8): 149 | Scorpion(8): 184 | Chameleon(12): 170 | Viper(12): 169 | Cheetah(12): 160 | US Open(3): 175 ___________________________
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Leonten Amateur 411 posts
Leonten
Several years ago, the owner of the bowl asked me to check out lanes 13 & 14. One of the local pros was complaining about a high board on the 10 board. Nobody could feel a high board, so they didn't believe Archie. So I took a ball and rolled it in a circle (where the boards change from maple to pine) and sure enough, the weight of the ball made a board go down, creating a low board. They fixed it.
My fingers were full of rings, before the game was so easy.
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Buckeye_Nut Pro Member 1,999 posts
Buckeye_Nut
TCJ wrote:
Buckeye_Nut wrote:
I bowl a wood house on a regular basis, and I never know what to expect.(sterling lanes)  One thing I have learned from bowling at Sterling is  I had better NOT loft the ball in the slightest!!  If I do, it will bounce sideways.......  I've bowled others, and the lanes were solid as a rock.  It just depends on that particular house.   I suppose part of the beauty of real wood is the lane character of wood. LOL


I wonder... I might have to try your method.  I typically use some loft when I throw and am usually fairly accurate about hitting near my mark, but last time I bowled at this house, the ball seemed to go all over the place.  Now I wonder if the ball was landing on uneven boards because it would go anywhere but where it was supposed to.    It won't hurt to try a smoother roll to combat that if it is the case.


This can potentially make a big difference..............even if the boards are flat, they can twist to one side or flex when a 15-16lb ball hits the surface.  I know sterling is a "no loft" center.....and I still do it on occasion by accident, and it always kills me when I do. 
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