You can't even equate hand release changes to hand manipulation of the past.

Let's put you in the 1960's, in the bowling heyday.

First, the lanes. They are all wood. And the wood is covered with shellac from foul line to pin deck. Older houses, without proper humidity and temperature control would see some wood shrinkage, leaving some minor gaps between the boards. If you rolled across the boards, you would hear a thump, thump as your ball crossed those gaps. Hence, no one played an inside line. It was too unreliable.

And, the shellac coat was slick. Like a continuous coat of oil in today's world from foul line to pin deck, gutter to gutter.

You had to wear a groove or lane in the shellac. But, unlike wearing down an oil pattern in a game or two, this took weeks or months. Everyone cringed when the lanes were resurfaced because it meant an automatic average drop.

Now, the balls. They weren't urethane, reactive, pearlized or anything like the sort. They were rubber. They grabbed when a Track was worn in the ball too. That is why many bowlers kept their equipment for so long.

Balls had a pancake weight at the top. What was the top? It was where the ball label was. And your finger and thumb holes were centered there. The purpose of the weight was to offset the loss of material from drilling holes. There was no PAP, Val, cg or anything like that. No symetrical, asymetrical or offset weights existed.

Finally, drill your ball in conventional style, and without grips. Some left a sharp edge on the thumb to grip it tighter.

Now, on those lane conditions, with those balls, the bowler manipulated his hand to get a desired reaction of the ball. He would twist his wrist as if to open a door knob. He would lift his thumb out to put more reliance on his fingers. He would flick his fingers as if you snap your finger, to get the ball to move more. Those were learned tactics that were passed on from bowler to bowler. I won't even mention the figure 8 armswing where your fingers face the pins in the backswing.

Bowler manipulation was more prevalent then than it is now, and needed to be. There is no comparison.

I don't have a problem getting to the pocket with any of my equipment. I prefer a heavy rolling mild arcing ball, I do have one ball in my bag that is skid/flip and I use it on occasion (back ends are fried and heads are drying out). I will move deep and swing this one out when I have to, its outside of my comfort zone and the way I prefer to approach the lanes. I am sure we all have to attack the lanes outside of our comfort zone at times.

Ok, neither does Walter Ray, for the most part. On sport shots, I don't tend to cross more than 3-4 boards till I get to my breakpoint.



So scoring had nothing to do with skill, it was all the lane condition?



So, equipment mattered then? An old ball hooked more than a new one.



Actually, a pancake is a symmetrical weight block. The location that is marked by a "pin" now was marked by label. There existed a cg - it was probably right where the pin would have been. Just because you *didn't* drill it anywhere but grip center doesn't mean that you *couldn't* drill it anywhere but grip center. Just because you *didn't* drill fingertip doesn't mean that you *couldn't* drill fingertip. I leave a sharp edge on my thumb. GP just got rid of his grips. PDW (to pick an example offhand) has never used them.

You know, baseball players used to not wear gloves. Doesn't mean that they couldn't. Means they caught less balls, and had sore hands. I certainly wouldn't put them on a pedestal for it.



Can you say unnecessary? The bowler could have easily not turned his fingers towards the pins and got the desired reaction. Hey, guess what, I can spin in circles while I walk. Or, I can walk. In the end, I end up where I was going, facing straight ahead. Now, if I'm going for repeatability, one of these ways makes more sense than the other.



There will always be versatile bowlers, and non-versatile bowlers. Non-versatile bowlers will find somewhere they can shoot the occasional 200, and stay there. You don't have to respect them for that. But you are disrespecting all of the bowlers who take the time to bowl on every condition they can find, in every house they can find, to make themselves the best they can be, by saying that all the work means nothing.

There is no disrespect intended. Those of you who have never experienced the ways of the old cannot voice an opinion until you are at least familiar with it. Bowling on heavier patterns is the closest thing you have to then. You will admit that eliminating the current designs of ball construction, internal weights, coverstock, and the like would make it more difficult as well. You are the one talking about ball surfaces on PBA patterns. That discussion never would have taken place in the past.

I think you're remembering the past more fondly than it really happened. Why was there a hardness requirement for bowling balls? Why was acetone and similar substances outlawed? It's because people tried to tweak the surface of a bowling ball back then as well. So yes, this discussion did take place back then.

I thought we settled the fact that today's game is vastly different from the game 20+ or 30+ years ago?

Yeah, but some of us liked the old days. Me included, because house hack couldn't touch me 20-25 years ago. Thats ok though, I will continue to stand on top of the ball return and swing it to the 3 board. I refuse to fluff the ball down the lane and let the equipment do the work. That is just me, might be wrong, but so be it.

The game is very different, but Dennis' assertion was that this conversation wouldn't be happening back then. My point is that people did in fact try to gain an advantage by altering the surface of the ball back then.

20 years ago we were throwing U-Dots and bowling on short oil. The shot was already made much easier. 25 years I think it would be a good bet that you weren't tearing up scratch leagues at the ripe old age of 11.

You may have been using U-dots and Hammers, I was not. Why?? Because they hooked to daggum much. I never owned a Urethane ball, and didn't own resin until 1995. Why?? Again too much hook. Short oil was also a choice by the proprietor, 24 foot oil was what most places went to, however some places stayed longer. It was a choice, either go long or go short. The places I bowled were long oil, and not short oil.

My ball of choice then, was the Columbia Black Knight, and Red Dot. Up the 8 board all day long, while people struggled to figure out how to bend those steroid balls. It was a good time, but 1988 was the last year I bowled until 1995 so I basically missed a whole bunch of that transition that everybody went through. I have bowled a total of 1.5 seasons since 1988, so do you think maybe I am in shock to see people fluff the ball up the second arrow and rip the rack?

I will figure it out eventually. It still does not change the FACT that averages are inflated by the equipment and lane conditions.