Alright. I been reading around on various bowling forum about lane surfaces. I am referring to the material of synthetic lanes.

How can you tell what company's synthetic lane you are bowling on and how many are there out there? What is the strongest and what is the weakness of each one?

I could be wrong but what is the big factor about each company's version? longevity or more friction?

I am just curious to know more information on the subject.

Some of the surfaces are marked at least withe the brand, but really the only way to really know is ask someone that is sure to know at the center you are bowling in. That might be a little difficult with some of the idiots that work and run the centers though.

Also each brand has several different surfaces out. Some have more friction to them and some have less. I don't know all of them, nor the differences in them.

There was an article about this in Bowling This Month recently. AMF makes two different synthetic surfaces, and they tend to have more friction. Brunswick also makes two types of synthetic, and they tend to play tighter. You can ID Brunswick surfaces by range finders down lane and or every fifth board being outlined . One of the centers I bowl at has synthetics that I believe are made by Kegel, and they play VERY tight. Info courtesy of Andrew Lovely who works for the USBC .

Those companies may be only making two types of synthetics now, but some centers have the older synthetics that these companies made. AMF has at least 3 more older ones and Brunswick has several more as well.

Do you know what Bowling This Month edition it was? I am sure I may of read it but not too sure.

Anyways, I think this is an interesting topic because sure we deal with lane condition with pattern and unit of oil. I am just saying that for the ball to work with the friction, it depend on the lane's material from wooden to old synthetic to new synthetic lanes.

Also, keep in mind of pin actions and how often some center will rotate or restack the machine with new pins or alternative pins.

Like Chubbs said, some of the AMF's are known for high friction, which means a strong backend reaction. Sometimes this leads to higher scores by allowing that extreme entry angle, even with a longer or heavier pattern. This can also make for harder scoring as a ball that jumps too much becomes hard to control. I just stopped bowling in an AMF house that was high friction and often had a short light oil pattern. This wasn't the reason I stopped bowling there. It was challenging and I like a challenge. I know I could score on it, I did last season, but my swing was so out of whack that I couldn't move inside and consistently throw it correctly, same thing for playing outside with a very weak ball.

That's one of the great things about this game, there are so many variables, and in order to be a great bowler you have to have some knowledge involving most of them. It makes the game more of a thinking game, of course sometimes people will over think.

BTM ---> april 2008.
it has the 2-board arsenal on the front.

Here is the chart:

Glass = Hardness of 100
Brunswick Pro Anvilane = 68-74
AMF HPL 9000 = 56-63
Wood with urethane coating = 56-62
Wood with water based finish = 14-20
wood with guardian = 4-7

Harder lanes you will need to find dry boards to get a good reaction, softer lanes you will need to find oil to get a good reaction.

Everything I bowl on is Wood w/ Guardian the first 20 feet. If I recall correctly though, in the past it always seemed the synthetic houses hooked more. Could just be less oil though.

what is the numbers? sorry i have to ask.

I've found that bowling on wood and bowling on synthetic lanes are two totally different games. Wood for me, seems to give a more truthful reaction and when you get messages from the lanes on how its transitioning its usually right. Wood tends to dry out and when it transitions you move inside.

Synthetics you just never know how they are going to transition. Mostly they don't dry out like wood does. I hardly ever find myself moving inside on synthetics. Rather, they get carry down and thus appear to hook less not more as the night goes on. So I tend to have to move outside as the night goes on if I'm on synthetics. Every once in a while I'll come across synthetics that are drying out similar to wood, but then they dry, but also loose backend reaction. So your ball ends up hooking in the front and middle and skidding at the end. Yuck.

I know proprietors love synthetics for their ease of maintenance. Bowlers that don't have a clue about lane transition tend to love synthetics because they can usually sit in one place and either throw it harder or softer. But for me, IMO, they've ruined the game.

Erin

I agree with Erin. The few times I have bowled on wood surfaces, I can see the difference. The wood lanes tend to be truer for longer. It's as if the wood lanes dry out over use uniformly, while the synthetic lanes spread the oil around. The oil doesn't absorb. This makes for a very uneven oil coat which affects the ball reaction. Some may see carrydown, others see over/under ball reaction. It all depends on how you roll.

That is why I am surprised to see honor scores in the later games of a series. The oil should be spread all over the lanes and farther down, making it much more difficult to read the lanes.

Hardness.

The reason wood transitions slower is that it has pores that the oil sits in, so does the AMF HPL, where the Brunswick Anvilane tends to have the oil sit on top of the surface like water on a counter top. I believe the new Brunswick lanes also have pores built into the lane to hold the pattern better. This surface also transitioned into smoother approaches that are less affected by humidity.

is harder better or is there such? does it affect how things work? i noticed that the lanes in florence seem like when the ball hits the lane you get a softer sound. more like a thud than a sound like your hitting it with a bat.

180fury, it is good to know what the lanes are to match your other equipment to them. Some balls roll better on certain kind of lanes, then others. such as, a pearlized ball that carries long and snaps would have some trouble on lanes that are hard with little friction.

Course, the lanes are all oiled differently, so the reaction will vary based on that too.

I'm saving this quote in my head. Its sum up all the questions that I was looking for.

Chubbs and 180fury. Thanks for the information that I somehow forgot about. I did read the article in the April 2008 BTM.

Anyways.. I was just thinking about something. This subject and the replies have probably given me and probably others more information than we never knew about.

Again going back to the quoting Coach Jim. You're probably better off with a particle ball on harder surfaces and a urethane ball on softer surfaces. Basically the more aggressive balls would work wonders on the harder surfaces if the lanes are properly oiled. Just a theory.

Now.. getting back to the topic.

In my honest opinion. I think it would be nice to know what kind of lanes you are actually going on. Wood is true reaction but that depends on ages of the wood and how regularly it is maintained over time.

I been to wood houses where the headers are burnt to black, the lanes are dented or cracked (yes.. I been to a few houses that sport synthetic lanes that are chipping away at the headers). So the reaction will various. But I can see how particle balls are not meant to used on wood lanes unless you're doing a 50 foot shot or something. The materials are too strong in my opinion. My spare ball does wonder on wood lanes. With the pancake block and plastic material.

Also, I have noticed some ball companies are using center-weight design more then before. So the game is changing from the particle era to the control era.

you bet