So I've recently realized that the center I mainly bowl at just beats up on bowling balls compared to most other centers around here. I've just put about 6 games on a new ball at a different center and less than one game on it at the home center. If I'd bowled 7 games all at the home center with a fresh surface, there'd be some pretty deep scratches in the ball and a well-defined Track. Not that I don't notice a Track on my new ball, but one of my other ones has 3 games on it, 2 of which are at the home center and it has a few more deep scratches on the Track. I think it's safe to say that a resurface is a decent idea about every 40 games if you bowl at this center, but most people wait until it's pretty bad and that's probably around the 60+ mark. At another center I bet one could go 60 games on a normal basis and still wouldn't be as bad.

So my question to you guys is, do you have a center in your area like this? Have you ever seen or heard anything like this before? If so, what are the lane surfaces involved? This center I believe is wood with plastic overlay.

I don't think lane surfaces are going to be the culprit to damage balls. It usually the machinery behind the lanes. I have seen balls with chips, rubber rub marks, and dings of all kinds.

I routinely bowled at 1 center and have a series of gashes in my ball. I have had 2 balls come back with a crack in them. Both had to be replaced. Another ball came back with a mark like it was hit with a Hammer. A ball got wedged in the underground return and received a gash in it.

I also bowled with an opponent whose ball got stuck on a roller in the back, started smoking, and set the fire alarm off. The ball had a deep 3/4" groove in it, about 6' long. One fellow rolled the ball into the gutter, and the ball rolled and popped right out. When it came back, it had a huge chunk out of it. They found a large bolt laying in the gutter that it hit.

My house is like that. They're old wooden lanes with a synthetic overlay. Although I don't think the lanes have much influence on the condition of the balls coming back.. the pit, the gutters, and the ball returns are absolutely brutal. I've been lucky with my Black Widow in that it's mostly just constant belt marks, but my spare ball and the Big deal haven't been as fortunate.

My spare ball has a huge gash just left of the finger holes from putting it in the channel sometimes on my ten pin. One time a pin got stuck between the return pickup and the pit and my Big deal just spinned for minutes on end before the mechanic got to it (during league play too, really messes up your groove). I thought it was going to come back with barely any coverstock. Plenty of deep marks and a smell that wasn't very pleasant was the reward. I've seen balls get stuck numerous times in the underground returns.

The worst though was during league play when one team's lead off got their ball stuck in the pit spinning, and they thought they'd just play their other balls and "bump" them out. There were about 5 balls just spinning non stop in the pit before they decided to tell the lane mechanic. It was pretty painful to watch.

It happens all over the place to some extent. There is no way that a house can completely prevent dings on a bowling ball. You are throwing an orb at wood and it has to do through a machine to get back to you. With all of the moving parts that are involved, it is going to happen. Now, if you have a house that is completely tearing up every ball, that is a house that doesn't take care of the lanes. My summer house wsa like that last year. The lanes we bowled on needed to be taken apart and rebuilt. Almost weekly I would have a ball that got another ding in it. After it happened a few times and I had to get them touched up, I just waited until the end of the summer and had them work on all of them. Much easier.

Now, my normal house has been good for years. I didn't have a problem with a ball until about a year and a half ago. I took it to the counter, they asked what lane, marked it down, fixed my ball, and looked at the lane. They took apart the ball return the next day and found a screw that was a little loose. They took the time to find out the problem to keep from costing them money.

I made a thread about these unfortunate damages, a few months ago. I was bowling at a house that just re-opened after a couple years of being closed due to a collapsed roof. The ball returns were straight-up KILLING my balls with deep gouges, scratches, etc. I stopped bowling there and do not experience the issue at any other place in the area.

As GP said, its almost impossible for a center to completely prevent damaging balls. Now the good ones do their best by routinely checking the equipment, noting what lane might have damaged a ball and checking it out and so on.

My home center only damaged one of my balls in the way you guys are talking about. It got stuck in the back and came back with 2-3 dings. I don't know if this is due to the lanes/machines but some balls sometimes come back to me with what looks more likes smears. I believe this is different from belt marks which are more sticky I think. If anyone knows what I'm talking about, is that just what hapens to certain balls or is that machines? It happened to my newest ball and I'm thinking it could be just because it's new. It also happened to my BWS sometimes. It went away if you applied any substance and wiped it.

Anyways, what I was talking about mainly in the OP is what my home center does to the Track of bowling balls. The people that bowl there regularly have tracks that consist of a good amount scratches that are a bit deeper than what I'd consider normal. I guess it's not impossible that his is still due to whatever is happening in the back. The center gets synthetic lanes next summer so I guess I'd find out then if it's the lanes or the machines.

If you are currently bowling on wood lanes, I believe your ball will incur more wear than if you bowled on synthetic. And, the reason I say this is an old theory. The wood lanes are covered with a shellac finish before the lane oil is applied. It was well known that if the wooden surface was not refinished routinely, the shellac wore down and there were actually minor separations formed between the wood slats. Oil won't fill those.

It was an old school approach that if yo wanted length, you rolled down, or with the boards. If you wanted your ball to grab more, you rolled across the boards. There is one wood lane house near here, and you can definitely see spaces between the slats. My ball can hook 25 boards regardless of oil.

It is like rolling yor ball on a cobblestone surface, and your ball shows more wear.

I used to bowl Whitestone Lanes in Flushing, New York and the lanes were always in prestine condition--the reason being it is Tommy DeLutz, Jr.'s house. The house that I currently bowl, Serra Bowl in Daly City, California is the exact opposite. Management seems more concerned about making money, rather than providing a good house to bowl in.

You might be on to something there Dennis. I haven't noticed any spaces between the boards(if that's what you mean) at this this center, but the entire lane is covered with some sort of plastic that's supposed to protect the lanes I guess. From time to time, there's actually bubbles in a few lanes and it's really annoying.

Pretty much any other center in my area, as far as quality goes, is better than this place. I don't know all the different surface types, but none of them are like this, although some might be wood underneath some sort of overlay just like this one.