I'd agree that it sounds like the assistant manager is wanting to put out a shot that caters to himself. From what you have said in the post, it does not sound like scoring was out of control to the point that would indicate that the current lanes were too easy. It seems to me like there was nothing wrong with them in the first place.

The lanes need to be conditioned in such a way that that shot is fair and somewhat challenging for all bowlers so all bowlers can become more experienced and skilled in the game. If they are too hard, that frustrates everyone except for the extremely experienced bowlers, which seems to be the case with Dennis right now. This will possibly cause a large amount of bowlers to stop bowling in leagues there because the lanes are too tough for them to gain any experience from them, which is possible. If they are too easy, the more experienced bowlers end up getting bored and the house runs the risk of losing their most dedicated bowlers to a house with a tougher shot. Plus, people who bowl only at the lanes with the easy shot will not gain much experience and skill because they really have not needed to in leagues and will not perform well in tournaments that are at different houses that have tougher shots.

Just my opinion on conditions.

Mark

Having a tougher shot, by itself, is not necessisarily unfair. but, somethings are. For instance,
1. changing the shot to one that knowingly will affect many bowlers who are not adept to roll on it.
2. not informing the bowlers what the shot is. I have never been in a lane where the front desk would not say what the shot is
3. receiving complaints from other leagues, then blaming the changed shot on one specific league
4. Specifically laying down a favorable shot for himself, and those who could bowl like him, which are very few.

This guy is the Assistant Manager of the House, a PBA Card holder, and a 220 average in local Pro tournaments. He is accomplished. Brunswick put this fellow in charge of the lanes while they looked for a new manager which took 4-5 months. The new manager is a 9-5 er, and never around during league nights or on weekends. This fellow is the night manager and the laneman works for him. He has total control of the shot being laid down.

The nearest thing I can relate it to is a Scorpion PBA Shot, which will give most strokers and tweeners some trouble, but probably without the concentration of oil in the center. Compounding this is the heavy viscosity oil that I was told is now being used. it just spreads and tracks all over the lane.

This shot does not qualify for a Sport shot, but it certainly is not a standard House shot.

Ironically, this shot has taken its toll on him also, since he is also down 25 pins in average. All this will do is force many of the bowlers away form this House, and it will become a total Cosmic Bowling Lane, with NO leagues. That is the underlying concept of a New Brunswick House recently built near here. They are not even a USBC sanctioned house, and have no leagues.

I may be experiencing a Brunswick philosophy change that targets the higher bucks of open bowlers, and cosmics, and eliminating leagues. The new House only rents lanes by the hour for $25, and has Cosmic bowling 5 nights a week at a rate of $40 per hour.

Well today was kinda depressing, but it wasn't a total loss. I'll start with the good. I was late for my PBAX league this morning and had to skip game one, so I had some time to make some adjustments to my equipment. Despite the fact that I'm fighting some grip issues because I've yet to find something consistent and that feels good, I think I did good. It was the third week of the Shark pattern. I shot 193, 166, and 192 or something similar for the 3 games I got to bowl and averaged 183 for the day. Brought my average up to 165 for 11 games. My goal is to reach 180+ at some point. I'm sure I won my point, my teammate probably did too so I think we won 4 out of 5 points if not all. There seems to be reputable coaches monitoring the league so I could turn to one of them if I get lost or something.

Now onto the bad. I had my house shot league after that at a different center. It's second shift so I don't expect to kill it or anything, but I just could not be consistent. I'll openly admit a lot of my problems are physical but the lanes were giving me enough trouble as it is. The middle seemed to be getting a little burnt and if I sent it out it would hang a bit, sometimes coming back and carrying and others got the worst end of it. I had a line but it was pretty fine. Thinking back on it I should probably have moved more in(I started off on 22 and ended on 24) or played the outside oil hang area. I ended up shooting 173, 178, and 158 for a 170 average. As a team we won 3 out of 4 points. It really gets to me that I shot better on a PBA pattern, but it's mostly because I picked up my spares on the PBA pattern and I just couldn't do it as well after that.

So after today, it's obvious I need to get my grip tuned up and at least comfortable. Aside from that I need to figure out what hindering my performance physically, but I know timing is one of them and probably my most important. Need to get a video up soon.

Another week on record for me. I rolled a 583 series, which I feel mostly good about. I had games of 202, 200 and 181. The last game was the cleanest with only two opens, one of which was a split and the other an 8 pin that my timing was way too early, just not as many strikes as the other games. The first game I had three or four opens, a 2-8 I just completely screwed up on, and two straight single pin spares to end the game, with a four bagger in the middle. The second game I added a third straight single pin miss to start the game, had a split a few frames later and I think another open toward the end toward the end with a 5 bagger in the middle somewhere. If I would have just converted the makeable spares I would have been around 650. I threw the ball pretty well for the most part at least on first shots. I had some errant shots but not like last week. I stuck with my Triton Elite and adjusted in, deeper than I've played in this house in over a year and then had to start going back to the right during the last game. I haven't really lost any speed and think I've actually added some revs with the 16s with a good fitting grip. We took the first game, third game and total for 3 of 4 points and only lost the second game by 15 or so pins.

PBA was better this week...shot better than last week so this new rhythm I'm developing is helping somewhat (preciate it Jim but I still need a lot of work).

Good side is I got to bowl with Joy Esterson. She bowled on my opponent's squad as a sub. She was playing the outside (Chameleon) like 4,5,6 area. I was a little inside of her around 7,8 until the last game.

Joy Esterson has a nice game. I watched her bowl last year at the Motor City Classic. She ended up winning a tourney on TV last year, I think in Chicago.

Last friday night, I bowled quite well, but suck in 3rd games.

161, 177, and 134. Total: 472

In 3rd games, the oil went deep and too many opens plus 4
spilts. No splits were in 1st and 2nd games.

i had a series high today. 647 (only been bowling with a hook ball for nine months)

everything felt right all three games. our house usually starts out with a pretty heavy amount of oil but today it started off in more of a medium condition so i went with my medium ball right off the start.

http://www.bowlsk.com/games/view-series.html?series=15701

Good job bradw,
Great series!

it was really nice to pick up some spares. i hope i can continue knocking over the spares.