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It takes a strong personality to be a lane man. You can not possibly win. No matter the results somebody is going to be confused, frustrated or upset that certain styles have a distinct advantage. I can't argue that point because it is correct. And this article is not intended to support either side of that argument. At different levels of the sport I might consider lane maintenance bias to be unfair. At the professional level it should not even be an issue because professional bowlers are at the elite level of our sport and part of being identified as a professional is the ability to compete on any condition. There is a certain group of bowlers that can do just that. These are the true icons of the sport.

There are some great bowlers that are more conditional than others and every bowler will go through times of confusion. There is still a large number of bowlers on tour that don't believe in developing a wider range of skills. They prefer to stay sharp at what they do so they are ready to win when they see something they like. That alone is a sensitive issue when working with professional bowlers. There is an increasing number of bowlers that are more versatile but until every bowler on tour has that versatility I see no way to avoid lane maintenance frustrations and bias.

I want this article to express the issues not defend or prosecute. The facts are this.

1. For the third week in a row the lane conditioning procedures are not providing consistency from practice to qualifying and round to round.

2. There are common transition characteristics on tour today that have always been an issue of discussion and debate. They may be exaggerated because of today's equipment.

3. No matter what lane machine, lane oil, or pattern there seems to be a common characteristic on tour that I have witnessed for the last 3 years.

Once again I am not taking the approach of defending or prosecuting. I will expand on the three issues with more detail.

Number one
For the third week in a row the lane conditioning procedures are not providing consistency from practice to qualifying and round to round.

At the beginning of the year everybody expected the new lane machine was going to be a very important change. The PBA chose to maintain the same pattern names but it is not possible to just download the old patterns into the new machine because it is an entirely different technology. Nobody really cares if they are the same as last year but consistency throughout the week is a very important aspect. What we saw for the first three tournaments was a pleasant surprise. The consistency was very close. After experiencing poor consistency last year we were gaining more confidence in the ability to use the practice session to develop more detailed game plans. And the consistency between rounds was much more evident.

Not that everybody liked the competitive environment but the consistency was very close the first three weeks. Week four was the Masters tournament and the PBA was not responsible for the lane maintenance. The PBA picked up those responsibilities in Vernon Hills the week after the Masters. And after experiencing three more tournament practice to qualifying opportunities I have to give them the lowest grade I have witnessed in several years. Why? I do not know and again I am not trying to defend or prosecute. It has been almost impossible to prepare for the qualifying rounds based on ball reaction during the practice rounds. And the round to round consistency has been poor with Hammond being the worst of the three tournaments.  

 Number Two
There are common transition characteristics on tour today that have always been an issue of discussion and debate. They may be exaggerated because of today's equipment.

The PBA has a very talented roster present at every tournament and each year the roster seems to include a higher percentage of high speed/high rev players. It is virtually impossible for these styles to stay parallel wit the lane. Almost all of them have 8 to 12 boards of head belly, no matter what the pattern is. The provides a totally different break down transition than you would see from a different group of styles. The fact that the large number of bowlers with this type of speed/rev ratio creates a common transition characteristic no matter what the pattern is. I witnessed the same discussions and debates back before resin and particle balls. The discussions are almost always how tight the lanes get down lane and how dry the heads get. This is really evident in longer formats with larger fields. The qualifying rounds are almost always about bowlers who can match up to theses types of transitions. This is also why we see so many of the top seeded players loose in the early rounds. The field is not helping the player transition the lanes they are competing on. They are forced to play the pattern, surface and there own breakdown. There is a growing number of professionals that are beginning to understand this. That is providing some very interesting matches or strategy and versatility.

Number Three
No matter what lane machine, lane oil, or pattern there seems to be a common characteristic on tour that I have witnessed for the last 3 years.

This characteristic is more specific to present tour conditions. The practice of providing more friction in the front part of the lane compounds the effects of carry down. I am not sure exactly what the reason is but for the last three years the most common characteristic of the lane maintenance strategy has been to provide earlier friction on the lane than normal. When bowlers experience this the patterns become more roll specific and cover/core choices are more confusing to bowlers. It can look as if the bowler needs a stronger ball when in reality they need a weaker ball. Under these circumstances the stronger ball will hook less than the weaker ball. Looking for this balance is always the challenge. This is also one of the reason bowlers from different environments struggle when they attempt to compete in the tour environment. You will also notice certain styles of players migrate to the top and the same goes for ball choices. Certain cover-stocks tend to look better with different front to back tapers of oil. Lane maintenance practices on tour are more about understanding these tapers than manipulating the playing surface laterally. Professional bowlers can play many different angles but if a bowlers release and ball choices don't match up to the front to back taper their chances of winning are greatly reduced.

The last two weeks have been very good examples of an increase in friction in the front part of the lane. Some like it some don't.

Remember this is not intended to defend or prosecute.

Take a look at the different names and styles of the last few weeks and in many cases it can be related to their physical game or ball options available. It is interesting to keep and eye on these changes.

Well it is late and I need to get some shut eye before the matches begin in the morning. Assuming the snow stops between now and then. As hard as it is coming down right now I can only imagine how difficult it will be to get to the bowl in the morning.