tonx
New Member
The "Sport" of tenpin bowling amuses me at times. When people come along that actually know what they are talking about, they are abused, belittled and slandered.
Let's take the late Bill Taylor for example. Bill revolutionised many things regarding the sport, with bowling ball fitting being his main calling card. Bill was a true revolutionary of tenpin bowling.
Many years ago he wrote an article, SSSC was its title. The industry "experts" (read the idiots who thought they knew what they were talking about) belittled him at the time, and due to both themselves, and the sports customers not wanting to "work on their game to produce a tour calibre delivery" the article was dismissed as nonsense. High scoring is fun right? Enjoy it while you can.....
SSSC stands for Super Soft Scoring Conditions, and in the article, he correctly states that it's the cancer of bowling.
What he talks about in the article, is amongst other things, having little to no volume of oil on the outside, and also the backend part of the lane. This tactial ploy is used to enhance the scoring characteristics in a given centre.
Oil was and is still primarily used to protect the surface of the lanes. Even back then, the aggressive pourous nature of a bowling balls surface was able to tear the protective coating off the wooden playing surface without the friction-reducing qualities of the lane conditioner.
Now that we have moved onto a plastic playing surface, the problem is delayed marginally. It can take several years to notice the effects of CANCEROUS lane conditions. Unlike wood though, synthetic lanes CAN NOT be resurfaced, so the effect while taking longer, has more long term issues than almost any current day "expert" (please refer back to original paragraph for definition of expert) in the industry can consider.
It is also no secret that the chemical reaction during the manufacturing process of a reactive resin bowling ball produces higher RA values (the measurement of peaks and troughs of the surface at a microscopic level) than ever before thought possible.
This produces a similar effect on the lanes as what an aggressively grooved golf wedge does to a golf ball. Again, while not so immediate an effect, a golf ball is able to be thrown away at the end of a round. The playing surface of a bowling centre does not have the same type of disposability.
Lets fast forward a couple of years for those looking for a point to this blog. The near and inevitable future of tenpin bowling.
Our playing surfaces are being disregarded by these experts similar to a golfer that refuses to fix his pitch marks and divots on the course. The typical Australian attitude of "she'll be right mate" DOES NOT APPLY HERE. Tournaments are going to be absolutely DOMINATED by those that can expose their bowling ball to a fresher area of the playing surface.
Low rev right handed players are going to be effected the most, as they will be bowling on a textured surface similar to sandpaper in EVERY SINGLE CENTRE that refuses to condition and protect the lane outside 10 board.
High rev right handed players will also be severely effected, as a ball crossing more boards bleeds its kinetic and rotational energy quicker than a more direct line down the lane due to generating more friction on contact.
Left handed players, and right handed players that use the left hand side of our playing surface will not be affected as severely.
Bowling centres will simply go out of business, as they will not be able to afford replacing their expensive synthetic lanes every 10 years or so, and bowlers will simply become frustrated with the condition of their bowling balls after a simple 3 game league session. They will either migrate to a newer centre if in travelling distance, or they will simply leave tenpin bowling all together.
There is a simple, obvious solution to fix this issue, yet too many of the centre techs simply refuse to bother, care or become knowlegable enough to know any better.
Ask yourself these few questions.
Do you care? Most of you believe you do.
Can you be bothered? Most of you believe you can be.
Are you really knowlegable enough to belittle those that really do know what they are talking about? Do you really understand?
Are you the "expert" or are you the revolutionary?
Let's take the late Bill Taylor for example. Bill revolutionised many things regarding the sport, with bowling ball fitting being his main calling card. Bill was a true revolutionary of tenpin bowling.
Many years ago he wrote an article, SSSC was its title. The industry "experts" (read the idiots who thought they knew what they were talking about) belittled him at the time, and due to both themselves, and the sports customers not wanting to "work on their game to produce a tour calibre delivery" the article was dismissed as nonsense. High scoring is fun right? Enjoy it while you can.....
SSSC stands for Super Soft Scoring Conditions, and in the article, he correctly states that it's the cancer of bowling.
What he talks about in the article, is amongst other things, having little to no volume of oil on the outside, and also the backend part of the lane. This tactial ploy is used to enhance the scoring characteristics in a given centre.
Oil was and is still primarily used to protect the surface of the lanes. Even back then, the aggressive pourous nature of a bowling balls surface was able to tear the protective coating off the wooden playing surface without the friction-reducing qualities of the lane conditioner.
Now that we have moved onto a plastic playing surface, the problem is delayed marginally. It can take several years to notice the effects of CANCEROUS lane conditions. Unlike wood though, synthetic lanes CAN NOT be resurfaced, so the effect while taking longer, has more long term issues than almost any current day "expert" (please refer back to original paragraph for definition of expert) in the industry can consider.
It is also no secret that the chemical reaction during the manufacturing process of a reactive resin bowling ball produces higher RA values (the measurement of peaks and troughs of the surface at a microscopic level) than ever before thought possible.
This produces a similar effect on the lanes as what an aggressively grooved golf wedge does to a golf ball. Again, while not so immediate an effect, a golf ball is able to be thrown away at the end of a round. The playing surface of a bowling centre does not have the same type of disposability.
Lets fast forward a couple of years for those looking for a point to this blog. The near and inevitable future of tenpin bowling.
Our playing surfaces are being disregarded by these experts similar to a golfer that refuses to fix his pitch marks and divots on the course. The typical Australian attitude of "she'll be right mate" DOES NOT APPLY HERE. Tournaments are going to be absolutely DOMINATED by those that can expose their bowling ball to a fresher area of the playing surface.
Low rev right handed players are going to be effected the most, as they will be bowling on a textured surface similar to sandpaper in EVERY SINGLE CENTRE that refuses to condition and protect the lane outside 10 board.
High rev right handed players will also be severely effected, as a ball crossing more boards bleeds its kinetic and rotational energy quicker than a more direct line down the lane due to generating more friction on contact.
Left handed players, and right handed players that use the left hand side of our playing surface will not be affected as severely.
Bowling centres will simply go out of business, as they will not be able to afford replacing their expensive synthetic lanes every 10 years or so, and bowlers will simply become frustrated with the condition of their bowling balls after a simple 3 game league session. They will either migrate to a newer centre if in travelling distance, or they will simply leave tenpin bowling all together.
There is a simple, obvious solution to fix this issue, yet too many of the centre techs simply refuse to bother, care or become knowlegable enough to know any better.
Ask yourself these few questions.
Do you care? Most of you believe you do.
Can you be bothered? Most of you believe you can be.
Are you really knowlegable enough to belittle those that really do know what they are talking about? Do you really understand?
Are you the "expert" or are you the revolutionary?
