But bowlers tend to discount another key factor, and that’s the lane surface itself. Even with identical oil patterns, wood lanes and synthetic lanes play very differently. What’s more, synthetic lanes are not all created equal either. The primary difference in lanes is
their hardness. That hardness impacts how much friction your ball will encounter on the lane, and friction (or lack thereof) is the key factor in how your ball reacts. In fact, the lane construction has the potential of overriding the oil pattern to a degree. The same pattern on wood and on a
TIPS AND TRICKS TO MAKE YOU A BETTER BOWLER
There’s more to the surface than meets the eye.
n bowling, so much is made of the various oil patterns and how they affect your shot. Certainly, knowing where the oil is has a huge impact on your shot.
Brunswick synthetic lane will make the pattern appear to be different. The best analogy is tennis. Tennis
surfaces are hard court, clay and grass. The same tennis ball will react three dif- ferent ways when it hits each of those surfaces. With bowling, if you are aware of the different surfaces you will be able to notice the difference in ball reaction on the various surfaces. In bowling you have wood and
synthetic. Natural wood is the softest surface, and therefore offers the most friction. (In fact, wood is softer than the ball’s shell.) Visually, wood lanes are pretty apparent. The boards are
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