From: aki <aki@atlas.worldbank.org>
Subject: Re: Reverse Block and Christmas Trees
X-Xxmessage-Id: <A6C786ABE3042631@akidamme-233324.worldbank.org>
X-Xxdate: Mon, 31 Aug 92 13:19:55 GMT
Organization: World Bank
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1.1d8
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 12:26:02 GMT

In article <17ose1INNkp6@agate.berkeley.edu> Mark Fujimoto,
mafu@ocf.berkeley.edu writes:
>opposed to hooking the ball into the pocket.  Don't be stubborn; be
>flexible and try all of the angles, because everyone grinds on reverse
>block conditions.
>
I agree with Mark.  I might add tho that sometimes the difficult lane
conditions are also caused by the physical lane condition.  Since
ABC relaxed the rule about resurfacing the lanes from once per
year to once every two years, the lanes in alot of houses (depending 
on the amount of bowlers in the house) are breaking down alot
faster.  Two factors that have been showing up alot lately are
lanes that are "feathered" and lanes that have "deck tilt".
Lanes that are "feathered" means that the natural wood lanes
are worn to the  point that  the bristles or "hairs" of the wood
are actually pointing up like the bristles on a brush.  Any oil
that is layed down soak down into the bottom of the bristles,
this causes the effect of the lane "looking" like it's oily but
infact the top of the wood or bristles are very dry.  This
confuses alot of bowlers because they say, "my ball is coming
back very oily but the ball is breaking like crazy and is
uncontrollable".  Feathering is a common problem in alot of
houses and sometime the proprietors will tell you that they
are laying down heavy oil and do not know why people are
complaining that that their ball is breaking so much.  So they
recommend they go to a harder ball (which some people do), but
unfortunately when the lanes are resurfaced, the feathering
goes away and the bowler is just as confused as before when
it seems nothing will make their ball break.
The second condition is called "deck tilt".  Deck tilt is when the
pin deck actually tilts back (e.g. the head pin is actually higher
than the 7-10 pins).  Deck tilt is usually found in houses where
poor maintenance procedures are found.  Shims are usually
used to raise the back of the deck to level the pin deck out
and can easilly be checked by placing a level on the pin deck
to see if it's level.   If deck tilt is severe, it becomes 
increasingly difficult to carry the ten pin since the pins tend
to fly back instead of out, the more severe the tilt, the more
exaggerated the splits, leaves and pin action.  Sometimes 
a house will get a reputation for having "heavy pins" with
little or no pin action and leaving the ten pin is a common
signature of that house.  Maybe (and I mean maybe) the
problem may be deck tilt.
BTW, before a televised PBA event a couple of years ago the
PBA lane team was checking for deck tilt, they found that
(in this particuliar house), the decks were tilted so badly
that they stuffed shims as thick as a pack of cigarettes
on some of the decks to even them up.  When they asked the
local bowlers if any of them has had problems bowling
on the lanes, they all complained that that particuliar 
house was well known for leaving ten pins and a perfect
game hasn't been bowled in that house in 20 years!  The
proprietor didn't even know what "deck tilt" was and as
far as they knew, it hasn't ever been checked.  I always 
thought when the lanes were resurfaced the decks were
all leveled, apparently it wasn't (atleast in that house).

-aki
Newsgroups: alt.sport.bowling