Wood vs. Synthetic

[Bama Vol]

I am a tweener, ball speed about 13 - 14 mph and medium revs. I bowl at three houses, one wood and two from hell. I can use either my BWS or NM on the wood and do OK, however I sometimes find my self changing from the NM to the BWS after 1 1/2 to 2 games, depending how much I am moving to the left. On wood, when I first start, I am standing on the 12th board shooting at 8. I get a nice entry into the pocket when I don't think. (It's some of the physical/mental crap that hurts, i.e. rolling my wrist, pushing the ball out, not relaxing - that kind of stuff.) Laetly, when I get on the plastic stuff, I can't get either to hook. I try the 12/8, but it doesn't work. I've moved left, leaving my target the same, I've moved left, moving my target, nothing seems to work. My BWS was drilled to the no. 1 pattern and my NM was drilled to a no. 7, which was in the box. I've been thinking about having both re-drilled to be more aggressive but I'm concerned about having to stand in the next lane on wood to throw the NM. I know y'all are going to give me many opinions and options and I appreciate it.

[fluffy]

i am assuming you are right handed. try moving right on the lanes with your feet and your mark, you are basically looking for some kind of reaction or a break point for your ball. if you have tried all angles to the pocket, it sounds like you may need to make a ball change, or more aggressive drilling. Wood lanes are more rough and cause the ball to hook sooner and cover more boards. "lanes from hell" do not break down as fast either, another good reason to try different angles to the pockey. try finding someone who bowls like you and see where they are throwing and their break point.

[Rowdy]

We'll assume the "fake" lanes are kinda level. The plain truth is that fake lanes don't have nowhere near the traction that wood lanes do. You gotta play a straighter line on plastic than on wood. One "fix" is to have the balls resurfaced,take 'em down to 2000 or lower. Side benefit:More hook on wood. Never a bad thing there. The shot you use on wood will then become your plastic shot. Then you can move inside some on real lanes. Or play way outside on the wood,your choice.

[willard46]

I bowling On both wood and synthetic

the wood seems to change more according to the weather t
han the synthetic does
and the age of the resurfacing makes a difference too
smoother after sanding snappyer after recoating than on a water based finsh and the same as the type of synthetic HPL by amf or pro anvilane by brunswick there is more
but im getting of track i like HPL by amf on the synthetic side

[Rowdy]

The only problem with HPL and Anvilane is that you the bowler are at the mercy of the installer of the lane. Synthetics are VERY sensitive to humidity changes. There are 5 houses around here that have synthetics. Only ONE house has nice lanes. All the others have waves that should be in Hawaii. And that's now,with low humidity. Come summer the lanes look more like roller coasters. One house recently considered overlaying their wood lanes with synthetics. Luckily they asked their league bowlers about it before spending the cash. The vote was 99% in favor of wood,1% for fake lanes. Two complete leagues threatened to move to another house if synthetics were laid down. Yes,one of the leagues was mine. Yes,we were gone if they had put down "fakes".

[BubbaRay]

I am a tweener, ball speed about 13 - 14 mph and medium revs. I bowl at three houses, one wood and two from hell. I can use either my BWS or NM on the wood and do OK, however I sometimes find my self changing from the NM to the BWS after 1 1/2 to 2 games, depending how much I am moving to the left. On wood, when I first start, I am standing on the 12th board shooting at 8. I get a nice entry into the pocket when I don't think. (It's some of the physical/mental crap that hurts, i.e. rolling my wrist, pushing the ball out, not relaxing - that kind of stuff.) Laetly, when I get on the plastic stuff, I can't get either to hook. I try the 12/8, but it doesn't work. I've moved left, leaving my target the same, I've moved left, moving my target, nothing seems to work. My BWS was drilled to the no. 1 pattern and my NM was drilled to a no. 7, which was in the box. I've been thinking about having both re-drilled to be more aggressive but I'm concerned about having to stand in the next lane on wood to throw the NM. I know y'all are going to give me many opinions and options and I appreciate it.

Here is a good article that should help you out.

http://forums.hammerbowling.com/showthread.php?t=5106

and another---> http://forums.hammerbowling.com/showthread.php?t=5106

[willard46]

i have bowling on some very poorly in stalled synthetic lanes
Ive also bowled on some very good installed lanes
if they install it over the wood it seems to better
the hallow backing sound suck and the panels not matching up suck if u don't have a good under lane to put it on

i favor natural wood also
but there are so many synthetic lanes out there that people wont come to my center and bowl cause there afraid of wood as they are so use to syntheic lanes now.