In this installment I would like to discuss some of the different lane surfaces that have been used throughout the history of bowling here in the modern era.  I guess we should start at the start and that is - the inception of the A.B.C. (American Bowling Congress) now known as the U.S.B.C. (United States Bowling Congress) in 1895, (this is what I consider the modern era of bowling.) as the directing body of the sport of bowling.  Before that things were just chaotic and lanes were all different lengths and widths depending upon the bowling center you played at.  Talk about home field advantage!

            Once the A.B.C. was adopted as the governing body of our sport they set about setting up playing rules to standardize the sport.  The lanes were made up of a wood surface with a coating on top of them to protect them.  The lanes were then conditioned for further protection.  This coating was the greatest factor in ball reaction at the time since there were not blocked lanes as far as the lane conditioner was concerned and most bowlers used a lithum vitae bowling ball which is also a type of wood.

            Lane coatings up until the 1930’s or so were made of shellac.  This is a very soft coating and created a surface with built-in friction.  As we all are aware, friction is what we need in order to get our bowling balls to hook into the pocket.  So being that there was plenty of it provided by the lane surface we didn’t need all of these bowling balls we have today.  Bowlers came to league with their one ball bag and took out their black rubber or lithum vitae bowling ball and just played what the lane gave them as far as hook. 

            After shellac was deemed to be a fire hazard as it is extremely flammable, the bowling industry moved its attention to lacquer.  Lacquer is also a soft coating that was used up until the 1970’s or 80’s.  Bowlers and bowling stayed pretty much status quo up until this point with the exception of proprietors figuring out that they could apply the lane conditioner in such a way as to make it a bit easier to get the ball to hit the pocket.  They found that if they put less conditioner on the outside and more in the middle it would create a bigger path for their customers to hit the pocket and therefore higher scores.  Higher scores meant happier bowlers and happier bowlers spend more money.  So the bowling proprietors started to condition their lanes to make them more scoreable.

            When urethane coatings were found to be much harder and therefore last longer and hold up better to the pounding of the balls the switch was made to urethane.  At this point most of the bowling centers in America were still wood.  Synthetic lanes were starting to become more popular as they offered more consistent conditions and longer life spans with less maintenance. 

What is the difference between synthetic and wood lanes? Why does my ball react differently on these surfaces? First let’s address the wood lane with a urethane coating.  This surface will still play with a defined “track” in the lane because when wood lanes are resurfaced they have a “track” built into them.  Typically this track area is around the second arrow or 10 board, although you can also look for it on the third arrow or the 15 board.  Again, this is there to make it a bit easier to get the ball to hit the pocket.  Now on to synthetic lanes, this surface is typically much harder than wood therefore will create less friction in the conditioned part of the lane.  However,  contrary to popular belief, because it is smoother and harder than wood there is more surface contact between the lane and the ball when the ball hits the drier boards after it gets to the end of the oil pattern.  This will cause a much more skid, snap type of ball reaction.  Wood lanes will have the tendency to have more friction in the oiled part of the lane than their synthetic counterparts and less friction in the back part of the lane creating a more even controlled type of hooking action.  I am frequently asked this question about the difference between wood and synthetic lanes - and if there is one. 

I hope this little brief history of the bowling lane surface proves helpful to all of you who were wondering if it makes a difference what type of surface you are bowling on.  See you next time.

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