Bowling Alley Secrets and Tips

Knowing the bowling alley secrets can give you an advantage.

There are many secrets to bowling and one of them actually has to do with the oiling of the lanes at the alley. If you want to really increase your score and win you have to understand the oil on the lane you are bowling first.

Bowling alleys put oil on their lanes to keep bowlers from making deep indentations in the wood. The oil is distributed from the foul line to many feet past. By rolling your ball you spread the oil put down by the establishment. This is sometimes referred to as carry down.

If the alley has put oil pretty far down the lane from the foul line and most of the oil is in the middle and less oil around the outside, someone else may have been throwing at that same spot and dried out that particular part of the lane. If your ball rolls in oil most likely it will go straight, and usually curve on dry areas.

If you are right handed you are most likely trying to get your ball in the 1-3 pocket, the secret is to roll a little to the left in case you hit oil, the ball will go straight. If you aim to the right most likely you will be on drier lane and the ball should curve into the pocket.

You can’t see the oil on the lanes unless you get super close. The only way to tell where the oil is on a lane is by throwing your ball and looking for a reaction that way. There are two ways to find out about the oil on a lane. The first is to throw a practice round or two. The second is to watch other bowlers and their comments. If you choose the first and your ball is oily or dry remember where and how you threw the ball down the lane and adjust accordingly.

You want to have oil on the left side of the track and none on the right of the ball track. You want to bowl right between these. You want to release the ball a little to the left and roll to the dryer zone, or to the right of the dry zone. Most of your shots are aimed at finding an ideal dry vs. oil spots. The reason we are looking for these good spots are that these are your open invitations to upping your score and figuring out the path of your ball easier. The main objective is to have a larger target area. It is possible to miss both sides and still hit the pocket.

Because you are moving the oil around while rolling your ball down the lane, the line between dry and oily play moves to the left of the lane for right handed players. As you play you will notice that you are higher up in the pocket, this indicates that you should move some to the left. If there is an overabundance of oil you may want to try to the right a little also, but most of the time to left.

Learning about your bowling alley can help you win games.

Everybody has a certain line that they bowl and when the alleys oil, they do this mostly in the middle for even distribution. Throwing your ball over the tenth board is a safe bet especially on newly oiled lanes for you to have the advantage. Manmade lanes usually do not get oiled as much as real wood and manmade lanes are also slicker anyway and it becomes a wash.
If you are throwing a straight ball these tips are not for you, first you must have a curve or hook to your throw for the ball to curve on the drier areas and go straight in the oily ones.

For many more bowling alley tips and secrets, you need to look no further than Bowling For Dummies. This guide has all the information you need to bowl like the pros. As always, have fun bowling.