Firstly, Mark, excellent observation and question. You will face Machiavellian opposition to making bowling more honest though. Apparently, it's not how things are done anymore.
Like it or not it's the way it is. Many sports have used technology to improve the espect of their game. From grounds keepers who study horticulture that improves grounds to the types of material used in manufactoring balls round or oval. Do you think tennis Australia needs to go back to the old wooden tennis racquet? NO!!!its for the best. At the end of the day it's a human throwing a ball 60 feet down a lane at ten pins.
Not so when it's a human throwing
at ten boards at the breakpoint. We've all seen it. Some houses are just cheating, plain and simple. To use the groundkeeper analogy, some houses are like putting greens shaped like funnels to the hole. I remember not long after the release of reactive balls, a prominent independent proprietor commenting that the same amount of money was going through the bowl, it had just shifted from practice games to the pro shop. I don't believe that the situation has got any better with all the blocked lanes. What an indictment on our game.
I only have 7 x 300's. But then, I try to bowl in the more honest houses. I'll let you in on a little secret, all the better players internally grade 300 according to the house it was bowled in. Some places, it's awesome, like Sam Cooley throwing 300 to win the Sport Series at Rooty Hill in 2010. Others, not so much.
I believe it is all relative.
If only one person has the access to the best equipment then it would be unfair. Big scores are normally bowled by everyone at an event, not normally just one. Sure there are exceptions, but generally if everybody is rolling a 220 average then the cream will still rise to the top and bowl 240. When it is tough a 200 average is the cream the rest throw lower. Again it is all relevant.
Synthetic lanes have reduce the cost to set up a centre and have reduced the maintenance I am sure as by-product. This means more centres, back in the 80's and before centres were forced into high cost maintenance of wooden lanes etc.
So I guess time just moves on, embrace it and work out how to bowl 240 averages when everybody else is shooting 220. Look at bowling sports events to really push your skills. House Shot league score higher, most of the top bowler know the difference. Maybe bowl league with a plastic ball if the challenge is not there for you. I guess as long as you know the difference and cause of the high scores and don’t kid yourself you can enjoy the game.
I know I am a league hack with a goal to improve. I look at every shot and I am honest about a good score bowled badly with no more than three shots the same, as apposed to a good score bowled on a tough pattern bowled well.
You just need to be honest.
Let the progression continue and enjoy what comes out next.
Everyone has access to the same equipment, but the equipment is not designed with the better player in mind. Therefore the player with the weaker release gets the most advantage out of reactive balls. I was stunned at how weakly so many people release the ball when I came back to bowling. I see guys complaining about weak 10's (which they invariably claim to be "solid" or "stone" 10's), when in reality, some engineer at the factory got the 5 pin out for them. So the equipment negates the requirement for a strong release, especially at the league level. House shots vastly reduce the need for shot consistency and subsequently, the requisite skill level.
Synthetic lanes are so prevalent because the softer wood lanes have all been burned to the hidden mortice nails by the friction of reactive covers. They are that aggressive. Some of them use industrial abrasives in the covers, for goodness sakes!
But you're right about being honest, John and I acknowledge you in that regard. You are brutally honest with yourself. Bowling needs a good long honest look at itself. Trouble is, many people think (if they think at all) that rewards in bowling should come from attendance, rather than application, let alone athletic prowess. And if it doesn't come from attendance, then they lobby their manager (who probably knows nothing about bowling) to have it made easier. In the universal search for a quiet life, said manager tells the head tech to make them easier, because they think it's simply a matter of making "x" larger (where x:1 is the house shot ratio). It's like the blind lobbying the blind to put pressure on someone who may or may not actually have a clue about lanes. Reminiscent of Yossarian planting egg shells to grow chickens in Stalag 19.
Ironically, we're now seeing the hens come home to roost, as the older synthetic panels, unprotected by oil outside 10 board, are now wearing out long before their time from ever-more-aggressive reactive covers designed to satiate bowling's desire for more free hook. It seems that those who forget their history really are doomed to relive it...
