What are the toughest lanes to bowl on??

[spotty34_mac]

I reckon the Albury bowling centre has to be the toughest of all centres to score - I haven't broken a 500 series there yet, followed by AMF Knox (before HPL) a close second.
Any other great centres out there???

 

[GeorgeF]

Rockhampton hands down!!!!

 

[20ft roll out]

well there was this one time... i went to new zealand and i bowled at this one place called palmerston north where there they only had 8 boards, but there was this one guy called FARMER and he was the king of the 2 board, he bowled a 156 game and i thought he was the man!!!!!

 

[SCOOPS]

Well this past week I particpated in a Charity Tourney.

The centre is 6-lanes big.

29feet of single oil and buff a further 6feet

Approaches like carpet.

lane 1 theres a wall right on the gutters edge all the way back thru the apporach area.

No Kick BAcks at all

and pins about 6 years old

Lets just say, thank goodness it was all in the aid of charity and a first place cheque of US$3000. to the person who can gruel there way thru.

 

[webba]

One word:

"WAGGA"

 

[androooo]

I agree Scooter....The oil pattern is usually a single oil to 36 feet, so the balls can make it up the ball elevators.

Gotta love those ODIN machines.

 

[craig]

to the tassie guys

maybe you better get devonport to contact mildura, who have an abundance of oil, and hardly have any problems in regards to ball returns and rack problems

just ask for rob garioch, best odin tech in australia

 

[craig]

now back to the question

1.rockhampton and from what i hear, anything north of there
2.mildura (before horsfalls bought in)
3.albury
4.colac
5.anything with guardian stuck on it
6.kedron (before synthetic)
7.glenelg
8.rushcutter
9.bendigo
10.sale (after simics got out)

 

[RobbieB]

The top 3 tough centres that I have hit are:

1 Atherton (hands down)
2 Rockhampton
3 Greenslopes second squad (only if you're a righty though

Seriously though, Atherton was tougher than Rocky by a long way.

 

[Kal_i]

Webba is right

"Wagga"

Hands down

Webba wen u bowl at Wagga?

 

[always 3rd]

I would totally agree with George. Rockhampton is more than likely the worst lanes in Queensland if not Australia.It's hot, no oil on the lanes and the airconditioning dosn't work but yet for adds up there they say it does.Also lane 1 is right next to the wall and the middle 2 lanes had a poll between them!! And to top it all of, during the Jnr sheild, they ran out of ice. How crap is that!

 

[webba]

Kales,
Wagga Champs last year.Going back for more pain this year.At least the hospitality and the pubs more than make up for the conditions.

 

[scooter]

Well, this topic definately cannot pass without Devonport getting a mention. Us poor Tassies only have 4 centres in total, Devonport being 1 of them.

I don't want to really get started but;

Impossible reverse block on most occasions, the pins are a thousand years old .. and there would not be 1 pin on any deck in the house that is ever on spot. And if that's not enough, the machines break down every second frame .....

I could go on ... but it's too depressing, just very happy that rachuig trials aren't there this year!!!

It's hard to imagine a consistently harder/tougher centre around, but I'm sure there are some that are close!!

 

[Kelsa]

I have the agree with George on this one, Rockhampton sure does win hands down. The set up is terrible and it is just the most horrible place to bowl in.

Kel

 

[trev]

not in any particular order

mt warren qld
browns plains qld
frankston vic
innisfail qld
and nottingham uk.........had close to 1000 units of oil.....i had no idea????

craig
i thought you where the best oden tech

 

[Stax]

You would have needed to have bowled in the “early” centres in New Zealand before voting on any of your State of the Art Centre here in Oz.

New Lynn…
Twelve lanes, Chipboard. Arrows all in a row at about 12 feet, and they were about 4 inches wide. NO oil…and I mean NO oil. They did not oil. Lane one faded off to the left, lane 12 to the right. No automatic machines, just “pin-boys” and car tyres as the back board. No foul lights and the person scoring sat in front of the lanes near the foul line (about 4 feet back). The railway line ran right alongside the Bowl and when a train went past you could time your shot to get a strike before your ball hit the pins, and you could strike on lane 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 all at the same time.
Some famous leave or hits….Hit 1-5 leaving 2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10. Missed the 10 pin to the right and not go in the gutter. However in about 1980 Steve First, no in QLD bowled 300. Master winner 1984 (I think) averaged 175. Now that’s a tough house.

Palmerston North
Sixteen Lanes, Real Bowling Lanes Wood. However, instead of laying 40 boards wide 5 inches deep, they were laid 8 boards wide, 5 boards deep, and then plained off the annoying tongue and groove bits that were left over. TRUE STORY.

Wellington
Sixteen Lanes, Chipboard with oil. Pins on strings. Not too bad unless you left a 6-7 or 4-10, the string was no long enough to reach. Good points. Leave a 5-10, just aim at the 5 pin and it would swing into the pit area and then do a lap of honour and get the 10 pin for you.

Christchurch
10 Lanes (from memory) Chipboard and oil. 60 feet of it. Enough said

Masterton
Ten Lanes, My Favourite Bowl to visit. Had a bar upstairs. They were lucky enough to get the Master in about 1984. They washed and cleaned the place for 3 days before we got there, nobody was allowed to bowl on the freshly oiled lanes. They could not afford lane oil and used a light engine oil (sewing machine type) to oil the lanes. 10 lanes, 8 pints, yes one gallon of oil on 10 lanes. My ball fishtailed. After 2 or 3 shots my towel was soaked, the approaches were covered in oil and I was so maggot faced I did not care. Drank all night and had to bowl at 8.00am. Went straight from the bar to the lanes. Bowled 265, 289, 268.
Not bad for NINE. My high game was 112.
The manager Chris Mathews and his offsider Milton Steel, take a bow, the first people to keep me totally maggot faced for 3 full days. And Special thanks to Arthur Eade for sleeping with the “Great White Elephant”. (That’s another story)

Ahhhh the good old days.

 

[bfcc]

after yesterdays sport series there are 27 guys that think caboolture are the toughest lanes , just goes to show with the right pattern put down any lanes can be tough.

 

[Golden Greek]

This one is easy - Wagga Wagga.

If you can handle holes in the lanes, uneven boards, oil somewhere/sometimes ---- then this is the place to go. How the lanes even get sanctioned have everybody scatching their head.

If you want to test yourself - give Wagga Wagga a go. Guranteed to bring any 200+ average bowler to their knees. (Yes even George)

Have to say though - the service is good, the pubs are extremely close to the bowl and the pokies pay (if you play them long enough).

Wagga Wagga Championships are the weekend before NSW Open. If you want to get some practice in and shatter your confidence before a Super Six event then get down to this event. Only a short 5 hour drive from either Sydney or Melbourne.

No ratings points apply ... but who cares. You'll have a great time everywhere but on the lanes.

Greg

 

[farma]

Seems Palmerston North, New Zealand rates two mentions on this forum, I figure that I might as well give the real oil on it. Having bowled there for the last 15 years, I think I know a bit about it.

Firstly they still oil by hand, that's right a spray gun. It is 14 lanes (Staxs memory is going in his old age). It is true about the boards being layed on the their side rather than the edge. The approaches are chipboard, with lines drawn on in pencil to represent the boards so you know where to stand.

A number of the approaches now have holes, or rises in them depending on whether the holes have been fixed.

I would rate it as the hardest centre I have ever bowled in.

Funny enough this centre has produced a number of New Zealand's top bowlers.

 

[Stax]

Firstly, I'd like to welcome Farma to our site. First NZ Bowler I've seen on here.
You say you been bowling 15 years. I hope that they have not all been at P. North. I feel so sorry for you if they have. I bowled there on 3-4 ocassions and vowed never to go back. The Centre was great, the people were all pissheads like me, I had a great time, but to bowl never again.
I left NZ in 85, were you bowling then ?


If you bowled in P. North you MUST have gone to Masterton. The worlds Greatest Centre. Do you know Milton ?
Come back

Stax