Balls Damaged by Ball Return Mechanisms

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I am a balikbowling individual. I played from 1978 to 1984, after which I only played twice or thrice in over 20 years. In the past, ball damage from return mechanisms was the biggest pet peeve of bowlers. Unless I remember wrong, Bowling Inn was the worst of the lot (while it was not yet under the Puyats). All others were of the same degree, and it seemed like a foregone conclusion that ball damage was inevitable. Soft polyester balls suffered the most, followed by soft rubber balls. I never got to use urethane balls before I stopped bowling then.

Twenty years later, I returned to see that bowling is different, with synthetic lanes and reactive balls that flare but need more maintenance than my car. It seems however, that ball return mechanisms that do damage to balls are no different. SM North Edsa and SM Megamall lanes damaged my polyester and reactive balls, though not seriously. I have seen someone complain of ball damage at Ever Commonwealth Lanes. I have only played at Playdium four times, and fortunately have not yet suffered any such damage.

Is ball damage really unavoidable ? As a mechanical engineer, I think it is due to poor maintenance of equipment. I know times are difficult but this is not an excuse to neglect maintenance work and cause anguish to bowlers who spend money to buy good equipment.

Any opinions, fellow bowlers ?

hi jorge,

thanks for the post, some damages can be avoided but some can´t... in playdium, we also have reports of ball damages...i won´t say that ur lucky because your balls have not been damage.... yes maintenace is a big big big factor... that is why i am strict when it comes to taking care of our machines... compared to other centers you have mentioned, the cause of damages mainly comes from the poor maintenace and all centers you have mentioned is equipped with timber lanes, ours is synthetic and it wont give your balls track marks, in timber lanes especially if its not properly maintained, in 10 minutes time you will see scratches on your ball track and after 50 games, your bowling ball needs to be brought to p[ro shop for reconditioning. In playdium, if you have noticed, we dont have signs like these ´WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE OF ANY BALL DAMAGES", nope we don´t do that, one incident we had a customer complaint, his ball had a deep 3 inch long scratch, u know what i did? i replaced it with a brand new one, all ball damages occured in our center, we repair it without charge, well at least i believe in this saying "IT TAKES A LONG TIME TO GET A CUSTOMER BUT IT TAKES A SECOND TO LOSE ONE".
well, i hope i answered your question.... any more comments?

Hi, Coach Angelo,

It is nice to hear that you are doing your utmost best to keep the Playdium equipment in top shape. Hopefully the ball damage from the return mechanisms will be kept to a minimum. I am disappointed however when you declared that some damage cannot be avoided. This must be due to inadequate design on the part of the equipment manufacturer. I think that they should do their part while people like you do yours.

Regarding the scuff marks caused by wooden lanes to my particle/reactive ball, I noticed them after just three games. In fairness, you did warn me about this when I bought the ball. The gouge marks, two of them, 1/2" long, were definitely caused by the equipment. Bad break, I guess.

I just visited the synthetic lanes at Sta. Lucia East in Cainta. They had this sign about not being responsible for ball damage caused by their equipment. In Commonwealth, the alley staff did not even comment on the complaint regarding someone´s damaged ball. It feels good to know that if it ever happens in Playdium, we can count on you to do something about it. More power to your bowling center.

More so because of this, Playdium is now our favorite alley.

one of the problems with the new balls is that they are a little softer than the plastic balls. speaking from experience
when i ran a center, we made sure the mechanics were looking for loose springs, screws , gutter caps dust on the carpet of the shaker behing the pin deck as well as the underground ramp going to the ball return. as for scratches on your ball. that´s just a result of friction from the ball to the dry part of the lane. it becomes more
noticeable when oil on the lanes start drying out from all the play. there comes the lane oiling schedule. the perfect time to bowl is when the lanes are freshly oiled. most machines will stirp the backends and pindeckas well.
as far as dings on your ball is concerned, management can only do so much and i have to agree with angelo. but i´m sure they will do their best to keep you

as a customer.

THANK YOU

its nice to know that ur center does value its customers bec there´s one time that i was really disappointed with ur pro shop, although no harm done i just have to pay extra cash it was just really disappointing, i just hope it was really an honest mistake...but i have to admit that ur center is one of the best if not the best!

i apologize for that overcharging, it happens sometimes, sorry talaga..... but i have to say that we have honest staff here... a lot of people forgot their cellphone sa lanes and believe it or not, they can still recover, wala pa record of loss in 4 years of operation.... meron but small items lang.... yabang ko no!!! hehehee

To Blackcloud

You seem to have been around, managing a bowling center. Thanks for the post, it might give other bowling center managers ideas on how to minimize ball damage from the return mechanisms.

Regarding the scratches on the ball from the lane surface, I do not agree completely. I think it is due to the wood surface. If you run your fingers across the boards on a wooden lane, you can feel the joints of the boards. It is these joints that cause the scratches, oil or no oil. It is doubly bad for me, because I play the swing shot (inside/out) instead of the straight up. This means that my ball will cross the boards twice, once going towards the gutter (with oil) and again going towards the pins (little or no oil). It may happen to a much lesser degree on a synthetic lane, where there are no fissures/joints to be encountered by the ball.

For this reason, I will only use my reactive (particle, actually) ball on synthetic lanes from now on. I have some antique balls like a Columbia White Dot and Brunswick LT 51 from the 20th century which I can use when playing on a wooden lane.

At any rate, it is good to have someone with your experience in the Forum. I expect that we can have some more constructive exchanges of views in the near future.

Cheers !

To Pseudomonas/Angelo

I hope the proshop issue can be resolved. When I first came to Playdium, I was only interested in the cost of plug/rebore job, which I found to be more expensive than other centers. I discovered later on that other accessories were cheaper at Playdium than at other proshops, like the tape inserts for the thumb hole. Prices of balls seem lower than most. as the price of an Ebonite Tornado was much lower than my previous "suki". Finger inserts are definitely the lowest in town, thumb insert not sure, however.

It is the only proshop I have seen with two technicians plus one cashier, and it seems livelier that any other proshop in town.

If I sound sold on this matter, it is because I am ! Keep it up, Coach Angelo. Cheers !

Joined: Nov 18, 2004 Posts: 104 Status: **Offline**

if my ball gets damaged, i either have it repaired or let it be. if the damage is beyond repair, then i drill a new ball.

jorge i have to apologize but you are correct about the ball scratches coming from old wood lanes that have not gone through it´s routine resurfacing maintenance. i remember a story of how walter ray williams had to drill some new balls after a qualifying round in a PBA event because the dings were so bad due to the old wood surface. i actually have seen some wood lanes that had some band aid work done and they were fine, and of course i´ve seen worse. Dave Husted, a
PBA hall of famer who i personally know
(great guy as well as an awesome bowler) owns and operates two centers in the greater portland area that have wood lanes. best looking lanes you could have seen. they almost look like synthetic. and probably the last centers
that will switch to synthetics.
anyways, thanks for reminding

[quote]
On 2005-08-19 01:24, dabesbowlerindapilipins wrote:
if my ball gets damaged, i either have it repaired or let it be. if the damage is beyond repair, then i drill a new ball.
it seems like you obtain and drill blank balls as if they were growing on trees.

jorge: That´s GOOD to hear! keep it up and sana ganyan din ang ibang bowler...

To Blackcloud -

Yes, the wood joints are indeed the cause for the random scratches. There are a number of wooden lanes here, all of the SM centers and about four of the Puyat centers. I am not sure of Celebrity Sports Plaza and Green Valley. I do not know how often they resurface (sanding and revarnish ?) but if it is not done right, the varnish will not be able to hide the joints. Anyway, my decision not to play my particle ball on wooden lanes stands.

We seem to be of the same era. I have read of Dave Husted in the early 1980´s, along with other greats like Mark Roth, Wayne Webb, Marshall Hollman and my favorite bowler Earl Anthony. What happened to these old time idols ? Do they still play actively ? The PBA seems to be populated by new bowlers I have not heard of. I must have been out of touch for too long.

Anyway, I hope to hear more from you on the Forum.

[ This message was edited by: Jorge on 2005-08-22 11:40 ]

To Mark300 -

Thanks for the encouragement. I never take any incident that causes grief to bowlers like me sitting down. You can be sure you will hear from me if anything adverse comes up

[ This message was edited by: Jorge on 2005-08-22 11:47 ]