Tech No Bowl — How technology has spurred regulation changes in 10-pin bowling
I started bowling when I was very young. Both of my parents grew up bowling, so by the time I was in 3rd grade, I was playing in a Saturday morning bowling league. I have continued to play throughout my life, and I have a great love for the sport. You know you’ve found your “thing” when you enjoy doing it, even when you’re performing terribly! I’ve seen a lot of change over the years, and I have continued to bowl through what most agree has been a huge decline in the popularity of the sport.
The most popular time period for bowling in the United States was the mid-1960's, when there were approximately 12,000 bowling centers . Business was mostly comprised of leagues and tournaments. League bowling was at its peak in the late 1970’s when there were over 9 million league members. But as of 2017, due to societal changes, leagues generated only about 25% of overall bowling business, and there were only 2 million league bowlers. That’s why you see older, traditional bowling centers being converted into fancier establishments when taken over by new management. They make a conscious decision to cater to recreational bowlers and corporate/birthday functions. And as far as the actual number of bowling alleys, from 1998–2013, the number of bowling alleys in the U.S. fell to 3,976 from 5,400.
Faced with these and other sobering statistics, the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) has been challenged with how to keep participation up and keep bowling alive. This is where technology comes in!
There was a brief resurgence of bowling in the mid-1980’s with the introduction of modern scoring. Prior to that bowlers had to calculate and write down their scores using pencil and paper. And before you ask, yes, I bowled when we did manual scoring with little baby pencils! With this new technology, bowlers could enter their names and the rest was done for them. The next big change came with bowling balls. Early bowling balls were wooden or more commonly, rubber. Rubber dominated through the 1970’s until balls with a polyurethane cover were introduced in 1981. Another leap was made with the introduction of the reactive resin cover around 1990. Balls made of reactive resin have the ability to grab lanes through the oil layer for harder hooking — which conserves their kinetic energy for the pins, thereby increasing the likelihood of strikes! These balls were a literal game changer! They gripped the lane better and produced higher scores. Bowling ball manufacturers competed to see who could produce the highest scoring balls, resulting in major changes to the core (sometimes called the “weight block”) of a ball. The core had always been a uniform sphere wrapped in the outer casing, but in the 1990s variations were introduced. Different materials and methods of manufacture resulted in cores with a greater range of densities that assisted various bowlers and accommodated a wide range of oil patterns. At that point the USBC was forced to change the way that bowling balls were measured. Now a bowling ball has to be measured along three axes to ensure it complies with the rules and doesn’t give an unfair advantage.
The last technological advancement that I will discuss is the lanes themselves. Traditional bowling lanes were made of wood, consisting of maple and pine boards, until synthetic lanes were first introduced in 1977. Since then almost all alleys have converted to the new lanes because they are cheaper and easier to maintain. These synthetic lanes combined with advances in lane oiling products and patterns, give a truer ball roll and higher scores.
These new lanes along with the advancement of ball technology has made it more difficult to prepare a lane condition that is fair to all bowlers. Highly skilled bowlers with high-tech equipment want oily lane conditions, whereas less skilled bowlers who don’t throw a ball that is as strong want less oil so that their ball comes up to the pocket (the pocket is the “strike zone”). These technological advancements have increased scoring to the extent that a perfect score of 300, which used to be a significant accomplishment, is now a regular occurrence. This is discouraging to new bowlers who are intimidated by the high scores and therefore don’t join leagues and tournaments which feeds the decline described earlier. The USBC is concerned that bowling is becoming a sport where technology rather than skill increasingly determines success.
So this has lead to changes. Technology advancements in the bowling ball, the lanes, and oil conditions have made an impact on the sport and recent studies have shown that the interaction of these factors are progressively growing out of balance, creating an integrity risk for the sport. After three years of research, the USBC has established new specifications designed to sustain the sport both currently and in the future.
Big Change#1 is the elimination of the balance hole. A balance hole is an extra hole in the bowling ball that is not used for gripping purposes. Balance holes are primarily used to make the ball weight legal to the current USBC standard if they are outside the legal limit after drilling. Unfortunately in recent years, balance holes have become a tool for pro shop professionals to manipulate the balls. In most cases the balance hole increases the hook(curve) potential. This new rule also means that league/tournament players will be required to use their thumb hole, which many consider optional depending on how they want to release the ball. If you do not want to use a thumb hole, you must have a ball drilled without one, and it must have a “+” where your palm will cover the symbol with each ball delivery.
Big Change#2 is new oil absorption guidelines specifying the allowable time range for oil absorption based on the coverstock of the bowling ball. The accumulation of oil on the ball (combined with the breakdown of oil on the lane) are supposed to be a part of bowling! They have even gone as far as to ban ball cleaning fluid. Almost every bowler I know, myself included, uses this! Once the new regulations go into effect (August 1, 2020) you can only use a dry towel to wipe your ball during league and tournament play.
I understand that these things may not seem like a big deal to a casual or recreational bowler, but for those of use who love the sport, it is significant. Mostly I think it sends a message that the USBC is willing to take drastic steps to ensure the future of the game, and it also shows that they believe limiting technology is the way to achieve their goal. I’m not yet sure whether or not I agree with that stance, but I have witnessed the changes to the game over my lifetime and we are not in a good place now. The volume of oil used on the lanes has tripled in the last few decades. The combination of advancing ball technology and high rev bowling styles is disrupting the oil pattern quicker. It has led to the lanes breaking down much faster, with less consistency and greater manipulation. All of this threatens the integrity of the sport. The technology of the bowling ball dictates how much oil is on the lane and the levels of oil is increasing to the point of being unmanageable. Traditionally when lanes break down, making the correct moves and quality shot making determine the winner. However, in this new environment, finding the right ball to match the lane conditions can be more important than execution or skill. That’s why people now show up to bowling with 6 or 7 balls when 2 (a strike ball and a spare ball) used to be the standard. By some counts, amateur bowlers average 40 pins higher per game than a professional bowler did 40 years ago, and it’s not because of skill.
The sport of bowling has been changed by technology, and the USBC feels as though these changes are lessening the importance of quality shot making and bowler’s skill. Only time will tell if these changes will have the intended effect and help stem decline. Many top scoring bowlers are likely to push back as this could mean a significant dip in their averages and tournament winnings. I just know that as a bowling lover and a purist at heart, I am in favor of measures that will bring more people to the sport…even if it means taking it back to the old school.
