Bowling has been an ever evolving sport, living in the hearts of Americans as just a pastime, without them knowing of the technology behind it. Whether it’s an average family wanting to spend time together, or a group of PBA pros, the lanes have to be able to handle it all. With 48 years of experience, head mechanic for Cave springs and Harvest lanes, Andy O’Brien has a treasure trove of knowledge to spare. The Bowling industry is like any other, O’Brien explains.
“To start off, every industry is going to advance, you can’t stop progress. It’s going to happen. Typically in this business, every ten years it goes through vast changes” said O’Brien.
The largest part of the alley is the lanes, and without a second thought, they are all the same, but there are vast differences between them all. Harvest lanes are one of the only real wood lanes in the area, and there’s a reason for that. Even for Harvest, synthetic lanes are the future of the bowling business, being implemented the summer of 2026.
“Synthetic is just a more robust material, it’ll last longer. The problem with wood is it has to be refinished about every four or five years, and a lot of people aren’t doing that anymore because the synthetic lanes are cheaper than replacing the wood lanes,” said O’Brien. “To replace all the wood lanes would be half a million. Synthetic is about half that cost.”
Progressing with the alleys, bowling ball manufacturers stepped up their game as well. Putting asymmetrical cores inside the bowling balls creates a hook, allowing for the ball to hit the pins in a more consistent manner, making it much easier to get a perfect game of three-hundred. Manufacturers of the bowling balls continue to come out with a new line of products, stating that each is better than the last, boosting the market for the sport. Each new invention pushes for further inventions across the industry.
“Bowling ball manufacturers will come out with new stuff that’s stronger, and well, they’ll rip up the lanes, and the oil. So then the oil technology has to change to be able to combat it.” said O’Brien.
