Are bowling lanes flat

[The Family Cyclist]

Went bowling with family last night and some friends

The ladies Inc my wife tried to go for accuracy with LOW speed and at times the ball would move almost from one gutter to the next

The willy wavers boys Inc me went for style damage and aggression and largely the ball went a lot straighter, admitted sometimes straight into the gutter

Now I'm wondering was the lane dodgy hence the large movement or in the same ilk as a spin bowler v a fast in cricket was the low speed of their bowling allowing unintentional rotation to affect the balls movement?

[Diver300]

I'm fairly sure that a bowling lane is supposed to be flat, but that there are enough bowling lanes around that some won't be flat.

A slope to one side will give the ball a small acceleration to that side. The sideways movement created by that acceleration goes up as the square of the time. A slow bowling ball could easily be three times slower than a fast one, so the slope would affect a slow ball 9 times as much as a fast ball, which would account for what you saw.

[PaulF]

They should be flat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_alley#Modern_day but as @Diver300 says many may not be.

[Jaded]

I think your answer is tucked in this long Wiki page.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_ball

"Greater ball speeds give the ball less time to hook, thus reducing observed hook though imparting more kinetic energy to the pins; conversely, slower speeds allow more time for greater hook though reducing kinetic energy."

'hook' is a phase of the bowling ball's motion down the alley.

[The Family Cyclist]

Was definitely a massive speed difference. Didn't seem to have speeds displayed but I know from previous bowling wife's sub 5mph and I'm in the 18 to 20 mph bracket

Saying that she beat me last time we went but was a different alley

[fruitcake]

Regularly went bowling as a teenager, so I went from being a small weak person to being a larger stronger person. I found that the ball would curve off toward the gutter when it approached the pins whenever it had little velocity. That was pretty much every ball I bowled for the first coupe of years. I was absolutely convinced the far end of the lane was convex in order to create this effect. It was when I was able to apply some power that the ball would travel down the centre line, and then only when I was able to combine power with control. Developing that accuracy was, I figured, all of the skill in ten-pin bowling.

I'm ambivalent toward bowling. I'll often enjoy it for the first few minutes then find it frustrating. That and the shoes look silly. The air hockey table was fun though.