If You Are a Serious Bowler, You Need to Know About Bowling Lane Oil

Recently, Kegel has been steadily improving his machines, to the point where today’s machines do all the work without human intervention.

Your ways and I persist because amateurs apply oils very differently than professionals use.

At your local bowling alley, the public lanes have a so-called “high” ratio: The oil found in the middle of the lane is eight to 10 times more than the outside. To the left and right of this street, many bowling alleys have no oil at all.

“For a normal routine at your gym, there’s a certain amount of precision,” says Tackett. Because there is less oil on the side of the road, the shots going in both directions slow down; if the ball is thrown with the right curve to return to the middle of the fairway, it will curve well in the dry. “It makes it easier to hit the pocket.”

(By “pocket,” Tacket means the sweet spot in the front corner of the 10 pins. For right-handed bowlers it’s the spot between the first and third pins a little to the right of center; for the left, and left.

However, in reality, the situation is more complex. Instead of 8:1 or 10:1 ratios of oil between the road and the outside, PBA uses ratios of 3:1 and down—even as low as 1:1 in some cases. Knowing how each board is oiled at the start of a match will help the pros to make better shots. “You have to be very precise, not just with where you put the ball on the fairway, but with the speed you’re throwing and the change you’re applying to the ball,” Tackett says.

Oil types also vary in length up to a distance of 60 feet. Most common types start at 40 feet before the oil passes near the pins, but there are variations.

As motor oil technology has advanced, understanding and adapting to motor oil patterns and ratios has become a critical skill for professional chefs. Tackett compares it in some ways to golf.

“Oil adds water and trees and rooms,” he says. “It’s just putting more obstacles in the way.”

The PBA, the sport’s governing body, likes those comparisons. Instead of using the latest advances in fuel technology to set the roads for each PBA tournament, the organization takes a different approach, deliberately using different conditions in different events to challenge the best players.

“It forces players to think, change, and create, and that’s how we strive for greatness,” says Tom Clark, PBA Commissioner, via email. “That’s what makes the game fun, exciting and exciting every week.”

PBA has a library of 20 grams of vegetable oil for the 2026 season from Kegel, which uses different rates, lengths, and specific oil compositions, each with its own characteristics. A different method is used for almost every event throughout the season. For example, the PBA Tournament of Champions on the week of April 20 used the “Don Johnson 40” model, named after the famous soccer player. Don Johnsonand “40” refers to the height of the model in feet.