ARLINGTON, Texas – The United States Bowling Congress will no longer require UV content as a mandatory additive in USBC-approved lane oils but will continue to use lane oil with the UV additive for its championship tournaments.

The decision comes after USBC received comments from lane oil manufacturers Brunswick and Kegel supporting the change.

The UV additive allows the amount of lane oil applied to the lane to be read by tapes with a Computer Lane Monitor system. While the UV additive is no longer mandatory in all USBC-approved lane oils, manufacturers will be able to electively produce lane oils with the additive.

Due to the continued suspension of the 3-unit rule, less utilization of the technology, and less demand for measuring any lane pattern at any time (a survey of tournament managers across the country revealed 94.7% of local tournaments no longer utilize tapes to regulate their lane conditions), the equipment specifications committee moved to no longer mandate UV additive.

Kegel, as the official lane maintenance provider for USBC Championships, will continue to use lane oil containing UV additive for USBC championship tournaments such as the Open and Women’s Championships, USBC Masters, USBC Queens, U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open (among others). Protocols to confirm the lane pattern will remain in place at USBC Championships.

USBC-approved lane oils that continue to include the UV additive must still comply with USBC guidelines as outlined in the equipment specifications manual.

More information on those guidelines can be found in the equipment specifications manual (pg. 50/51) available here.