7 x 300 Games In 1st 8 Games Matchplay Pepsi Open

[Resurrection]

Basically its matter of numbers and by numbers I mean monetary numbers. There just isnt enough money put into the game here as in the states. Plain and simple as was said before, it is a professional sport over there. The problem over here is that we have a elite group of say 50 bowlers across the country (and that is being lenient) and they go to most of the tournys on the calender, then there is a large group of probably a couple of thousand who would love to but simply can't afford it (which is fine), then we have our trouble makers, the ones that have the money and do bowl in the tournys but when they only average 160 (when their league average is 210) they whinge and whine and say that the condition was rubbish and they go and tell all their mates so. So basically its a matter of only 50 bowlers really country wide that are holding our "professional scene up".

The question we have to ask ourselves as bowlers is "HOW CAN WE FIX THIS"

1. Take the oiling control away from proprieters
2. Have an actual sanctioning body that actually does something
3. Get appropriate Government funding that is entitled to US
4. Make coaching affordable for all
5. Have a tier system of improvement
6. Make tournaments affordable

Then and only then will we be able to make inroads internationally.

Just my opinion but if you just sit back and think about each of my points you will see that bowling as a sport in this country is a shambles and we need to stop, and start again from a solid building block. I have plenty more ideas if people wish to ask because the game is not yours, mine or a bowling centres, it is ours.

 

[jason_doust]

Good post Resurrection. It pretty much what the USBC is attempting with the Red, White and Blue patterns, so our discussion seems to be going in about the right direction.

It's very much like a great post Belmo put together about having Gold, Silver and Bronze patterns. You can then rank the score accoring to the difficulty of the shot. Like golf courses do, I'm told. (Me... Golf... bad...)

If we ban blocked lanes (like they used to be), we can still have fun and high scores and importantly, dignity.

 

[Geoff300]

Some proprieters will not stop laying patterns that make it easy for people to average 220+ on the "house condition" because they want people to come and bowl there. The average person thinks high scoring centre means, "Great lanes, set up well", when in fact it really means "Big Joke blocked lanes" making people have a false sense of security or a belief that the abilty they have is far greater than reality. That is why people who travel to bowl can only ave around 180 and cant understand why....Was that all said kindly enough !!!!
Seriously people there are not heaps of people in this country who have the ability to ave 200+, sorry but lane conditions account for the majority of those people. Full stop.

 

[dbcrow]

Some proprieters will not stop laying patterns that make it easy for people to average 220+ on the "house condition" because they want people to come and bowl there. The average person thinks high scoring centre means, "Great lanes, set up well", when in fact it really means "Big Joke blocked lanes" making people have a false sense of security or a belief that the abilty they have is far greater than reality. That is why people who travel to bowl can only ave around 180 and cant understand why....Was that all said kindly enough !!!!
Seriously people there are not heaps of people in this country who have the ability to ave 200+, sorry but lane conditions account for the majority of those people. Full stop.

Norwood Bowl in SA may well be bucking the trend. If you want challenging conditions - come to Norwood.