Does something need to be developed to separate the League Bowler from the Tournament Bowler?

[Toon]

I have had a realisation. I'd like to hear some opinions whether they be positive or negative.

This is my realisation. Bowling is trying to cater for too many people.

All the lane conditons, new balls, bits and pieces to make your game better ( gloves, wrist supports, inserts) are all aimed at helping the low to middle average bowlers get to be a high average bowler.

Bowling loses it's credibility because this has gone to such an extreme that someone with an average game can average over 200 and bowl 300s. No offense to some on here, but I recall seeing a 300 bowled by someone in Australia who started on a different spot on the approach each shot and bowled with just 2 fingers in the ball and I remember seeing a few brooklyns. Where I worked on my shot and approach for years before I ever threw my first.


I am also going to use the golf analogy. I am a mid range golfer, I play off a 9 handicap. Which isn't the best, but quite far from the worst. I am not that gifted at golf. I hit decent scores because I have gear thats suited and fitted to me and helps me in the areas I lack...which is a lot.

The difference.....

In golf, I can hit par on every hole sometimes at the local public course that anyone can use.

If I want to compete with the state/country's best at an top level. I would be playing on a course that has tight fairways, enormous greens and every shot would have to be exact to score well.

In bowling, I feel that a lot of centres and tournaments are still trying to cater for the player who wants to throw big scores and stroke his ego, rather than the player who wants to show the world that he/she is the most skilled player there and that's why they won.

I personally think we need to develop something thats separates the league bowler from the tournament/pro bowler to boost our reputation as a sport back up.

Not sure if the solution is making new regulations for weight blocks, coverstocks in bowling gear for high prize leagues and tournaments. Maybe regulating drill layouts.. Or outlawing some lane patterns and oil ratios.

How do you think we can return the Sport status and credibility to our sport and give the top bowlers of our country the respect they deserve.

 

[John_Velo]

Hey Toon,

We ran a league down our way that was on a variety of Kegal Challenge Pattern. Not overly difficult but certainly harder than the House Shot. Was it liked by all, no, just the bowlers that bowl tournaments and Sport Series events. most averages were under what they normally throw. Mine was no different, lower than a house pattern average.

I don't think much needs to be done as the League Bowler just wants to turn up, throw good scores and really have a good time. It technically does not matter to most as long as they have fun.

Maybe lobby your centre manager to have sports nights laid down, maybe they have a quiet night of the week and they could lay a sports pattern on a few lanes for the more serious to practice on.

Changing the equipment will make little difference in the near future as it would require a global change to be made. But a bowler can choose to improve their own game by increasing the difficulty for themselves. Example, only use a plastic ball in league.

 

[Toon]

You are right John, but in my eyes, and of course this is just one mans opinion.

For bowling to be regarded and respected as a sport, there needs to be a distinction between the average Joe and your George Frilingos, Carl Bottomly etc.

At the moment, when you have the best bowlers in the country shooting the same scores as half of the decent league bowlers. That's where we lose our validity as a sport. That's why I think something needs to be developed to separate the men from the boys.

Personally, I just bowl for the social value and because I love the sport. I am happy as long as the pattern isn't a complete ditch.

I know this sounds crazy but to me, the answer is to have manufacturers to develop balls for League and a category of balls for tournaments where you have restrictions on CGs, Coverstocks, Weight blocks etc.

I am sure to get flamed for this, but I am fine with this.

 

[BigDaz]

I dont know how to say what i'd like to say here, without sounding like a total a$$hole.

With such a variety of ball brands now you absolutely can not regulate that. If i had the best Sandwich shop in town and the SMAA (Sammich Making Assosiation of Aus) told me group 1 can have Ham but group 2 couldnt i'd tell them to mind their own business and keep doing things my way. Bowling companies will continue to do the same. They will all continue to push the boundries with core and coverstock technology. Which i personally think is great. It gives us, the bowler, an easier task of making proper gear purchases. And most brands now have a good enough variety so that you could stick with 1 brand and have a full Tourny kit.

Regulating layouts? No. Anybody who knows about laying out a ball properly not pin up pin down etc etc does and should have an advantage. I've spent the last year researching and crafting my knowledge and if somebody told me i could only use certain types of layouts i'd quit tomorrow. Im a big boy and my weight and lack of proper training of form and technique has given me a clear disadvantage that i will never make up. I'll never compete with the top aussie bowlers. But i can buy a ball of any type and drill it to not only suit my stats but any condition i'm met with. I've spent many nights and days obtaining this knowledge and its the only advantage that i hold above others. Not all others obviously.

Im trying not to sound bitter. But i see people coming on here saying the game is too easy. From what i have seen (which is alot since i started playing tournaments) The best bowlers over the weekend or on the day are 8 times out of 10 the ones taking home the number 1 spot. In a few cases the front runner has a bad block or 2 and somebody on the flip side has 2 good finishing blocks or a small handful are dueling for top place.

I have bowled in about 15 tournaments and 10 NSW Sport series days in the last 3 years. When i bowl, i always bowl A/1st squad, almost always watch all of the 2nd and if theres one, 3rd squad too. Always watch finals days weather im in the cut or not. And the winner has never been a guy who just walked straight from the league ranks and blitzed seasoned and experienced bowlers. Those guys have the skills and knowledge and mental discipline to compete at 210+ on hard patterns. That stuff can't be bought in a proshop. Its earned from hard work.

Johnny Hotpants would never give somebody like George a run on a proper sport pattern. The main reason i stick around and watch other squads and finals is because you get to see how good these guys really are, as long as your looking for the right things. Scores dont mean anything. If Johnny bowls 220 ave in league and a 210 ave wins a National Event, that doesnt mean that he'd give them a shake up at the Nats. He'd lose his shot after 1.5 games and if hes not a spare shooter or a clever ducky then he's in trouble.

Theres nothing sweeter than seeing one of our top guys having one of those days where they are laying the ball down and hitting a spot no wider than 1 board, hitting their rpm, speed, tilt and rotation every time like EARL (Bowling robot). Then u might see a shot or 2 roll up early, more often then not you see the 3 and 1 move instantly. Everyone plays the transition different but its those little nuances that set the Leagueturtles and the Tourneyboppers apart. Guys like that dont get outdone by league bowlers.

Theres quite a big difference between walking in and throwing 220 in a 3-4 game league and throwing it over a 20+ game weekend.



tl;dr I dont think LeagueTurtles and Tournybobbers can be seperated. If anything we should bring them together. I get some terrible looks from people like im their mortal enemy or not allowed to be part of "their" world. I just wanna have fun bowling.

 

[Toon]

Theres quite a big difference between walking in and throwing 220 in a 3-4 game league and throwing it over a 20+ game weekend.

This is my point though. This "difference" is only known to Tournament bowlers. To everyone else, it's the same thing and that's why Tenpin is losing it's credibility and it's status. Because the scores that the best bowlers throw is no different that some league bowlers.

Anywho, I've had my say.

 

[Roysa]

Personally i think the actual damage has been done in the marketing and promotion of the GAME. Note i didnt use the word sport.

To me and many i know it is a sport but to the regular Joe and Joanne in the street its a game. Its in the same bucket as "Lasertag" or Putt Putt. Now why is that??

Simple.... its been marketed that way for as long as i can remember and never promoted as a Sport other than to those who spend a lot of time in bowling centres like i did as a kid growing up.

Who can finish this sentence....

"For $6.50, you get 2 games, shoe hire, H D F & a C" ??????

Yep it sticks in my head too... only thing that has changed is the price, but the general jist of the promotion is still the same.

Unfortunately the phrase "Lets go bowling" is now used in reference to a social work gathering where beers can be consumed, multiple balls can hit the pin sweep all at the same time and the occasional skull can be cracked on anvilane because the sign hanging from the roof isnt clear enough to see when the lights are out !!!!

Toon, you originally said bowling is trying to cater for too many people, you are probably right but without the beer swilling socialies the league bowlers dont have a centre to bowl in. The current state the sport is in means we have to persist, for now atleast and no regulation or seperation of ability will change this.

 

[Ryan_E]

Wheres my hotdog fries and a coke? :'(

 

[jason_doust]

The simple answer is "unblock the lanes." Like most simple answers, they don't take into account the complexities of the problems faced.

So many houses have had such outright cheating blocked conditions laid for so long that the outside 9 boards of the panels are now glazed. Put oil on that stuff and it plays like greased ice on the outer right hand side. (The last Australia Cup was testimony to that.) The panels at Tuggeranong are now so utterly beyond redemption that they're probably only good for laying 8:1 or higher, at a guess. And Tuggeranong is nowhere near alone in the "blocked to death" club.

So what's the answer..? It's many answers, most of which I probably don't know, but I'll suggest a centre by centre appraisal and tweaking of an appropriately playable (not hard, but not stupidly easy) pattern by experienced players who are part of some TBA-backed initiative. Maybe it happens every year when the lanes are measured up. Then managers have to not cave in when the worst of the squealing league hacks (you know the kind) can no longer keep up with players who hone their craft and can actually roll a ball half decently. Maybe practice lineage will go up. I doubt it though. With the provision of free hook, free area and free hit, bowling has been cheating for league for decades in most places, so what sort of customer base has it subsequently created? Not the sort that likes to practice.

But let's face it. Bowling's proven decades-long record of no backbone when it comes to the sport's (yes, sport's) integrity is proven. It also correlates neatly with bowling's declining numbers. If bowling keeps catering to the lowest common denominator, that's what it'll get.

Back to work for me.

 

[Ben Woods]

Theres quite a big difference between walking in and throwing 220 in a 3-4 game league and throwing it over a 20+ game weekend.

This is my point though. This "difference" is only known to Tournament bowlers. To everyone else, it's the same thing and that's why Tenpin is losing it's credibility and it's status. Because the scores that the best bowlers throw is no different that some league bowlers.

Anywho, I've had my say.

if you throw a tourny bowler on a "House / League Pattern" expect them to hit and average at least 230+...

A few things a tourny bowler will have over most league bowlers...

- Consistency!!!
- knowing what to do when the oil moves throughout a 10 game block
- knowing what ball to choose with differing oil patterns
- close 99% of these spare frames

Oil patterns are what separates these bowlers.

 

[jason_doust]

if you throw a tourny bowler on a "House / League Pattern" expect them to hit and average at least 230+...

A few things a tourny bowler will have over most league bowlers...

- Consistency!!!
- knowing what to do when the oil moves throughout a 10 game block
- knowing what ball to choose with differing oil patterns
- close 99% of these spare frames

Oil patterns are what separates these bowlers.

Good points, but the one in bold is not always true if you have a high rev rate. For example, Chris Thomas averages more in tournaments than in league. His league house is so walled up that if he misses right, his ball will over-react and miss left and often vice versa. I had a very similar experience in the ACT, where the house shots are set up for straighter players, as they are the majority and by virtue of having the weight of numbers, do the majority of the complaining!

Accuracy is the biggest issue when a typical league bowler gets on a tournament shot, as they don't have to practice being terribly accurate in league. No blame game here. We are all products of our environments. I genuinely feel for these guys when they struggle and wish that there was no such thing as the velvet cage we call a "league condition" to limit them this way.

 

[invisible]

On top of wat jason posted i could b wrong here tell me if i am jason. but also yes tournament bowlers are more accurate but that can also b a down fall on house shots if a tournament bowler is to accurate on a house shot the ball has a tendency to b over under coz of being able to hit the same target more then twice in a row so the conditions transitions alot quicker then they anticipate. Many pros say it even belmo says it on a house shot they dont bowl as well as bowling on tournamebt patterns coz they are to accurate. plus their rev rates are another factor

 

[GeorgeF]

Interesting topic that's for sure.... A bunch of friends of mine toyed with the idea of having a national handicap system similar to that of golf. In principle it sounds simple and works however the reality is that bowling is a unique animal for which it doesn't work. There are so many variables in bowling I believe we would never have the unity amongst centres to do it.

I bowl league and have a slightly higher average than everyone else in the league but I can assure you over 3 games I get beat up pretty often, however put me in a tournament over 20 games and therein lies the difference between 'league' and 'elite'. Consistency, understanding of technology and transition sets the elite apart. Anyone in this country can beat me, Belmo, Walshy, Lean and Little over 2 or 3 games however over 20 games that group of people who can win decreases significantly.

Just like in golf, tournaments are not held over a few holes, they run over a few days bringing the best to the top. If you want to be an elite athlete, think like one, develop a game like one, practise and never stop learning! I don't think restricting technology or equipment is the answer

 

[Graeme Rose]

Quick answer, but hard to implement...... 8:1 or less patterns & 100% of 300 handicap

 

[jimcross]

Quick answer, but hard to implement...... 8:1 or less patterns & 100% of 300 handicap

Gee, you went close to getting it perfect. Just add 50% of age to handicap !!!...... Then----Stand Back !! Here I Come !!!