Interesting Article in USA Today on December 4th

[Ozzzz]

Thought some of you might be interested in seeing this article from USA today on the state of bowling in the USA

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http://216.133.8.114/test/page2.jpg

 

[GeorgeF]

That is a great article, thanks for the post ozzzz.

Do you bowl in Vegas, what centre??

 

[unmarked]

once again i keep coming across this stuff. bowlers have improved very little, they just buy new gear which helps them roll higher scores

 

[Ozzzz]

George,

I bowl at a small house (40 lanes) in Henderson called Sunset Lanes. Not a bad house, they run a scratch singles league over the short summer season on a sport condition which attracts some very competent bowlers and its a lot of fun. The house is not that easy, tough carry some times. We also have a couple of ex-PBA bowlers in the league, great to see those guys struggle some of the time.

Ozzzz

 

[BlobOn]

small house of 40 lanes??? heheeheh the biggest in SA is 32. majority of houses here are 24.

 

[GeorgeF]

I bowled at Sunset, thats part of the Gold Coast, Orelans chain isn't it?? I had a soda with the pro shop guy there, nice guy. I bowled a summer league at the Orleans for a while before coming back to Australia. Looking forward to returning for the high roller in July.

Correct me if I'm wrong ozz

Castaways (formly Showboat) - 106 lanes
Orleans - 72 lanes
Texas Station - 72 lanes
Suncoast - 72 lanes
Sams Town - 72 lanes
Gold Coast - 72 lanes
Sunset - 40 lanes

 

[milton]

High scoring

Do bowlers feel the same way?
I am a bowling centre Manager in Brisbane who has just purchased a new Kegel oiling machine.
Our current machine is a Century 100 which is roughly 30 to 35 years old, Our highest league average was 214 on the left and 206 on the right.
Bowlers do not like to bowl in tournaments in my centre because the scoring is not high enough. May i add that I can agree that sometimes they are quite tough.
Now I have this new machine coming that will produce big scores if we want it to?? but my idea on bowling is to produce a good even consistant shot hopefully that will improve averages 10 to 20 pins - not 40 to 50, I do not believe that a 180 average bowler should average 250.
Its the same everywhere now, who cares if I bowl 300 (just send me the [/b]cheque) Yes it builds your confidence, yes you enjoy it more but is it really good for the game. There are some bowlers in Brisbane screaming out for tougher conditions and getting them in Sports Series Tournaments. Is this a trend that will continue? The bottom line is - are bowlers sick of closing their eyes and getting strikes?
Thanks - Jeff Payne.

 

[bfcc]

well jeff i think everyone nows how i feel about ditched up conditions. i hope that sport patterns are the future i would like to see every major bowling tournament in australia bowled on a sport pattern.in saying that i can understand why centre managers/owners put out easy patterns, it will keep the average league bowler happy letting then score big with little effort . lets face it the once a week league bowler is there for fun not to struggle on hard condition, now if you consider yourself a tournment bowler and want the chance to make a little money out of bowling then you should bowl on patterns that don't offer any help and the bowler has to do all the work.

jeff i think one of the main problems you had at milton was no-one new what they were going to get from week to week (just what i heard from the bowlers there) when you get the kegel this should stop the changes , as for condition ring batesy and find out what the pattern is on a wednesday night also the pattern they used for marys twin tour final, it seems like a fair pattern.

 

[syl]

Jeff, I agree with what you and bfcc say. I hope you can stick to that idea of providing a fair even condition without raising averages through the roof. There needs to be some difference between those who can read a lane and repeat a shot and those who hit and hope. The average league bowler wants to be able to shoot good scores, but if they have zero ability they should get zero result. To become better at any sport there needs to be some commitment to improve your skill level. This should involve PRACTICE not PURCHASE!

Jeff, good luck keeping your condition fair in the face of argument that your purchase of state of the art lane conditioning equipment should improve everyone elses "ability" to throw a bowling ball.

Having said all that, shouldn't having a Kegel mean that conditions for bowling league and conditions for bowling tournaments needn't be the same? Let the league bowlers have their satisfyingly high averages (not absurdly high though) and then change the condition for tournaments. If tournament level bowlers want to improve their game, don't practice in league, show some commitment and PRACTICE on tournament conditions. Is it possible for centre management to make the Kegel available to lay down a pattern (obviously at a resonable cost. They are running a business after all.) for bowlers to PRACTICE on? Batesy provides this service at Caboolture and as the Kegel equipment becomes available in more centres, then it should become available there too.

So shoot me down if you like, but that is my opinion.

 

[Ozzzz]

George,

I dont think Sunset is part of the coast group, atleast I have never seen anything to do with the coast group there and these places usually have a lot of cross promotions to their affiliates.

Next time you are in town you should come out to Henderson again, check out the format of our sport condition. We draw cards which have a lane assignment before every game, and that determines who you play and where, so potentially you could play the same person every game on a different pair (or the same pair). You can go the whole league and not play someone atleast once. I like the format a lot.

Here are the corrected details on the major bowling alleys...
Castaways (formly Showboat) - 106 lanes
Orleans - 70 lanes
Texas Station - 60 lanes
Suncoast - 64 lanes
Sams Town - 56 lanes
Gold Coast - 70 lanes
Sunset - 40 lanes

 

[boybrowny]

300 - ready or not...

UNMARKED -

"once again i keep coming across this stuff. bowlers have improved very little, they just buy new gear which helps them roll higher scores"

Obviously a bowler yourself, how many new balls have you bought and bowled a 300 with???

I refuse to let anyone tell me that I didn't earn my 300's. 20 years of bowling (and quite a bit of it) - even bowled a 300 in a tournament which was won on an average of less than 200 (no-one in the tournemant averaed over 200)- bowled one in a 5 man team event, bowling with two disabled bowlers on each lane.

I bowled a couple of ugly ones (couple of brookie strikes) - funny how I didnt manage to bowl any of these using brand new equipment????

The article also states that the total number of 300 games represents 0.025% of games bowled !

Walk into any bowling centre in Australia and ask the average league bowler "WHO HAS BOWLED A 300 HERE" - and you will be bloody lucky to get anyone to put up their hand.

Most of the bowlers I speak to havent even seen anyone bowl a 300.

To generalise all 300's as being based on minor ability, hugh open lanes and a new ball is simply not true or fair.


I believe a 300 I threw at Caboolture can be attributed to open conditions - but that is an isolated case.

I would like to hear from people who have thrown 300 games here in Australia -

How many of you believe that the conditions and ball contributed more to your 300 game than skill did????


Dont get me wrong - I agree that it is easier now to roll a 300 than ever before, but it is all relative - it is also easier now to walk from Brisbane to Perth (stops all the way - nice flat ground, mobile phones and the ability to have a support crew) - but I dont think you would say it is EASY.

So despite 300's coming easier - I dont class them as EASY, I would guess that 99% of bowlers who throw 300's have earnt them, not bought them.


ANY COMMENTS???

 

[Graham]

Re: 300 - ready or not...

even bowled a 300 in a tournament which was won on an average of less than 200 (no-one in the tournemant averaed over 200)-

You must be getting old Browny .. 2 bowlers averaged over 200 in that tournament (just over mind you-but over all the same) - you were one, and the other was ... now just who was that guy ? ;-)

In regards to the other stuff, I think that some bowlers a new ball will help someone get higher scores, whether we like it or not. If I look at what Unmarked said, didnt say anything about 300's being easy, but you can buy a ball and increase your scores. For the higher level bowler this isnt always true. But - if you get Joe Blow bowling at your local centre, and he is currently bowling with a 12lb Maxim bought at Cash Convertors for $20, NOT plugged and redrilled. Now Joe Blow bowls with this ball in league and averages 120. He decides to make an investment and buy himself a new ball for XMas. This ball is 15lb, drilled for him, and obviously drilled so it helps him not hinders him. Obviously scores are going to go up when you drill a ball that will fit you and is drilled to "help" you.

Another slant on this is when the person is using equipment that is not taken care of, hasnt seen a ball spinner in the best part of 3 years, lifters are shot to pieces. The new ball is drilled. Scores going to go up ? Sure they are.

I agree in part with Syl. Why not have a league and tournament conditions. I personally dont see why its such a bad thing in leagues around the country. The average Joe Blow doesnt want to go into League with his one ball and average 120 on a Sports Pattern. He wants to average 180. Heck he wants to average more. He doesnt practice, he cant afford it or doesnt want to.

Bowler numbers are declining in this country, and I think we have to look at a number of reasons why :

1) Bitchiness / Backstabbing : Yep believe me it exists in this sport. You do something and it goes around the traps faster than anything. All done by people who have nothing else to do in their lives but talk about other people. Nothing to talk about ? Lets make something up. Hey it happens, and maybe it exists in other sports. I never saw it in Cricket, and I can definately say it is one of the bad things of our sport.

2) Pricing : I personally think prices are too high in some areas. Whats the point in averaging $7 per game, if you are only getting 100 people through the door. If you are averaging $3 per game and you get 1000 people through the door, do the sums. It wont happen overnight, and that it was frightens some people. If you drop the prices then advertise that it really is value, people will come back. I think a few people have gone bowling in the last 3 or 4 years when the prices have gone through the roof. Sure they may have bowled that once when they were there. But they arent going to return. Bowling is crossed off the list of "value for money" things to do, and they are gone. 3 games for $20 is not value. Even if I didnt bowl, id rather spend $10 to go to a movie Heck i could even buy a big popcorn and a big drink and still have change out of $20. I wonder how many people are in the same boat or rather going to see a movie then go bowling.

AND that's just the open/social play. Theres a whole other debate about tournament bowling.

I know I probably went off track there, but there are so many reason why numbers are declining, I have touched on two. There are at least 3 or 4 others I can think of.

 

[unmarked]

firstly in reply to boybrowny, i never said bowling a 300 game was easy. however technology in bowling has made scoring much easier than it was many years ago. how can a bowler today with the latest resin ball, possibly more than one resin ball, bowling on very accurately laid oil patterns, compare himself to a bowler of 30 years ago?. the number of 300 games has exploded. i remember being a young bowler in New Zealand and a 300 game was a jawdropper for me. Now I just go 'oh yeah, how manys that now he has bowled?'

the thing is...the gear is too variable. if there was one set standard for oiling, and a set standard for ball composition, coverstock etc then we could possibly compare ourselves to bowlers of yesteryear.

in relation to grahams comments about backstabbing, yes it happens and its widespread, infact i have come across it on this site. and as i have said in previous posts "bowling without gossip, id love to see that".

 

[RobbieB]

Sorry Browney, you are just dead wrong about the 300's - the resin balls combined with the easier patterns prevalent today have made it much easier to shoot 300 than even 10 years ago. Note "easier", not "easy".
Look back 20-30 yearsd to the great names on the US pro tour. People like Dick Weber, Earl Anthony and the like, some of the best bowlers in the history of the sport, bowling every week. Many of them had less than 10 perfects in the career. Nowadays, it's not unusual for the pro's to have literally dozens.
If lane conditions are not a major factor in the nimber of perfects thrown, why is Caboolture averaging nearly one a week while other centres get a few a year? Are the bowlers at the higher scoring centres just so much better?
The balls these days lets everyone throw the kind of power ball that only the crankers had 20 years ago. Combine that with the ability to lay down a shot that makes the pocket wie open, and of course scoring goes through the roof. Unfortunately, that means that what should be a highlight of anyones career has been tarnished.