Whats Doin - Woden Bowl please tell me it isnt TRUE!

[Scotty Gooch]

The ACT Seniors have just completed their first weekend of roll offs Saturday 11/5 @ Belconnen Bowl and sunday 12/5 @ Woden Bowl.

Now I'm sure most will remember when the ACT/STHN NSW sheild team rolled off at Woden there was serval problems firstly starting with not being able to get into the bowl because no one told the staff they where on so the bowl wasnt even open. Now it seem that Management and staff have blown it again with the Seniors, apparently their lane oiling machine had broken down a few days ago and when the Seniors turned up on Sunday the lane had not been prepared, thats right NO OIL, now I really hope this is a rumour for the sake of the sport, I know the seniors are old but they still deserve the standard of service esspecially for a 8 game selection roll off.

Now before all the Woden people start saying Goochie is just giving us a spray because he runs another centre in the region let me say thats not why I have posted. If what I have heard is true this is not good for the sport and not good for Woden bowl after all the rumours floating around that the centre was going to close down.

I just would like some answers and more importantly I think the 23 Seniors who slugged it out on that condition on Sunday deserve to know what the hell went wrong.

Goochie.

 

[SandyB]

Thanks to Goochie for sticking up for Seniors. I don't know about the being old tag, but I sure as hell felt that way after bowling on those disgusting conditions on Sunday.
We have been promised by the "Management" (is there any) of Woden Bowl that we will get properly prepared lanes every year, and every year we get nothing. This will be the last time the Seniors will be bowling at Woden.
I am sure that another centre would have loaned Woden an oiling machine to prepare the lanes if they had asked. Are bowling centres more concerned with money than serious bowlers these days? I dont think we have to wait for an answer, we already know that social bowlers are more important.

 

[Matt Francis]

Goochie

Dont reduce your reputation by entering into publicly slagging centres.

From attending the Sunday morning games 2 and 3 of the role offs (had to see my mum some how) and talking to some of the bowlers

Lanes seem to have been dressed from 1 to 10 above that had been left due to oil machine problems.
Unfortunately some of the dressed lane broke down and the undress lanes were used.

Every body had to bowl on the same conditions.

Typical bowlers looking for a reason for their performance.

Those who adjusted scored.

Are you going to re wash and oil different if Rachuig decided your condition is not what we want on Saturday morning. No I didn’t think so were stuck with what you put down.

 

[Matt Francis]

Sorry guys Ive been out

Scott you didnt answer my question. My question was would you change the condition Saturday Morning if we chose it not to be to our liking. I know the answer is no, no centre would. This adds to my point everyone has to bowl with whats there.

Sandy
If we want to dig every centre has hads its issues, Every centre has gone through the rough times. This centre has been trying to improve, unfortunaley the senior hit the centre on a weekend where thing weren't 100%. I belive during the other two roll offs things were fine.

Now what are the seniors doing to assist the companies who run these centre to improve their poformance??

If you enjoy an experience tell everyone, if you don't tell the company.

 

[IMFEDUP]

while u r complaining i invite all u people to come and bowl at moonah bowl for a season... then you'll feel as though your home centre is a bloody bowlers heaven!!!

i dare ya!!!!

 

[kagg69]

Matt

How rude are you, what do you mean by "what are the seniors doing", by constantly standing by the centre each year and having their roll offs there thats what they are doing to support that centre and the company. But I must admit after 3 years of being disappointed I too would be disheartened. We pay for a service and when we dont get that service then we have the right to complain.

 

[SandyB]

Matt
I dont know where you got your info from, but we were told by the staff that none of the lanes had been prepared because the oiling machine had broken down.
We organised roll offs at Woden on the understanding that the lane conditions were good but the machinery was likely to break down. We were not prepared for bad conditions as well as maintenance.
This is not the first time this has happened, but it will be the last. If the committee had not been overruled by one person, who liked the conditions, we would have all walked out before we started.

 

[Matt Francis]

Sandy

I only have what I saw and what diffrent people said.

You can then explain why down on lane 3,4,5,6
Why the ball seem to go long as for the 13,14 the ball seemed to turn in the middle of the lane ?????

 

[Scotty Gooch]

Matty,

Not trying to start a public slanging match, just trying to find out what the real story was.

The Bowlers and the industry doesnt need things like this to happen. Its not about starting a debate its about a level of service that should have been there for competitive bowlers.

I did say I'm just trying to find out what went wrong or if all the bowlers I had spoken to where just having a bitch over nothing.

And to answer your question I gave the committee a guarentee in regards to lane conditions for my centre and I will personally make sure that they are of the best standard, which is what Rachuig, DeVeer, Juniors and Seniors deserve for a State Roll off.

Goochie

 

[SandyB]

Matt
I agree that some lanes went longer than others.
3 & 4 turned half way down
5 & 6 were not too bad
7 went straight
8 nearly came back to hit you in the face
9 & 10 were broken
11 & 12 were probably the best
13 went straight
14 was just a little worse than 8

The major gripe we have about Woden is that in the last three years we have been promised the centre would be prepared for our roll offs. We have been assured and have it in writing things will improve, but they still haven't. Last time we bowled there the centre wasn't open when we arrived, and this years situation. I believe we are not the only organisation who have had trouble with this centre.
I am all in favour of having roll offs in all four centres and that we should be able to adjust to any condition but it is very frustrating when we have trouble with one centre each year.

 

[DrewC]

Hi Sandy,

Noticed some of your comments and can probably answer a couple of questions for you. (Hopefully) Unfortunately as people in Canberra (and now most of oz) are aware Woden has been a troubled little centre for a couple of years. They have gone through several management changes and also tech staff changes in a short period of time which has hurt the place. It may also explain why some of the promises which have been made have not been furfilled. The current staff are doing their best to turn it all around but as most people know when your at the bottom and have a bad day it makes it look pretty ordinary. Nobody can promise a condition (lane) to make everyone happy, it's just not possible. All they can do is put out enough oil so you can bowl and not chuck and hopefully whatever pattern they decide on keeps the majority happy.

As already mentioned they had a shocker at the junior roll offs and again at the senior roll offs but in between the Deveer and Rachuig Roll offs went off pretty smoothly and was quite high scoring but nobody mentions that because that's how it's supposed to be.

Also unfortunately the rumour mill has been working overtime about Woden for the last few years carrying on that it's on the verge of closing every few weeks so on and so forth which creates a negative feeling about the place before anyone even steps foot in it.
To your comment that they care more about social play than league or tournament play then that's simply not the case. We have one of the most profitable cash leagues (if not the most) in Canberra which has come about by Woden supporting the league with a very generous game rate. I don't think anyone without sponsorships can match the sort of payouts we receive and this was acheived by sitting down with management and coming to a fair package for all concerned.
They also support a few of the tournament bowlers that stayed with the centre with sponsorships.
It's great to see the seniors supporting the centre and hopefully you guys can sit down with management or perhaps even the regional manager and sort something positive out of this for next year they are open to approach!

Hopefully between the committees and the centre working together all the bowlers can be kept happy.

Good luck with it and sorry for the length of this post.

 

[Scotty Gooch]

MY GOD WHAT HAVE I STARTED! Maybe I should have started this topic in the general forum rather than the Book of Shame then it might have been taken the right way.
Its fairly clear from the time I started this topic that I was trying to give Woden Bowl the oportunity to say the things Drew has just said, it was never about bagging the centre and quite the oposite in the last 10 years I have been at Queanbeyan we have tried to work closley with Woden ( Hey I like the Place) but in any business you dont know where you are going wrong until you are told and I guess if we lived in a perfect world when the customer is happy they would come up and say "Good Job" but we dont live in that world and after all my years in Centre Management I have heard very few good comments.

I started this topic to give Management or even the Regional Management the chance to tell their side of the story (not to start a blue with my mates).

I still believe the ACT Seniors deserve an appology of some sort after all they had to bowl on that day, and I know that this may well have been an isolated incident after all many of my league bowlers also bowl at Woden so I hear about the improvements every week.

Goochie