So often these days we hear about the wide gap between your typical house shot (THS) leagues and the conditions on which the members of the PBA bowl in their world. With PBA Experience leagues, amateur bowlers across the country get a small taste of what conditions on tour are like and a barometer of sorts on how they stack up against the best bowlers in the world. We also hear stories quite frequently about how the local hot shot league bowler who averages 230+ in their mixed league finds little to no success on the PBA patterns. Too often though that bowler becomes frustrated with not being able to score like they normally do and they choose to stick with their mixed league, causing participation to suffer in PBA Experience leagues across the nation (even though the leagues have been a huge success in terms of participation numbers).
Now, my typical response would be to tell that same player to go out and practice on these patterns to gain some experience, or even suggest a lesson to point out flaws that can cause problems on a more difficult lane condition but not on the less difficult THS league conditions. But then I started to think about the situation at hand and started to try and come up with some other issues that PBA Experience leagues face, how they can be dealt with, and some other ideas that I've been pondering.
First, could it be the format of the leagues? I've seen/heard that many of these leagues are still handicap based leagues. Why?! I'm of the opinion that if you truly want the PBA Experience without having to sign up for a regional event or a TQR if the tour visits your town, that your league should be a scratch league. While making it a scratch league may turn off certain bowlers, it stands to reason that some of the more talented bowlers who may have decided to bowl these leagues if they were not handicap would replace those same bowlers.
Also, many of the leagues I've seen have traditional team formats in place. Again, seeing that 95% of PBA competition is singles competition I think the leagues should be conducted as singles leagues. One interesting format I've come across is one of the leagues from my local area, run by 10 Back Pro Shops at Sparez at the Springs in Margate, FL. Their league is run in a "progressive" format, meaning that you are bowling everyone in the league every game and points are awarded based on your score for that game against the rest of the league. (Example: If there are 25 players in the league, high game gets 25 points and low game gets 1) This seems like something that can keep the league itself exciting with points being rewarded for good games, and not just winning matches 165-140 and getting a point for beating your opponent.
Another idea that I think would add some value to the PBA Experience would be to use these leagues to determine your eligibility to become a PBA member. As it stands now, there are 3 ways to become eligible for PBA membership: Average over 200 in 2 or more USBC certified leagues or tournament clubs for a minimum of 36 games (which isn't too hard to do these days), average 190 in one USBC certified Sport league for a minimum of 36 games, or by cashing in one PBA tournament of any kind over the last 2 years. It is my opinion that the first of those 3 options is a bit archaic and should be done away with.
Even though the amount of bowlers in relation to the overall membership base of the USBC that average 200 is very low (around one-fourth), I still don't think that reaching that goal is sufficient to make you ready to join the PBA. Cashing in a PBA event shows that at the very least you are talented enough to compete in the PBA, regardless of what your league average is that should warrant joining the PBA if you wish to pursue it. But when it comes to using league averages to determine eligibility, I feel that it should be done on conditions that are PBA oil patterns or USBC Sport compliant oil patterns over enough games to truly determine an average...36 games being a good number. Those conditions are more of a true test of where or how you would stand on your own against the best that bowling has to offer. If you can pass the "test" in those leagues, then you should be ready to test yourself in your region against other PBA members.
I would hope this could be a way to grow participation in both USBC Sport and PBA Experience leagues, as well as having more of these types of leagues coming into demand during fall/winter seasons as many summer leagues are only 8 to 10 weeks long and may not meet a 36 game minimum requirement. Plus even if you don't wish to pursue being a PBA member, this may also help to start the process of rebuilding scratch leagues across the nation as many talented players lament the fact that there are so few to bowl in this day and age.
Son of PBA legend wins first regional title
19 year-old Kyle Troup of Taylorsville, NC won the PBA South Region Ft. Jackson,SC Non-Champions Open this past weekend. Kyle is the son of the legendary Guppy Troup, who himself has over 40 regional titles and is still one of the most popular players to ever grace the lanes due to his colorful persona and even more eclectic choice of wardrobe. Kyle is a player who throws it with two hands similar to the style used by PBA exempt stars Jason Belmonte and Cassidy Schaub. Congratulations to Kyle, who with his victory is now eligible to enter the 2011 PBA Tournament of Champions and compete for the $250,000 first prize.