The scoring pace is continuing to increase year after year. I remember topics in this website 2 or 3 years back when people were proclaiming that the balls would not get better and the scoring pace will flatten out. It has not. Watch when this year is over and we see another scoring increase.
I remember topics years ago about the average award score used to be 1 in 130,000 and recently its 1 in less than 100.
Lets not isolate the reason for the scoring pace being limited to balls or patterns. Lane surfaces are also a serious factor. Stronger competition between centers have caused them to keep in repair flat gutters and pin decks, kick backs. The centers that are producing lots of scores are doing many more things consistantly correctly. Not to mention as pointed out on here that knowledge of bowling know how is exponentially better than ever.
In the 80's I averaged in the 220's and had many 300's/800's. And in all honesty being a head mechanic all those years we tried everything we could think of to "bend" the rules to allow higher scoring. Dont begin to think that the 80's are considered "back in the day" because our scores were inflated then as well.
I shot my first 300 back in 1977 on a pattern of 10 to 10 oiled 28 ft buffed to 38 ft with 3 coats of oil in both directions. Still this was when it was 1 in 75,000 award scores. I got a real (10k)gold ring with a real ruby and a real diamond in the middle (of course this was the last year they gave gold rings away for free). I started bowling in germany on military bases in the mid 70's as a youth/adult and averaging 190's. I walked into the US bowling centers and instantly average 210's over nite.
For anyone who has not bowled through the transition of the 70's through today, you can not understand how simple the game has become. Just as I cannot understand how simple the game became from the 50's to the 70's. No matter what the majority of bowlers say (because they have not transitioned over the years) the game is unbelievably easy...PERIOD. The numbers speak for themselves... a 261 national high average, a 230+ (sport compliant national average...LOL). 99.9% of all national high scores have been re-established in the past 4 years. More award scores per bowler, and 1000% increase in award scores with 75% less bowlers than in the 70's.
The bottom line is, when you learn to take advantage of todays technology (and I am not refering to only bowling balls) the games becomes a joke. Because you go beyond the curve where skill is lessoned and you understand it.
Truthfully I quit this bowling game two years ago watching what I saw. My son asked me to bowl with him this year so I shoed up and do not practice, I dont take the game serious and of course I suck.. averaging 215 at the break but averaging about 225 for the last 6 weeks. Why?? Because I have drilled up new equipement to better exploit the THS, surface, pin decks. I am over the hill, 70 lbs over weight and still I keep up with the Jones. Thats not to point out that I am a good bowler but to point out that it is not about skill cause I dont have much anymore and I freely acknowledge it albeit I dont want to accept it.
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