Have you ever bowled on a sport condition?
If you have what did you think of it?

I personally like bowling on those conditions. I'm not
saying I score well on them that often but it makes you
have to make shots, and when I do make good shots I feel
that I actually earned something. Unlike bowling on some
house conditons where its just a matter of throwing the
ball to the right and hoping you carry better than
everybody else.

I've bowled in a Sport league the past two years, mainly to sharpen my spair shooting.  However, "sport bowling" has been around for years, it's just that they defined a set of specs to make it uniform (Team USA, Team Challenge, etc).  The problem I see with it is that the surface, players and pattern can cause such a disparity in the shot.  There are some easy Sport shots and some ridiculous ones.  Three weeks ago, I had the front 9.  The track had opened up little and I had two lefties on my pair so there was carrydown in the middle to create a little hold.  I threw the ball well but I had a few boards to play with and only moved my feet 1 board.  This past week I crossed with 3 righties playing the same area as me and I was literally moving every 3rd frame.  Had to stand in front of the ball return and play 5th arrow by the end of the night.  Moved a total of 15 boards!  This was all on the same pattern.  

The other problem is that the shot can change so quickly that I don't see how any one could actually learn on it.  If I were a beginning or even an intermediate bowler,  I would have a heck of a time figuring out if it's the lanes or me.  I hit the 2nd arrow in frame 1 and strike.  Two frames later hit 10 and come light.  Was it me or did the lane change?  Most beginning and intermediate bowlers don't know about their game to determine which one.  I see it all the time in the league.  It's not just a matter of execution, but also lane reading and adjustments.  That's a lot to throw on a new bowler.

This is probably a stupid question,but what exactly is a sport shot?My high school team qualified for state and I'm guessing that's what they're going to put down.I know there's a bunch of different types,but what is the main thing that they have to follow?Is it dry in the middle and heavy oil outside or heavy oil carrydown or what?I'm sure i've bowled on it before,it's just nobody's ever came straight out and say it's a sport shot...
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Edited on 4/15/2004 11:40 PM

If I'm not mistaken not only is a sport condition a
ratio of 2 to 1 but isn't the minimum units of oil
allowed also higher than the normal ABC minimum
requirement of 3 units.

chitown, that actually is not true at all.  Each shot is different, and depending on what bowling balls you have, the shot might require you to swing the ball out a bit.  Some shots develop a bounce area where if you get it inside of that bounce spot, you're in trouble big time.

I would say you are right for the most part, but I have seen quite a few sport shots that require me to loop the lane a bit.

The only bad thing really about the sport shot is you are at the mercy of your equipment.  For practicing purposes, it doesn't really matter, but for tournament conditions, you can easily be "shut out" on the sport patterns if you do not have a variety of equipment.  I suppose the next step to making the game truly fair would be to give everybody the same bowling ball!  Probably a pancake weight block with any coverstock.

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Brian
MichiganBowling.com
http://www.MichiganBowling.com

Famous Last Words of a Pot Bowler--"Ok, but this is my last game!"

I realy love sport condition idea, it just brings everything and everyone back to reality.. Such as, you wont see every Tom, Dick and Harry standing left and swinging it right hitting a 5 board area and hitting the pocket consistently... And worst of all averaging the same or higher than many other bowlers that are much more accurate. And then talking Sh!t about how good they are??
I must say Anthony has a very good point with saying a sport shot might be quite hard for a beginner, but I must somewhat disagree that learning on the easy stuff might be worse for them in the long run if you don't have to learn to hit a mark.(Just an area)
 Good Luck Friends!

Edited on 4/16/2004 11:56 AM

I'll be bowling in my 1st Sport League this summer.  I am excited and a little apprehensive about it.  At least I suckered a friend into bowling with me.  He is a rookie to Sport Bowling also.

If all goes well, I find it a learning experience, and the league doesn't laugh me out of it, I may stick with it for the winter.
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To err is human to be thonged is divine