Is it possible to make the qualifying a couple more games for future tournaments?  Me and some friends would come down from northern PA, but only 6 games of qualifying really is not worth it for us.  You probably would get alot more entries from further out areas (Allentown/Scranton, Jersey, Baltimore, DC) if you made them 8 or 10 gamers on these Kegel patterns (and do away with the stepladder finals).  I like the idea with the Kegel patterns, but just telling you what might help increase your entries from what I have heard from others around me.  Good luck with the tournament.  

 

Edited by 9back on 2/8/2011 at 10:02 AM

I agree with 9back's post.  I could get about 10-15 more guys to come up from the Baltimore-DC-noVA area if the format was longer.  We really are missing a monthy/bimonthly 10 gamer in the area since RT stopped running his at Falls Church in noVA.  I really believe that the poor approaches at Falls Church scared away alot of bowlers, and if they had it at a different venue, RT's 10 gamers would still be running today.  Alot of bowlers, including myself, are chomping at the bit to bowl some longer format tournaments on something other than a house shot where you need to average 240+ to win.  I know that the longer formats would cause many more to make the hour or 2 drive to East Lincoln to bowl.  Look at Leisure's 10 gamer last week, they got over 90 entries I believe.

 

I know this is not Rick's fault and he runs great tournaments, but the tournament at Colony Park in York this weekend was cut from 8 games to 6; and I know at least a handful of bowlers (who are not local to York) who are now not going or going to another tournament due to the shorter 6 game format.  I believe there is a big difference between the 6 gamers and the longer formats, and many bowlers enjoy the 10 gamers due to the option of running even more side action (instead of 2 sets of brackets, you can run 3 or 4 sets, for example), and will gladly pay the extra $5-$10 in extra lineage for double or triple the action. 

 

Bottom line, you will get more bowlers who are willing to make the drive for the longer format tournaments, they want to make it worth their time.  I am not telling you how to run your tournaments, nor am I complaining.  I am just telling you the word on the street, and how you might be able to increase entries from bowlers who may live further away.  The bowlers who live close by will probably attend regardless of the format.  Hope this helps.    

 

 

Edited by pocket710special on 2/9/2011 at 12:17 PM

East Lincoln Lanes, thank you so much for welcoming comments from bowlers like myself.  Although I may not speak for the entirety of the bowling community, I believe I convey an accurate description of the tournament bowler's thought process.

 

In regards to your March 27th date, this may be a bad date for this tournament.  As of right now, there is a VMSBT tournament (a popular Baltimore/DC area tournament organization) on that day, which may cause you to lose alot of entries for your tournament.  If you look on www.40boards.com and click on the "Tournaments" tab on the left, you will see the tournaments which are running for the next few months.  Avoiding dates which have other tournaments scheduled will help to maximize the number of entries you will get for your tournaments.  As of right now, April 3rd looks like a much better date for your tournament.  March seems to be pretty jam packed with other shorter format tournaments which may cause you to lose participation.  If you are able to run tournaments on Saturdays, this may open up several more dates as most tournaments are being run on Sundays.   

 

Again, I don't want to tell you when or how to run your tournaments, but it really does hurt the bowlers when 2 or 3 tournaments are running the same day within a 100 mile radius (as we cannot attend all of them, or else we would!).  This is a lose-lose situation for everyone, as each tournament will see 1/2 or 1/3 of the bowlers they would have seen if they would have scheduled it on a day where no one else was running any tournaments.  I wish more tournament directors could be made more aware of the 40 Boards tournament calendar when scheduling their dates, as this would be a win-win situation for everyone.

 

As far as the pattern to be used, I would say it would be wise to use the Kegel Challenge series patterns rather than the Kegel Sport Series patterns.  The Challenge series tends to be slightly higher scoring than the Sport series, and this might help build a bridge between the hardcore tournament bowlers and the occasional tournament bowler, therefore attracting more entries for your future tournaments.  The key is to make them tough enough that it isn't a carry contest, but easy enough that bowlers can still miss slightly and get to the pocket.  I believe the Challenge patterns suffice perfectly for this type of scoring enviornment.  The Challenge patterns I would suggest using would be Sunset Strip, Abbey Road, or Middle Road, as these give many different styles of play a chance to score. 

 

When you post a date on here for your tournament, I will be sure to spread the word to my fellow bowlers down here in the Baltimore/DC area, and hopefully we can get a few carloads of us to make the drive up. 

 

Thanks again, and we (the bowlers) greatly appreciate your open ears and efforts.

 

Edited by pocket710special on 2/9/2011 at 2:44 PM

So your next tournament is Feb 27 correct?

Darnell "DBum" Bell
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