Yes that is what I meant. The parents are having their kids do it on purpose at an early age. I think it's great that kids at all ages can compete in bowling and I am totally al for it. But please tell me how a kid can enter a tournament at the state level with a 97 average, which means he was even lower at the regional level, and then 3 months later be able to average 178 scratch for 8 games???
I don't care if u are the next god of bowling, you aren't going to get 90 pins better in 3 months.
SVstar34, trust me, when I heard that even the handicap division was bowling on the US Open pattern at the state level, I almost gagged. I have a few friends that are in the handicap division that average around 170 or so and I told them that if I were them, I would complain as much as possible to the directors. A handicap bowler that has any kind of hook on that shot is not going to come near their average. So they basically have no chance. But a straight bowler that averages 110, the oil pattern has no effect on their ball and they will at the very least shoot their average.
I think it was great to put the scratch divisions on that pattern, but handicap should not have been mixed it. I don't know where you are from, but for a 175 bowler to travel from lets say Sacramento, to come all the way down to Southern California, to bowl on the toughest shot they have ever seen, and will have to average for 6 games about 30 pins above their average on it is insane and a total waste of money for the trip.
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And Then...........
I left another 10 pin
J-Rad Lawrence