Lorok has a point. I see guys in my league who have all the equipment and still average mid 140's. In all fairness maybe before they got all that equipment they averaged 120 but to me you still need skills to bowl good.

In my league the highest average is 195. It was up at 200 for awhile. This is out of 92 bowlers.

In all honesty I think the game in many ways has become harder. Now you have to learn the different patterns, have different balls for them. Seems to me in the old days I could go in any house and bowl good with minimal adjustments and one ball. I do not think that is the case today.

Dennis, I see your point (to an extent), but you have made totally contradictory statements here. I do not agree that the advancements in ball technology have produced 'better' bowlers. I hold true to my earlier statement that no matter how much a ball hooks or how much coverstock it has, it takes knowledge to match it up to a specific condition and even then if not properly thrown, will not produce positive results. The advancements that the balls and lanes have gone through is just the product of time. How many bowlers would still be bowling if the lanes were made of wood and the balls made of rubber?

It's like football going from leather helmets to plastic to even more durable materials...it's the evolution of man. Do you think Brian Urlacher or Shawn Merriman could wear a leather helmet and not kill themselves delivering the punishment they dish out to opposing players? No way. Do you think Steve Nash and Kobe or Dwayne Wade could survive with all of their high-flying moves and quickness on the court in a pair of Chuck Taylor Converses? No, the shoes had to evolve to protect their ankles, knees, etc. Why do you think so many new baseball stadiums have been built in an effort to keep the ball in the park? The evolution of man.

Sometimes it's to protect the players, other times to protect the integrity of the game. I don't think there's anything wrong with bowling making advancements. When Mark Roth (and others like him)came on the scene, someone saw a need to provide them with equipment that would complement their games. If not for them, would we even be talking about WRW, Mike Aulby, Parker Bohn III, Norm Duke and others? Why is it OK for these guys to hook the ball and score well with 'advanced equipment', but the house bowler gets put to the fire for averaging 215 using the same equipment. I'm not saying that your average house bowler is in the same league with the pros, but give credit where credit is due.

Some guys have the ability to not practice and still bowl well...I'm not one of them. Without practice, I'm a 180 bowler at best, with practice, 200+. So for me it makes a difference.

Practice and training gives you the ability (for the most part), to be successful. If it were as simple as buying a certain ball, we'd all be averaging 220 and looking for sponsors to put us on tour. But it's not...it's still about effort, hard work and desire to be the best bowler you can be.

I started bowling in 1962 (I was 7) as I got older we learned which houses in the area were the easiest and which were the toughest, when I was about 14 I took some lessons from a house pro, he said "look for the groove on the lane" and it was right up around 10 board,(either side) some houses didn't have this groove and they were considered tough houses, so even back then there were some high scoring houses but the KEY was how to carry the corners with a rubber ball (and pick up your spares), thats one of the big advantages with todays balls. Back then 200 was the number to get respect even at the easiest house.

This is simple.If you are unhappy with the lane conditions ask
the owner to change things,If still unhappy then change bowling
centers.I feel it is easy to complain,It is better to try changing things. Take a more active roll in the center where you
bowl,become a league member,or presedent of a league.Good and helpfull goes a long way.

Have you ever seen some of the intermediate bowlers attempt spare shooting? They have the contemporary equipment but its so unpredictable that they have a hard time picking up spares. So it goes both ways. You say it was hard to pick up spares with a rubber ball, yet most higher level bowlers and pros use plastic for their spare shooting and some still use rubber. I think for some people its harder to pick up spares with their reactive ball.

And of course these are not the 200 average house bowlers with contemporary equipment, these are the 160 - 200 ave. bowlers.

Erin

I didn't really have much more to say, but I don't want Dennis to pass me up in post count! Everyone knows that post count is directly related to the size of one's manhood! Just kidding.

Dennis, what you say is true. The scores have gone up across the board, that's the evolution of bowling. Perhaps nowadays the people who would have 180s back in the day now have 200. But the 200 guy from back when you bowled dinosaur eggs is now the 220+ guy. The better bowler is still the better bowler. The 220+ guys is the one who knows how to control speed, revs, tilt, rotation, loft, hand position etc AND understands the concepts of ball layout and matchups. The game hasn't changed in the sense that it takes skill to win.

So, yes, scores have gone up accross the board... from Joe to pro. In the sense of the skilled pros it is because of the new technology of bowling balls because they already have the skills. For most of the Joes, however, I believe it is because of easy lane conditions. So, who then really benefits from ball tech? If Joe can shoot a pro score on his walled up house shot with a new ball, put him on a challenging shot and see how much that new ball helps him. I see no reason to not let the advancements to technology help whoever it can; the best will still rise to the top, just as it has with our current pros on tour. It's the modern game, and nothing to be afraid of. What I'm afraid of is easy lane conditions that make people think that they know how to bowl once they get a new ball in their hands.

Well, that pretty sums it up. The thing is, there is no point in comparing the average of non pros to those of the pros. As you said, pros bowl on much harder conditions. That’s it. Period. Haven’t they got the respect as we already know they bowl on those conditions? You’re always looking at the average, average and only average and you use it to compare with others. Do you think college quarterbacks are much better than the pros because they throw 500+ yards in a game compared to 300+ of the pros? Stop comparing the averages of the pros to the non pros. Even between us non pros, it is not an automatic that if we’re averaging 220 and the other guy that bowls in a different and more difficult house “only” average 200 makes us a better bowler.

New balls will help us improve our average. If you’re saying that a new ball automatically adds 20 pins to our average, so be it. If your average is 200 and the other is 160, then if you add 20 to your averages, you still got the 40-pin difference. As they said, the standards have been raised. Our average is higher today compared to the average we will have if we go back to the past. But relatively, if you look at the pin difference between bowlers, it is virtually the same given they are bowling in the same generation.

All I can say is that back then, it took a real good Pro Shop to drill without cracking the eggs. Evolving to wooden balls made a huge improvement. LOL

History: 1964 (I didn't witness it) Don Carter set a record for averaging 221 in a PBA Tournament. He became the first Million Dollar Contract man in any sport.
How things have changed!!

Many posters do not have a clear grasp of how far bowling has fallen. I talk with lane operators who are having problems filling leagues, there are fewer double shift nights. League bowlers dont practice like they used to either. Lanes must offer diso lazer lights to attract bowlers. The pros have lost their Saturday slot on ABC. Their now filler on ESPN along with worlds strongest man and Cheerleading contests. Yes bowling is still a huge participation sport but so is bike riding. To get back to where bowling belongs along side golf, bowling must get back its integrity. The bowling community thought that by letting the game become easier with soft conditions and super hook balls that the game would grow. They have taken a lot of the failure out of the game that makes golf such a challenge. A strike used to mean something. Years ago you had to do more things right to strike. I can remember in league when bowlers would stop bowling when someone had the first 6 strikes in a game to watch him. Now with all the 300s they wait untill the last ball to look up. It may be a hard pill to swallow but bowling needs to get rid of all these super balls and go back to rubber and plastic with no blocked lanes. Bowling has so much going for it over golf. You can bowl 3 games in League in much less time than a busy 18 hole course. Their is no rain heat or cold. The beverages are closer. Its cheaper. I truley belive if the sport had been tough and not allowed the super balls bowling would still be where it was 30 years ago.

BowlerJim, you can't convince anyone that didn't live through those years. All they know is synthetic lanes, reactive balls, composite coverstock. I think the history comment I posted sums it up. Don Carter was the first sports figure to sign a Million Dollar contract. It wasn't Willie Mays, or Bart Starr or Bob Petitt. Chris Barnes just received a Million Dollar contract forty years later. And, When I look at today's payouts for tournaments, they are not much different than the '70's. The best thing bowling can accomplish is status quo. The progression has been in equipment, not in popularity.

Sponsorships are gone. The Schlitz team, and the Terryton team are gone. Let's face it, outside of AMF or Ebonite sponsorships, it was Beer and Cigarettes that came up with the money. Denny's and Dexter can't throw enough money into the sport.