A guy from my town lead the 1st place team with a 700. His nickname is "Deep" so I guess that explains why he found a way to score on this. But even then, the first place score is 3,218. It's got to be pretty tough if that's all a team has been able to put up.

It sounds like it's one of those conditions where either you're on, or you focus on enjoying the rest of your trip.

Here's the point though. 5 man team you cannot go below 900. So the closer your team is to 900 the less chance they have to score. Scratch tournamant and very difficult conditions.

There's a big difference between a team like ours (209, 205, 205, 206, 189) at 1014 then a team that comes in at 1100+. And there are teams that come in at much higher then that. Now you can all say that you need to get higher average bowlers on your team. But, we already have 4 out of 5 that are over 200. Granted not much so, but we are over the cap to get into the lower division. In order for those that are averaging 210 to 190 to compete they'd have to be put with teams where the other bowlers are far exceeding 220. We know we are low to the cut off, but its really hard to put together a team that has 5 220+ bowlers. But for those that do, we are cannon fodder. Yet we entered as an Association team.

My point is that for the 190 to 215 bowler, there are little to no touranment events where you have much of a chance. Not in a handicap and not in a scratch event. Especially when you are given pro conditions, because we all know we are NOT pros.

Make sure when you enter a tournament that if there is a cap on averages, that your team is at the top of the cap but NEVER at the bottom of the cap.

Erin

If you shot over t2700, d1100, s560 and ae1700 you will probably cash. Most go to the Nats for the fun and experience more than to win.

Just because you average 220+ doesn't mean you will bowl well at the Nationals, I watched a guy with a 236 average toss three 120 games.

The low guy on my team averages 185 to 195 in league, and he shot 750 in singles two years ago and after bowling at the Nats for almost 30 years he has a 190+ average there, so averages don'e mean much on sport conditions.

I go to Nationals as a weekend away with my friends and to bowl a few games. I normally do okay. I get a couple bucks back per year. Not enough to cover what I pay out but I still have a blast.

The reason I think that they are going to rush people more this year is because of Vegas in 2009. They want to see if they can get one more squad cause they are going to get TONS of entries for Vegas. At least, that is what I think is the reason.

As for scoring and cashing. If you have 5 200 bowlers, I am guessing that all of them have had times when they can average 225+ on a given night. Conversly, if you have a team of 225 bowlers, there are nights when they average 175. It is just how hot you are when you get there. Tough conditions are part of tourny play. Last year, I was low man on my team with a 206 average. We shot 2815 last year. For a team that averaged over 1080, that stinks. But, what can you do. Go, bowl your games, have fun. That is the reason I bowl the Petersen. The lane conditions are really not conditions. It is just where the mop hits. But, I bowl with a bunch of my friends and make a day of it. It is good to get humbled every once in a while.

All of this is of course true. But I think at the level I'm at and the age I'm at, its not going to get much better. And I don't expect to win, but I would like to win maybe $20 or so. The numbers you suggest for a low to cash, we were not even close. And the worse part is that thinking back on the conditions, there is nothing I could have done to do better. You know how on some nights you look back and think that you should have tried this, or that or used that ball. Well there's nothing I could have, would have done differently. And we didn't do that poorly within our group either.

I guess the cost of the trip, even though I was local, outweighed the "experience". Which is why I only can participate when its within driving distance. Because we had a 7am squad time, the night before we were in bed by 8-9pm. We had bowled at 2:30 that day, basically finished bowling, got dinner then went to bed. Then got up at 4:45. After the morning squad we went directly home. We both have to work this morning. And we could not afford the hotel rooms in Reno during the weekend. Had we been in a non local town, I know we'd have not had much energy after bowling doubles/singles that early to do much of anything the rest of the day.

Oh well, its another year come and gone.

Erin

The tough condition comments are very true. Last year, I bowled between two bowlers. One shot 130. The other shot 280. And, they were both 220 averages. It's a matter of which bowler can adapt to the conditions given. The one who fights it, loses.

The team event is tough because all 5 have to click at the same time. Last year, my partner and I left with 1152, 7th at the time. And cashed in 75th place at the end. Singles was better for each of us but not in top 100. AE, we didn't come close.

Just goes to show that not all 220 average bowlers are created equal .

The conditions are tough to be sure. But I also noticed that they were more score condusive if you had slower ball speed i.e. rev dominant player.

Erin

Lefty,
Didn't want to build your ego, but the 130 was right handed. The 280 obviously had an easier shot being left handed.

My ego is well in check. I'd probably be more likely to shoot the 130 than the 280 anyway