So far, I feel the USBC is just teasing bowlers. PBAX Pattern leagues are relegated to Summer activity and a few Fall leagues. And, there are many, many bowlers who just don't bowl in the Summer to take advantage of this.

So, when is the USBC going to mandate that these patterns be used in regular league play?

There are just too many bowlers who go for the high average House shot, and don't accept the challenge. So, lets start a movement to have PBA patterns mandatory for league play.

Maybe not in social leagues, but in competitive leagues anyway.

I feel the concept is dying in my area. We are down to 3 houses of 13 with a PBAX league this Summer.

Its not going to happen. So just put it from your mind. USBC jumped in bed with BPAA and with that, you can be assured that no further lane certification or restrictions will be implemented.
Once USBC handed over their integrity to BPAA, it was a done deal. And they are moving across the country to get into that bed. I didn't even see an engagement ring.

We have 12 houses (one is a college center) and of those only one puts out a PBA league and last season it had 18 people in it. You have to accept that as it is, the PBA Experience program is not flying all that well. Nearly 10,000 bowlers and all we can muster is 18 for a PBA league. Part of that is the lay out and the fact that the coordinator wants Jr bowlers to be envolved. Therefore no prize fund. And you know that pretty much eliminates nearly 100% of the high level bowlers.

Erin

They shouldn't use them for regular league, but i say they should run PBAX leagues all year around instead of just the summer. Get more centers to do this and I think it would be great especially for regular tournament bowlers.

I'd be happy if the actual patterns played ANYTHING like they are supposed to be laid out. I don't know what the story is with the house I bowl at but the patterns don't seem to jive at all with what the USBC says they are supposed to be. I don't know if they even send tapes in or what.

DD I thought the same about my house, but Brad Angelo came to our centers 'bowl with the pro' and we asked him what he thought about how our lanes played compared to the tour. His reply was that the patterns play different in each house. He went on to say that in each house there were always variations because of lane surface wear and oil volume; and that the way they are broken down in the course of practice had a lot to do with how the pattern will play.

Dennis,I guess i'm kind of lucky here in so. california. My league is not usbc certified but they put out the pba patterns all year long and I know of 1 other alley that does the same. That alley also lays it out on sundays in the whole house for practice.

I also heard that about 4 more houses are going to start doing the pbax leagues.

rizon, last year we had 11 of the 13 houses in our association lay down a sanctioned PBAX Summer league. This year, there are only 3. But, they seem more filled. The really successful ones are run by Pros who help during the league play. And, they give open instruction right afterwards too.

We have NO PBAX leagues during the regular Fall Season.

I subbed in one a little farther away, but it was not sanctioned. The House did have 6 lanes set aside with a different pattern for practice. The lanes had to be reserved, and they didn't let the open public bowl on them.

The biggest problem I have seen with getting these patterns into general use is that people do not change their game when the pattern changes. The league I am in, there are probably 4 of us that are not treating like a tight house shot. When you get people that start out bowling 4th arrow no matter what pattern they're on, they're going to a) say that pattern isn't right, because "I got it to where they said the breakpoint was but it didn't come back" and b) F the pattern up for anyone else. When you watch the pros on Sunday playing the lanes the way they're "supposed to be played" on TV, it's because they spent an hour or more practicing on those lanes the right way, setting them up.

Consider this when reading the "lane play guides" from the pros for the PBAX leagues. They bowl 7 game blocks on the pattern. The average rev rate on tour is in the mid 400s. In my league of 16 guys, we have 2 that are mid 400s. The lanes at the end of one of our 4 game blocks probably look like the pros lanes after 2.

What am I saying? I don't know, honestly. I guess I'm saying that it seems like a lot of people that get into these kinds of leagues are doing it with the idea that they will get to play the Cheetah the same way they see TJ do it in a final match, or be lofting the gutter caps on the Shark. I don't know if that is the case in other centers, but that will never happen in mine. And it's not because of the way the center lays down the patterns, and it's not even because of the bowlers - we do have people there that could play the same line PDW does on the Shark. What we don't have is an entire house filled with tour caliber players breaking down the lanes uniformly.

They won't. What they will do is take away all the awards for house shots and make it so the more competitive bowlers want to bowl PBAX leagues.



That's what they're trying to push, but how in the world would the USBC quantify what is an is not a "competitive" league? That's a slippery slope and not one that I think the USBC should try and traverse.



It will start off small and then eventually grow. What you can't do is legislate these types of things and force them down someone's throat. What are you, a Democrat?

Well, there are Sport Leagues here. But, the only rule they follow is the ratio of center oil to outside. The quantity of oil differs by House.

What is the problem of structuring a level system for leagues? A = Social, B = Sport, C = PBA. People can then progress at their own pace, and step up when they feel capable.

You dictate the level of difficulty and the level of competition by each lane surface, A, B, or C.

This is not like an entitlement. Democrat or Republican, I just want some challenge other than a House shot.

Bowlers today, are separating between the high score lanes and the challenging ones. And, it is probably 90-10. This needs better structure. Or the 10 will become 0.

That's the only rule for a sport league, and PBAX leagues are sport leagues. There's no guarantee that you're bowling on a PBA pattern. There's no check for that.



You can't force it on people though. If you do, a huge number will quit. If you "incent" them and they make the decision to bowl, they'll be more likely to stick around.