Wow Dennis, you must have that 6 degree entry angle down to a science to have that much area at the pocket. I kid, I joke ...

I know we've discussed this in other threads before, but there's got to be a way the USBC can mandate tougher conditions for all sanctioned leagues. In the short term, it would probably hurt participation because alot of "area bowlers" would quit when the air got let out of their inflated averages. Too bad, either get better or get run over! It's indicative of what's wrong with our country, but that's another rant and I'm not going there .

However, something has to be done. Imagine the outcry from the USGA if municipal golf courses started contouring their greens like salad bowls with the pin cut in the middle so the ball always feeds toward the hole. That's the equilvalent of what's been allowed to happen in bowling, and the USBC can now take steps to fix it or continue to allow the game to degenerate into the loud music/light show Friday night farce it's becoming.

Yeah Chubbs, on a good night, my teammates marvel that my high hits kick out the 4, and my light hits slash at the 7. It's the ball, I tell you.

What makes you think they don't already do something like this. I don't know much about golf, but I know my little course on the outskirts of town isn't as tough as Augusta or Pebble Beach.

Erin, Muni courses don't have enough money to contour the fairways. They are mostly cow pastures with grass around here. The better private ones are longer, tighter, have more doglegs, water and hazards strategically placed exactly where I hit my balls.

That makes them tougher. It would be like having a 2x4, 40 feet on the lane on the 10 board.

I don't care where they put that little tree. I will hit it.

The point is, this thread was about the PBA. You made it about something different. The pros are going to be facing much more variability in conditions this year, and I argue that this season will be much more difficult for them than the past. I think it will showcase just how good they are. Frankly, the people that were going to watch the shows before will still watch them, and the people that weren't going to won't. I don't think there is anything that the PBA can do to change that. I do think that it will make better TV for those of us that are watching.

[quote=Atochabsh

What makes you think they don't already do something like this. I don't know much about golf, but I know my little course on the outskirts of town isn't as tough as Augusta or Pebble Beach. [/quote]

I'm a scratch golfer, and having played in pro-ams for regional tours I can assure you I don't have enough game to hang with guys trying to scrape out a living that way. Also, I can assure you that most courses don't have the capital to dig up their greens and then turn them into salad bowls. Having said that, the PGA and USGA are dealing with the same stuff the PBA and USBC are. The golf gear is so good now that courses have been made longer, bunkers deeper, rough longer, greens faster, and pins tucked. The one difference is that the gear has not helped the average golfer nearly as much as it has the Elite golfer. In bowling, it's "Joe Area" who has benefitted more. However, golf is able to highlight the difference between Joe Duffer and Tiger Woods better and more easily. Events like allowing celebrity golfers to play the US Open setup to try to break 100 come to mind. Bowling is at a disadvantage because the cake house shot and the US Open shot under TV lights are virtually identical to the eye. The differences between your local muni golf course and Bethpage Black in US Open trim are rather more self evident. The PBA could come up with a televised Pro-Am event where league bowlers team up with the big boys. That would make the gulf in skill much more obvious.

I agree with Chubbs on this. Equipment advances are much more noticeable in the hands of skilled golfers. Whereas, bowling ball changes advance the mid range bowlers. A 16 handicap will probably still be a 16 with a new set of clubs. Whereas I have seen a 190 bowler bump the 200 mark with a new ball.

I am only a 6 handicap, but my clubs act much differently in the hands of my nephew, who is currently ranked 7th in the Big Ten, then they do in my hands.

Real Men of Genius:

Mr. oversize golf club maker man. Thanks to you, instead of slicing the ball two hundred yards into the woods, I now slice the ball three hundred yards into the woods.

How do you play a dog right?