Tournaments - how do I find one?

[AZBowla]

I don't think I'm brave enough to bowl in one yet, but I'd like to go and watch to see what they're like. How do I find out when the next one is in my area? Despite having nearly 30 bowling centers, I'm not seeing ANY upcoming tournaments in the Phoenix area online. That can't be right, where am I not looking? Thanks!

[JaMau24]

Asking the bowling alleys would be where to start. Also, asking other bowlers (start with the better bowlers, since they are more likely to know about them and bowl in them) would be a good start too.

Here in our area, there is a guy who runs a Facebook page that tells all the bowlers about any upcoming tournaments in the area.

[AZBowla]

Asking the bowling alleys would be where to start.

This is the problem with leagues too. Sure every center in town has some, but unless you go around asking each and every center how do you know who has what leagues on what nights and are they full, open etc? What a hassle. You'd think that the folks who run these things would want people to know about them and show up, especially bowlers who don't normally frequent that center.

As for tournaments, the only tournament I've ever been to was one I stumbled onto by accident a couple weeks ago in Tucson - from the looks of it, it was a senior tournament and we came into the center during the final match. I just assumed it was a league game, because there was hardly anyone there watching and the other side of the center was doing business as usual, but then I happened to look over as we were bowling and the winner was holding a trophy and getting his picture taken.

I found a site that lists amateur bowling tournaments but there's literally NOTHING listed there for the entire state of Arizona. Nothing! That can't be right, we have 29 centers and a whole TON of league bowlers. Certainly there are tournaments going on out here, and darn it, I want to find one.

[bowl1820]

You check and ask at the local bowling lanes for flyers etc., you go online and search for tournaments in your area. Check the regional and tournament sub-forums of the bowling forums.

[AZBowla]

You check and ask at the local bowling lanes for flyers etc., you go online and search for tournaments in your area. Check the regional and tournament sub-forums of the bowling forums.

I know... but here's my issue with these:

1. Check the local lanes? Which ones? I have 29 to choose from, scattered across a metro area that's literally larger than Rhode Island. No joke. I'm willing to travel to a far end of the Phoenix Metro to watch a tournament, but not just to ask about them.

I could call them I suppose but I tend to put myself in the shoes of the poor sap running the front counter - the last thing he wants to do is answer a question on the phone about tournaments going on at that particular center while dealing with the guy who wants shoes, another guy who wants help working the bumpers and yet another guy who thought it'd be funny to launch two balls at once and now one of them is stuck against the gate that came down after the first one went by (I've seen that happen and the guy behind the counter wasn't too happy with my buddy who was of course drunk and thought it was hilarious - it's so embarrassing to be that guy, you know, the one who brought the moron in your group of bowlers - anyway I digress).

#2 Go online to find them. Well, I've tried google, but of course bowling tournament organizers are probably not very savvy on SEO (search engine optimization). I've checked the regional forums here, not much action going on in the Arizona forum. Where else should I look? I've looked at the USBC site for my area, and there's plenty of tournaments to bowl in - if you're FIFTY. Or Fifteen. My age though? Not so much. And that's the age group I want to watch! I don't want to watch a bunch of old-timers bowling and I feel a bit weird watching teenagers compete unless one of mine is among the competitors, otherwise I feel like I'm "that weird old guy who showed up to watch but none of his kids are here - that's creepy" that the kids and their parents all point at and whisper about. I digress again.

I should probably just worry about joining a league anyway and not worry about tournaments right now, but I thought I'd ask and see if I'm missing something obvious - sounds like there's just not much online activity around these tournaments and they're mostly word of mouth and locally advertised. I guess bowling is still somewhat old school like that. :) Thanks for answering the question. I don't feel like so much of an idiot now for not finding them online.

[UBowling]

Unless you are willing to check with the centers you probably are not going to find out about the tournaments. If you have never bowled in a tournament before you are probably going to want to look into a smaller handicap tournament similar to an ABT tournament. But if there are none of those in your area then the centers are probably going to be the only resource to view.

There is a problem with the bowling industry and that is it has not grown up with technology. Even the bowling ball companies and bowling authorities at the highest levels are just barely starting to get the idea of what they can do with the technology available. Most tournament directors don't know how to advertise on the computer, they don't use facebook or twitter and they definitely don't have a website. From what I understand it is pretty rare to find a central site that has all of the tournaments listed and the ones you do find are in high traffic areas for bowling.

Other than big time tournaments it is hard to find out about events outside of word of mouth or local centers having flyers or banners. This is one thing I am trying to rectify in my area. I have created UBowling.com (http://www.ubowling.com) for this very reason. We try to get EVERY event in our area that we can on the site, but still miss some because tournament directors don't contact us about the events we are not aware of.

What you are going to have to do is start with the center closest to you. Go there and look for flyers the next time you practice or bowl league. Talk to the front desk people, talk to the pro shop people. Talk to another bowler who may look like they know what they are doing. If there is nothing good at that center, go to the next closest one. If there really are 30 centers in your area, then there will be plenty of tournaments to bowl. I can only think of 13 bowling centers within a 45 minute drive of where I live and just this last weekend we had 5 different tournaments to pick from. Two more this next weekend.

[bowl1820]

Here's one might take a look at:

Google search:
Bowling tournament Phoenix Arizona

BVL Tournament is this Saturday, November 10th
The Bowling for Veterans Link tournament will be a singles tournament on November 10th at Glenfair Lanes. There will be 2 squads, 9am and 1:30pm. It will still be a pins over average tournament with 3 average divisions for men and women and 2 divisions for youth. The entry fee is $30.00
http://www.phxusbc.com/


also just because a tournament has "Senior" in the name doesn't mean it full of old people.

[JaMau24]

It's their job to answer questions on the phone. Don't be so sympathetic, they are getting paid to answer your questions. Call them, and get the answers you want.

[AZBowla]

How did I miss that?? I'll see if the kids want to tag along for the one at Glenfair this weekend. Thanks bowl1820!

[Davec13]

Clicked around for a few minutes and found these. Not sure if they are gonna be anywhere close to you, but it's a start.

http://ast.strikeforcetour.com/
http://www.livingverve.com/
http://www.bowling300.com/tournamentw.htm
http://abtbowling.com/news.php
http://www.bowlingarizona.com/

[Keithalw]

Ask some of the better bowlers and also like The Dude said dont worry about bothering the guy at the front desk with calling... I have a buddy who says the same thing and I am like screw it hand me the phone thats what they get paid for answer question etc etc etc... Also check bowl.com they might have something there