Quick: Which Tournament Should I Bowl In?

[Greenday]

Two King of the Kill Tournaments tonight.

Option A: Starts at 7pm, $40, a Meanstreak Brawler will be raffled off, Tokyo 43 pattern (Which I've bowled on once before, I liked it), Scratch.

Option B: Starts at 6pm, $40 ($30 goes towards prize fund), eliminators and brackets will be available, US Nationals shot (Not sure whether it's the S/D pattern or Team pattern), Scratch.

I'm still trying to find out if the first one is handicap or scratch. If it's handicap, it's the clear choice since my average is a 177 but I've been averaging mid-190s the past month. Also, I think the Tokyo 43 is a little easier.

Edit: They are both scratch. Makes me kind of hesitant to do either because while I've gotten a lot better since the beginning of my winter league, I'm still not at that level where I believe I can win those scratch tournaments. I feel like I should do it anyway for the experience.

[classygranny]

Better odds of winning with the tourney with fewer entries...but less prize money. If it's experience you are looking for, prize fund may not matter that much to you.

If you've been averaging mid-190s, you may have a better chance of winning than you are giving yourself. Go in with a positive attitude and focus on one ball at a time.

Go give 'em some competition and bowl well! whichever you choose.

[J Anderson]

You seem to like to bowl on sport patterns,( I don't remember if you bowl in a sport league or if that doesn't fit in your schedule ), therefore I assume you like challenges. Go for the one with the harder pattern.

[Greenday]

You seem to like to bowl on sport patterns,( I don't remember if you bowl in a sport league or if that doesn't fit in your schedule ), therefore I assume you like challenges. Go for the one with the harder pattern.

I'd like to bowl in a sports league, but I can't find any within a 45 minute radius. I've asked at so many different alleys and I get the same thing, "People don't like the lower scores." Wimps.

I'm going with Option B and the 2013 USBC Open pattern.

[Perrin]

Good luck out there tonight man.


I am hoping to find a PBA/sport league to join next fall. Unfortunately the only one over the summer is the same night as the league I am bowling with the wife.

[Greenday]

The correct answer was: Option C - Don't go bowling at all.

My hand has been hurting all week so I took some Tylenol before I went to the alley. By the fourth game, I was in really intense pain. Bowled like crap I was in so much pain.

I went to the second place. I got there and as I started bowling, the ball wasn't reacting to the lane like I expected it to. I was chatting with one of the guys and was saying that it felt completely different from Nationals when I went to Reno in March. He said it wasn't the Nationals pattern, it was the Masters pattern.

http://usbcongress.http.internapcdn.net/usbcongress/bowl/tournaments/pdfs/usbcmasters/2013/2013_Masters_FINAL_oil_pattern.pdf

http://usbcongress.http.internapcdn.net/usbcongress/bowl/tournaments/pdfs/usbcopenchamp/2013/2013DSconditionGRAPH.pdf

The first is the Masters pattern. It is flatter, contains more oil, and has more oil down the lane. It needs a straighter shot.

The second is the 2013 Open Championship Singles/Doubles pattern they told me I'd be bowling on. Same overall length, but less oil overall, less oil on the outside, and less oil towards the second half of the pattern making the breakpoint easier to break down.

Needless to say, I was a little pissed.