You have an absent bowler.. Do you use a sub or no?

[The KingPin]

Hello Bowlers,

Ok so Tom took his wife on a well deserved anniversary date, You are now short a bowler.

A young bowler sits at the front counter week in and out waiting to be a sub.

Tom is a 190 bowler, this young bowler may be lucky to bowl a 50 game. Or could blow away your best bowler.

Do you take the risk with a sub?

Or take the absent score?

Does position matter?

If you are a last place team, do you say sure, or if you are first place do you do what is best for your team?

What are your thoughts on using subs?

[BowlnBrat]

It all depends...usually, my team knows ahead far enough in advance to either get a sub lined up or pre-bowl. But it depends on what position we're in and whether it's sanctioned or not. On our Tuesday league we have a rule that states you can not use a sub who's average is 10 pins over/under the bowler average that is absent...unless they are establishing for the first time. This was done to keep it more fair for everyone involved, as in the past there have been sand baggers as well as high handicapped teams using scratch bowlers over and over as subs and therefore, "securing" a win without really earning it.

[BowlnBrat]

And then again, the absentee score for the absent bowler may be higher than the average of the person you were thinking about getting to sub...if they have subbed before and you know their average. So it's really hard to say either way....

[branstew]

On Sundays in the league we will use a sub if he is willing to turn up every week then he should be given the chance, we all started somewhere. On the monday league there is no subs unless you pre book one, so we normal play with an absent score.

[Graaille]

The league I was in a couple of years ago had the +/-10 pins rule, but also had a list of "approved" subs. If you couldn't get one of them, you took the blind score.