Tournament today. WOW!

[boatman37]

So entered a tournament today with a 43' sport shot. Forget what it was called but anyway it was tough. Same pattern I bowled in the last tournament but the competition was killing it. There were only 21 people there for some reason. Supposed to get a major snow storm so maybe that was why. Anyway, Lanes were tough for me and my buddy that went with me. My book average is 191 and his was about 180. The format is 3 3 game qualifying rounds. I started out on 19-20 with the Altered Reality. Tried from the 2nd board in to the 15 board. Tried the Raw Hammer pearl. Knew this wasn't the best ball for a very slick lane but know it turns hard on friction so was hoping to get better entry angle. Nope. Tried the old Kingpin with 500 surface. Nope. Tried the Igniter. Nope. In the end I went back to the Altered Reality and just went straight from the gutter to the pocket. Minimal hook but was throwing much slower than I'm used to. But we had several instances of pin sliding off spot and a few others mentioned too that it seemed there was oil on the pin deck. My speed needed to be perfect or I would either be light or high. Left (8) 3-5-6's, (6) 6 pins, and (4) 5 pins. The 5 pins were all nice pocket hits. That ball has never deflected before. Maybe because of the slower speed. But either way, not making excuses cause it was the same for everyone.

Oddly, with only 21 people I figured scores would be lower. I made the cut with a 596 (handicap) last time. Today the cut was between 650 and 690 depending on which round.

On a positive note I was 7 for 7 on 7 pins but only 1 for 6 on 10 pins (I'm a lefty). By the 3rd round I was beat. Only rolled a 108 first game in 3rd round. Left (3) 7-9's today, which I never leave. Also left (3) 5-10's but covered 1.

On another positive note, won the ball raffle so will get a Storm product (they were a sponsor). No idea what to get but will talk to a few people and figure it out. I don't need anything.

Round 1: 522 (168, 195, 159)

Round 2: 502 (178, 171, 153)

Round 3: 449 (108, 158, 183)

[J Anderson]

Low turn out may very well have been due to the weather forecast. It also might be due to COVID either with people having it, or being exposed to it and having to quarantine, or people with higher risk factors deciding to stay home. Most likely at least to my mind is the THS bowler’s reluctance to bowl on anything other than an easy house shot. If the entry fee was relatively high, the guys who know they’re not likely to score well on a tough shot think there’s no sense in just donating to the prize fund and stay home. That leaves the best bowlers and the cockeyed optimists in the field. And since it was the same pattern as last year those good bowlers are a bit better at daling with the pattern and cut line oves higher.

[Ryster]

... Most likely at least to my mind is the THS bowler’s reluctance to bowl on anything other than an easy house shot. If the entry fee was relatively high, the guys who know they’re not likely to score well on a tough shot think there’s no sense in just donating to the prize fund and stay home. That leaves the best bowlers and the cockeyed optimists in the field...

BINGO! That is basically what is going on around here with sport shot tournaments. The seasoned local champs and the PBA/PWBA regional [and sometimes touring] players bowl in them as well as the over confident house bowlers who think their 230 house average means anything on a sport shot. Turn out for sport shot tournaments has really dwindled over the past several months and now averages about 20 bowlers per tournament. House shot tournaments and no-taps are still well attended.

[boatman37]

You guys might be right. It used to be a THS shot but entrants complained that scores were too high so they tried a 47' scorpion, which was done at the first tournament I entered. Some point after that they changed it to something in between. I check their results and they usually have about 40-50 so guessing it was the weather but like was said, many of them bowl this tournament series regularly so may have just learned what works. I'm thinking maybe something with that house too. It's the same place they held the 47' pattern at. This is a traveling series that travels to about 5 different houses throughout the year.

With so few entrants we only had 3 of us per pair the first 2 sets then the last set there was only 2 of us so it was non-stop so we were getting pretty worn out. Then they only transferred 4 bowlers in the first round then only the top 2 each in the 2nd and 3rd rounds so you really didn't have any room for error. One ad frame pretty much put you out. They haven't posted the results yet but when they do I'll see what the qualifying scores were but from what I remember the lowest was about 640 in the first round and about 680 for the last 2. My beast was only a 591

[boatman37]

Results have been posted so looking through the top 5 made in round 1 then the top 2 from rounds 2 and 3 for 9 total in the cash field. I had the lowest handicap series with my 518 and there were 2 guys that had sets that were lower than my best (591) so yeah, I stunk up the place...lol. There were 24 entrants.
Looks like the cutoff for the first round was 714. Second round cutoff was 697 then 3rd round cutoff was 685. So my 3 game handicap was 69 so I needed 617 scratch to get in and my book average was 191. Handicap was 80% of 220. Tough tournament for sure and I didn't help myself at all. The ones that made it in had averages of 137, 211, 165, 205 196 (winner), 213, 157, 210 and 184. So I definitely had a chance but I just didn't have it that day.

Winners were by average:

1st - 196
2nd - 165
3rd - 157
4th - 211

The rest got booted after 1st round so placings might not be accurate:

5th - 137
6th - 213
7th - 184
8th - 205
9th - 210

[Ryster]

So the bowler with the 137 was getting 66 pins per game...no wonder they made it in. Kind of interesting as well that a 165 average and a 157 average finished in the top 4. Again, most likely a case of the handicap really bumping them up. It is kind of surprising that a sport shot tournament would be a handicap tournament. This is unheard of around here for sport shots.

[boatman37]

So the bowler with the 137 was getting 66 pins per game...no wonder they made it in. Kind of interesting as well that a 165 average and a 157 average finished in the top 4. Again, most likely a case of the handicap really bumping them up. It is kind of surprising that a sport shot tournament would be a handicap tournament. This is unheard of around here for sport shots.

Well they used to use a THS but I guess there were too many complaints about the scores being too high so the first one I showed up to they used a 47' Scorpion. From what I heard they only did that once then went to what they use now, which I was told was a sport shot but looks more like a modified house shot. The last one I went to they had the pattern sheet laying out but didn't see it this time but they told me it was the same pattern. With all the pins sliding on the pin deck a few of us thought maybe there was oil on the pin deck but who knows.

Here is the pattern I got a pic of that they said they used:
bank of america around me