Back to basics series - could we do it?

J

John_Velo

Active Member
G’Day All,

Another ten minutes to ask a question.

The topic of bowling as a sport has been raised many times on this forum. For those keen to show the difference that a ball and lanes make, to show their skill or just get back to the good old days of rolling a good shot.

Would you bowl in and support a plastic ball Series or Tournament?

Let’s take a quick look at the Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship just run. Flat short pattern, 34 foot. Every bowler was given two and only two plastic bowling balls for qualifying. Three piece black ball. They could drill it anyway they liked as long as it was legal and could manipulate the surface to suit.

Qualifying showed the true talent of the elite bowler, 230+ averages for 40+ games.

Would a tournament or sport series based on that format work in NSW?

Would you support such a series?

Would a centre be prepared to assist with the conditions?

Would a supplier put their name to the series or tournament and make the balls available at cost price?

Would it put sport back as the priority as I hear called for so often on this forum?

What do you think, could we pull it off?
 
A tournament, yes. But definitely as part of an existing series. We asked this last year and it scared a lot of folks off. Be nice if that's changed though!

I'd like to dust off some 16lb balls and take them for a spin!
 
I would love to give something like that a crack! I remember a few years ago, at my home centre, C'town NSW, we had a "Buy a Ball League", at the time, it was a mid range Brunswick ball, and every body in the league, had to use that ball, and that ball only (with the exception of spare balls), for at tleast the strike shot, then at the end of the league, the ball was yours.......

Maybe something similar for a tournament series might work, where you can incorporate the cost of the ball into entry fees......

It would certainly be a big wake up call for a lot of bowlers, myself included! They might start realising that you just can't buy high scores with a super reactive ball.... You still need to be able to be consistant & hit your targets!
 
G’Day

Ok Jason and Andrew, Jim Cross I will add you now as I know this will put a tingle down your spine at the thought.

A couple of hypothetical’s for such an event.

• Everybody must use the same ball type, example Ebonite Maxim or Columbia White Dot.
• No more than two balls allowed both of the same type. ( or one ball with sanding between games allowed to keep costs down.)
• Balls need to be drilled to legal layout weights.

We would need a centre that would be happy to support such an event, similar to GP or Sports Series. Just short, 8 to 12 games say.

Great if it could be run over three separate events to make something of it.

Is there a centre that would put their hand up, maybe somewhere like an older centre like Shellharbour? 24 bowlers would fill the centre on a Sunday morning.

Is there a supplier that would be happy to assist if we could get such an event off the ground?

Again all hypothetical, but you never know.
 
John_Velo said:
G’Day

A couple of hypothetical’s for such an event.

• Everybody must use the same ball type, example Ebonite Maxim or Columbia White Dot.
Click to expand...

Why? Pancake plastic is all the same. Most people have a plastic spare ball (well, ok - I don't) but nobody who does is going to buy another one for a one off tourney just because they don't have the right brand on their one.
 
amagill said:
It would certainly be a big wake up call for a lot of bowlers, myself included! They might start realising that you just can't buy high scores with a super reactive ball.... You still need to be able to be consistant & hit your targets!
Click to expand...

Actually, the problem is that you can.
 
Yes you were right to include me as I would love to see such a comp. The ball / lane thing from the mid 90s has distorted the abilities / skills of all bowlers relative to each other. That's a fact whether some people like to make excuses for the current situation or not.
If I lived Metropolitan or Newcastle / Woolongong etc., you could'nt keep me out of it - though lately ( and frustratingly ) I'm having physical problems bowling past 4 or 5 games. ( managed 8 a couple months ago ) I had had visions of bowling a tourny or 2 after my last shoulder op., but, so far ????

I hope you can get something like this going.

P.S. Robbie's right - any plastic ball would do.
 
I thought that was what the Tournament We are going to In June Was :) A plastic Ball 5 Man Teams... LOL :) Sorry I know Really off Topic.. Queenslanders Know what I am Talking about ....

LOL
 
I think you'd have to set rules to the ball being equal, ie: TZone, White Dot or Maxim.

Might be unfair if someone pulls out a Yellow Dot Bleeder or Roto Grip (the old blue soft plastic). They would outhook everything else. See? Even back in the 70's and early 80's they had "super balls" lol.

Where's Don McCune and his soaker? Acetone is fairly cheap... Hehe
 
I think you'd have to set rules to the ball being equal, ie: TZone, White Dot or Maxim. ANDROOOO

OK, I'll agree with that. Just had a look in my bag - my spare ball is a Maxim.
 
Hey Guys,

I have just got back from cutting a cake for dad’s 78th birthday. Trying to explain to the older folk that, well, balls aren’t balls anymore. Good shots don’t really have the same effect. I gave up and simply said, come watch.

Any hoot, back to the topic.

My thought of getting a supplier on board would be so that everybody could have the same kit and the same opportunity. Let’s say a White Dot really costs say $45 landed. Pass it is on and the Tournament would be called the White Dot Classic for example.

But definitely bring what you got, but it would need to be checked. Or a rule of some kind so that there is no advantage or disadvantage. Example a ball may not have been plugged before. Reason for that is many years ago I was give an old silver Blue Dot. Under the Blue Dot was about 6 OZ of mercury. I won’t mention which bowler gave me that ball. No, not my family.

Also I had one of dad’s old Yellow Dot’s in a box a few months ago, the condition of the thing was terrible the leaching of old oils was a shocker. You could pick the thing up, but you could not put it down because of how sticky it was.

Plastic goes off as well, so maybe fresh would be fair.

Anyway, it is all just hypothetical, but you never know!
 
Hey Guys,

I had meant to reply to this earlier but I must have forgot to hit the post button.

This idea of a plastic ball tournament is something we've thrown around for awhile in the NSW Sport Series. It's a great idea and I love watching the PBA shows with it.

The main problems have already been brought up. There would have to be an accepted list of balls. Even with plastic, Lane #1 has a plastic with a Dynamic core. Wouldn't be allowed for obvious reasons. Can we fairly restrict the amount of plastics? I own one plastic, I have never needed a use for two and for a long time used Urethane as a 'spare' ball because I can sufficiently straighten my shot out. I don't see the point in owning two, and I bowl considerably more then Average Joe. Would it be fair to expect people to buy more then 1 ball of what is essentially the same thing for one or possibly two events? No, it isn't. Ideally, the tournament would be restricted to one ball and one ball only. It's fair to assume that MOST people have A plastic, and for those that don't they can either choose to buy one, or simply give the event a miss. I personally think opening the event up to more then one plastic is unreasonable without a massive sponsor who is willing to throw plastics at an event. While the PBA gains the exposure to do this, I don't think any tournament in Australia could realistically pull off what the PBA does with their plastic ball championship.

Ball surface changes would also have to moderated to follow the rules that you would be under at any TBA or WTBA event. As surface would become event more a factor in an event like that. Without a core or additives to help the ball it's your roll and your grit that ball the ball do the work.

I'd love to bowl in this tournament, and I'd love for the NSW Ebonite Sport Series to host. It's something we'll continue to look into and if we receive the support for it then we'll go for it. Without a doubt.

Cow
 
Hi Stephen,

I agree, adding the cost of a ball would probably turn people away. Nearly everybody has a ball somewhere in the shed that would fit the category.

So, would the best rule be something like this.

1: single ball only
2: must have a pancake weight block
3: must meet static weight rules
4: must be plastic /polyester.
( I was going to add rubber in there, then remember how soft some of the rubber balls where)
5: can change the ball surface at the end of a game but not during a game.
Surface changes would only include approved cleaner or polish? My thought here is that some of the balls maybe really old and have a distinct disadvantage to a newer plastic ball.

Anybody else got some ideas?
 
John, don't think #5 is necessary. Plastic which meets rules 1 to 4 are not porous, and can be wiped clean of lane oil - especially by microfibre cloths. Any surface difference, in any case, is going to be minimal.
Your dad beat me to 78 by 6 whole months !!! He always was hard to beat !!
 
Hi Jim,

My thought was also giving the bowlers a chance to improve their shot with a grit based polish. Mainly due to the shot being very different.

It would also be a good chance for people to experiment. No different to controlled tyres in F1, but two compounds to even the field a bit.

Again at this stage it is all hypothetical.

The old bugger might be 78 but he is still fiery and fitter than I am. But complains more.
 
jimcross said:
John, don't think #5 is necessary. Plastic which meets rules 1 to 4 are not porous, and can be wiped clean of lane oil - especially by microfibre cloths. Any surface difference, in any case, is going to be minimal.
Your dad beat me to 78 by 6 whole months !!! He always was hard to beat !!
Click to expand...

Jim just about every pro changed the box cover of the recent Mark Roth plastic ball event (which they should call Polyester if they want to be totally correct). Might want to check this out

YouTube - Powerhouse Lockerroom Feature
 
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