What is your opinion of Pre-bowling?

[J Anderson]

Yesterday I pre-bowled for the first time in over forty years of league bowling.

I’m not sure pre-bowling was even a thing back in 1975. If it was, no one in our league was aware of it until the mid 90s. It wasn’t a problem for us since every team seemed to have at least one sub on the roster and no one was into going to Nationals. Actually there was a team that dropped out of contention for the second half title when four out of the five regulars went on vacation the same week.

Back to the present. It turned out that my Summer Doubles partner was planning to leave on vacation with his family today. I have a monthly meeting that got moved from the second Monday to the first Tuesday. Both of us have enough friends who are bowlers to get a sub, but an all sub line-up is not allowed. Thus we had to pre-bowl. All in all the conditions were great; no one to our left for about ten pairs as they were waxing the settee area, fresh oil on both pairs, and at least a four lane buffer on our right.
The league format is to bowl a 2 game set against one team, move to a different pair and bowl another 2 games against a different team. Our averages were 192 and 205 going in. The first set I shot in the 230s both games. Matt went 168, 234. The second set I went 182, 231, and Matt shot 237, 222.

As much as I enjoyed bowling better than normal, I can just imagine what the opposing teams are going to think next Tuesday when they see the numbers they have to beat.

So what are your thoughts on pre-bowling.

[Aslan]

I'm not a big fan.

1) It's usually not the same conditions.

2) You're not eligible for awards...on the off chance you get a perfect game or 800 series.

But, it happens quite a bit over the summer....people go on vacations and such. Not a big deal. For our league, it's more important because our team is a very high average team. When we bowl against a person that pre-bowled, we just have to beat whatever they bowled. If we bowl against a vacant or blind...we have to beat their score AND bowl our average.

[mc_runner]

Yeah, I mostly agree with Aslan here. It can really help or hurt whoever does it. I've done it a few times out of necessity and conditions varied between fresh and post-cosmic-bowl. Generally though even if the lanes are bad you're not dealing with a ton of traffic over whatever line you have to use. I'd rather just require subs, personally.

However, pre-bowling is still far superior to post-bowling.

[boatman37]

I think I have done it once but it is not permitted in our summer league. We have a similar set-up. 2 games against one team then 2 against another. If you are short handed then you get a blind score, which is the missing persons average minus 20. We have a 3 man roster and we rotate. This coming week one of the teammates is going on vacation so we switched up and I will bowl this week (it was supposed to be my turn to sit out). But we see alot of pre-bowling in the fall league with mixed results. Some bowl much higher than their averages but I have seen some that bowl much lower so hard to say.

[JerseyJim]

I bowl in a league that is composed mostly of volunteer firemen. We have pre-bowling, and make-up bowling frequently. This is the only way that we could get people to bowl on a regular basis. It works for us.

[Phonetek]

Meh, pre-bowling works for me in a pinch but I'd rather not do it. Usually I do better given the lane conditions and the pace I can keep vs. league. Some people tend to take advantage though and pre-bowl all the time instead for the same reasons I said. I've had some try and cheat by saying they came to pre-bowl then bowled badly and said nevermind. Also, they'd come and bowl 6 games and try to pick which scores they wanted to use. In that case I take the first 3 games good or bad.

[J Anderson]

Meh, pre-bowling works for me in a pinch but I'd rather not do it. Usually I do better given the lane conditions and the pace I can keep vs. league. Some people tend to take advantage though and pre-bowl all the time instead for the same reasons I said. I've had some try and cheat by saying they came to pre-bowl then bowled badly and said nevermind. Also, they'd come and bowl 6 games and try to pick which scores they wanted to use. In that case I take the first 3 games good or bad.

According to USBC rules, once you pre-bowl for a given week, that’s it. Those are your scores that count. It’s just too bad if you had to bowl next to a birthday party of running, screaming 4 year old kids.

[Phonetek]

According to USBC rules, once you pre-bowl for a given week, that’s it. Those are your scores that count. It’s just too bad if you had to bowl next to a birthday party of running, screaming 4 year old kids.

Exactly, but the customers think because they know me I'll let them cheat. NOT! I don't care who they are and how well they know me it ain't happenin'. Well...if their friends "Ulysses" or "Ben" gives me a 50 or 100 reasons to think otherwise I MAY look the other way. Hey man....don't shake your head....everyone has a price. LOL Just kidding, not a single person where I work cares enough about their bowling scores to bribe me but it's fun to think about.

[boatman37]

The guy that owns our center bowls in our league so don't think 'cheatin' would go over very well...lol and he works all days so unless you go at night he will be working.

[Phonetek]

Yeah, everyone knows I refuse to bowl on a league where I currently work. Given what happened last time, being constantly bombarded by the employees with work related questions and having to fix my own lane when it broke down was the last straw. Nonetheless I wouldn't let people cheat. I would tell them if they have to cheat at bowling then they need to take up mini golf instead. LOL

Any employees where I'm going to work try to pull that while I'm bowling league, I promise it will only happen once. I also think the caliber of bowlers I'll be dealing with at this new center on a regular basis are much more serious about their games than what I'm used to. None of this likely won't be an issue.