Should There Be a USBC Open Senior Division?

Should the USBC Open Championships have a senior division? Roy Rasmus of Bay City, MI thinks so. Here's his letter to this month's Bowlers Journal International:

I have bowled in 33 ABC/USBC Open Tournaments, but at this point in my life, at age 62, I can no longer compete against the younger bowlers and the PBA card-carrying members who are allowed to bowl. The average or even better-than-average bowler has little chance. I can adjust to most conditions and I expect a tough shot, but how many bowlers can play inside the third arrow or deeper? Maybe it's time to break this tournament into age groups to give us seniors a chance.

Wayne Webb, One of the All Time Greats

"I always bowled well on TV, and I was known for being able to make a big shot when I needed it."

--Wayne Webb

I grew up watching PBA telecasts. I've seen almost every one of them and every top professional bowler since the mid-60's. I've never compiled my own PBA top 50 list, but if I were to do so, Wayne Webb would rank high on it. He ranked 18th on the official PBA "50 Greatest Players" list released a few years ago.

Whenever Wayne Webb stepped foot on the approach, he had my full attention. There was just something unusually charismatic and commanding about his demeanor. It was all business and brimming with equal measures of standout competence and quiet confidence.

And then there was that compact, efficient style of his that just pleased the eye. You know how some bowlers on tour have styles that you just love to watch every chance you get? David Ozio, Brian Voss, Bryon Smith, Chris Barnes, Parker Bohn, and Robert Smith are among the many who come to mind, while there are others, whom I won't name, whose styles are an eyesore. Well, Wayne Webb had and still has the kind of style you love to watch.

But that great style also generated one powerful ball. Back in the day, it was one of the most powerful balls on tour, and I heard an old-timer on PBA Xtra Frame once say that Wayne was the first or one of the first on tour to move in deep enough to loft the gutter cap. Everybody else would be struggling to play outside or shallow inside lines, and there Wayne would be firing strike after strike from deep inside with all that skill and power of his.

For awhile, he was nearly invincible. He won the Tournament of Champions and was PBA Player of the Year in 1980. Between 1980 and 1985, he won over $100,000 three times and over $90,000 twice, which was great money for the PBA back then.

But he began to struggle after that, and although he had a few more good years, particularly in 1988 and 1997, he left the Tour in the early 2000's to concentrate on running pro shops. The end of his career on the regular tour is profiled in the outstanding 2004 bowling documentary "A League of Ordinary Gentlemen."

Wayne eventually moved to the Sacramento area and opened a couple of pro shops here, and after I moved to Sacramento, he became my go-to pro shop guy. This wasn't just because he'd been such a great bowler on tour and one I'd always enjoyed and respected more than most. No, it soon became apparent that this guy had tremendous knowledge of bowling and bowling equipment, and he was willing to share it with you at length. You could learn a lot from listening to Wayne Webb.

Once, I asked him to give my wife, who was a beginning bowler, a bowling lesson, and he helped her game. Another time, I asked him for a ball recommendation. He watched me throw a few balls first. We then went into his shop, he gave me his recommendation, I took it, he fit me for the ball, laid it out and drilled it, and the first time I used it, I shot over 800 in league. I was so happy, I called him on the phone the next morning and thanked him. That ball is now several years old, but it still fits me better than any other ball I've owned, and I still use it whenever I can.

I was sorry to see him leave Sacramento to take over a bowling center in Columbus, Ohio. But I was delighted to see him do so well on the Senior Tour and enjoy so much happiness with his new family and business venture.

The reason I bring all of this up is because I've just received the April, 2011 issue of Bowlers Journal International in the mail, and one of its articles profiles Wayne. The article is titled "For Wayne Webb, Life is Fun Again. In an upcoming post, I will write about some very interesting parts of that article.

Below is video of Wayne Webb's title match at age 24 with Gary Dickinson in the 1980 Tournament of Champions.

Fireside Lanes Bowling Clinic Report, Part 1

I've been bowling a long time, but I've always shied away from being coached. When I was younger, this was for two reasons. I didn't like to be told that there was something wrong with the way I bowled, because I was afraid it would make me feel even less capable and more insecure than I did already. And I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to learn the lessons I was being taught, which would not only waste my money but make me look and feel stupid at a time when I already felt stupid enough and wanted to avoid looking it as much as possible.

I guess I've matured a little over the years in ways beyond the strictly chronological and biological, because I've come to the point where I'm less concerned, although by no means entirely unconcerned, with protecting my delicate ego and not looking stupid. So, I'm more open to seeking outside help to improve my bowling game. After all, I've gone about as far and done about as well on my own as I probably ever will. If I want to be and do better, I need expert coaching.

My first formal coaching lesson came a couple of weeks ago from Debbie Haggerty, mother of touring pro P.J., and one of Bowlers Journal International's top 100 coaches and last year's Junior Coach of the Year. She has developed an awesome junior program at Fireside Lanes in Citrus Heights, CA, but she also coaches adults. She gave me some suggestions about altering my setup and approach to help me delay my timing and generate more leverage and power with my delivery.

Then I attended a veritable dream bowling clinic all day on June 6 at Fireside Lanes featuring Dr. Dean Hinitz, Bill O'Neill, P.J. Haggerty, Leanne Barrette Hulsenberg, and Gary Hulsenberg. We were given booklets with printed material culled from leading bowling publications about the physical and mental game, and we then assembled in the meeting room to be introduced to the coaches and given an overview of the day's activities.

I'll say from the outset that I regret not taking notes during Dr. Dean's presentations, because he had a lot to say, and it would have been nice to have a solid record of it all instead of fuzzier memories. I didn't record and don't remember exactly how he said it, but he quoted some old Chinese proverb about how fading words on old paper were better than the blank pages of forgotten memories. My advice to anyone who attends a clinic like this is to TAKE GOOD NOTES.

However, I did jot down some notes after I got home of what I managed to remember about Dr. Hinitz's instruction on the mental or psychological aspect of bowling, and I'll summarize them later. But first let me say a few words about other aspects of the clinic.

We performed some exercises such as forming into teams and trying to throw our balls in the channel between 40 and 60 feet down the lane. It was a lot harder for many of us than you might suppose. We were then assigned to pairs of lanes to throw balls while the coaches looked on and and offered each of us suggestions. Every few pairs had a different PBA animal pattern, and a different coach was assigned to that set of pairs. After bowling on one pattern while watched and helped by one coach, we would move to a different pattern for feedback from a different coach while Dr. Hinitz kept a watchful eye on the proceedings and walked around asking people at random what they were "working on."

P.J. Haggerty asked me what I wanted to work on. I told him I wanted, among other things, to develop a more powerful release. He watched me bowl and made some suggestions about things I could do to stop wrapping my backswing behind my back and releasing my ball too far away from my body for good leverage and control. He said this would help me be more accurate and consistent with my shotmaking and also give me more power. But he also cautioned against trying too hard to develop more power. After all, he said, the winningest bowler of all time on Tour is hardly a power player. Nor does he have anything approaching a textbook style.

Bill O'Neill watched me bowl and suggested that I stop extending the ball so far out on my pushaway. He said my long pushaway caused me to tense my arm and muscle the ball into and through my backswing. He suggested that I use the hinged swing of a Chris Barnes as my model of the ideal pushaway and armswing.

Leanne set me up with a Mission demo ball to try out on the lanes and invited me to practice with her and her husband Gary whenever I wanted their help with my game and they were available. I really appreciated this. Leanne, who won 26 PWBA titles and has bowled on TV more than 100 times, has been one of my favorite bowlers for over 20 years.

Gary Hulsenberg, a PBA member and former Ebonite product manager for this region, watched me bowl and talked with me about my equipment. He observed my ball track and said that it, like Pete Weber's, was unusually close to and parallel with my finger and thumbholes. He said a good thing about this is that it puts the greatest amount of ball surface possible in contact with the lane without rolling over the holes. On the other hand, it presents, especially given my relatively soft ball speed, some challenges in selecting, laying out, and surfacing equipment so that it doesn't roll over the holes or lose too much of its energy before it gets to the pins. He offered to work with me in setting up an optimal arsenal of six balls or fewer that should enable me to handle effectively just about any lane condition and sport pattern especially that I encounter.

Toward the end of the clinic, Bill and P.J. got out their bowling balls and threw several shots on each of the patterns explaining as they went along what they were thinking and trying to do with each shot. I've seen P.J. bowl before on PBA Xtra Frame and from the spectator area of a local tournament, and I've watched Bill O'Neil numerous times on TV, but there's nothing like watching these two skilled and powerful pros perform their magic "up close and personal." Standing just a few feet behind them, I was struck by the smooth and effortless power of their deliveries. Of course you see a lot of guys, mostly younger ones, gripping and ripping it in your local bowling centers. But they don't throw it like P.J. and Bill and have the voluminous knowledge to go with it. My God P.J. and Bill throw the ball sweetly! They are very impressive. And they know more about bowling equipment, oil patterns, bowling physics, and biomechanics than most of us could ever dream of.

As for Dr. Dean's informative and inspiring words, I'll list the ones I remember, even if they don't appear in the order he presented them, in my next blogpost about the clinic.

The Great USBC Open Beverage Debate

When I found out that bowlers would be allowed to drink alcoholic beverages this year at the USBC Open for the first time ever, I wasn't keen on the idea, and I blogged about it here. I argued that spilled beverages could cause sticky approaches and that drunken bowlers could "undermine the integrity" or dignity of this hallowed tournament.

Well, this month's Bowlers Journal International weighs in on the issue with a point-counterpoint article titled "The Great Adult Beverage Debate: Two perspectives on the USBC's decision to allow drinking--and we don't mean water--at the Open Championships." On the pro side is Jeff Richgels, a four-time ABC/USBC Champion and bowling journalist. On the other side is Ed Baur, a former ABC executive.

PRO

Richgels argues that the USBC is struggling financially and needs to do all it can to keep bowlers coming to the tournament. One way it can do this is to realize that a lot of participants in the Open aren't deadly serious competitive bowlers but look at the Open as part of their vacation for having fun with their friends. A few drinks down on the lanes can facilitate this, and there's nothing gravely wrong with it provided that officials make sure things don't get out of hand and are prepared to reinstate the alcohol ban if a significant problem arises. Sure, a tournament in which the beer is flowing doesn't make for the most august and dignified tournament around, but it doesn't need to be. Says Richgels:

"The USBC Open Championships is the national tournament for league bowlers; the U.S. Open is the true national championship--the event that opinion leaders and media types will look at if they ever look at bowling.

Some bowling folks get way too worked up worrying about bowling's image.

That energy would be far better spent working to capitalize on bowling's many strengths and embracing what the sport is."

CON

Baur argues that the USBC isn't allowing alcoholic beverages in order to "enhance the 'customer experience.' It's about money, and the USBC appears willing to tarnish its brightest star to acquire funds that would delay the next inevitable dues increase." However, no sport "that takes itself seriously" should degrade its "national championship" by allowing participants to consume alcohol during competition. "This isn't beer pong," Baur exclaims. Bowling has enough of an "image problem" as it is with the public. Let's not do anything to make matters worse. Moreover, when people start drinking, they're going to have to take "bathroom breaks" that cause disruptive delays, and it's going to place an undue burden on staff members to enforce proper conduct.

A THIRD OPINION

Bob Johnson is the editor of Bowlers Journal International and has a column titled "Strikes Me" at the end of each issue. He disagrees with Richgels that only the U.S. Open should be considered our national tournament, because this would regrettably mean that "bowling is perceived primarily as an individual sport as opposed to a team sport." But Johnson also takes issue with Baur's contention that bowling has a longstanding "image problem" with the American public. "I don't think the problem is as much with the public as it is with the media. Bowling's image doesn't stop tens of millions of people from going bowling each year. But the rantings of various media types do feed the negative stereotype of the 'typical bowler.'" he writes.

CONCLUSION

I've never bowled the USBC Open, so maybe it isn't my place to express an opinion on the matter. Maybe I should wait until I bowl next month as planned, assuming I carry out my plan. So, I'll only say right now that I lean toward the opinion, as I did in my previous entry, that the Open is an important enough tournament that it should present itself in a flattering light to the media and public at large and hold its participants to a high standard of conduct that excludes drinking alcohol and prevents the various problems that "adult drinking" could cause. However, since the cat is already out of the bag, let's see where it goes and what, if any, mischief it causes before we try to stuff it back in.

How do you feel about this issue? Are some of us making a proverbial mountain out of a molehill?

Bowling Quote of the Day--Perfectionism in Bowling

"It's the bowler who makes the least number of mistakes that prevails; a perfectionist doesn't exist."
--Earl Anthony, as quoted by Tom Kouros

This quote is attributed to Earl Anthony in a Bowlers Journal International article. If it's exactly what Anthony said, I need to make a small correction. I'm quite sure there are "perfectionists" in bowling. By that I mean people who strive to bowl perfectly--to make the perfect shot, bowl a perfect game, or even bowl a perfect series. But there are no perfect bowlers.

Anthony's point was apparently that it's impossible to be absolutely perfect on every shot or maybe even on any shot, so don't beat and mess yourself up trying too hard to be perfect. Yet, I wonder if Anthony himself wasn't a perfectionist on the lanes. He may not have expected perfection in himself, but I'd venture to guess that perfection was the horizonal ideal for which he strove on every shot, and that the closer he got to it, even if he never actually achieved it, the better. In fact, I'd guess that if we don't challenge ourselves in this way, we may never progress as far or as fast as those who do.

So, rather than say that there are no bowling perfectionists, it might be truer and more helpful to say, "There are no perfect bowlers, but bowlers who strive to come as close to perfection as they can on every shot are, all other things being equal, likely to perform best."

Bowling Quote of the Day--3/10/10

"I’m amazed at all of the hopeful commentary on Kulick’s win. I’ve been reading optimistic thoughts on the state of bowling for going on 30 years now. It’s time to face facts: regardless of Walter Ray, Kelly, etc., bowling is in a death spiral. Give it up."
--Jeff, commenting on Lyle Zikes' Bowlers Journal article "Will Kulick Attract New Fans, Sponsors?"