Opinions vary on lane conditions

When we met last, there was a little venting in this space.

Local longtime bowler Paul Trgovac would welcome a tougher test for the best bowlers. In baseball lingo, he stepped to the plate and was the leadoff batter in resurrecting the debate of hard shot vs. easy shot.

“Maybe some of these guys around here will get some guts to try the real game,” Trgovac wrote in an E-mail that scorched the satellite signal over which it was transmitted.

I shot back via my dipsy-doodle digital duplicator: “Scooter, would you go on record?” He replied: “Yes, I have said the same thing for years to everyone.”

Because of an abundance of high scores, the “integrity” of the game has been compromised.

A good place to start is McKinley Lanes, where proprietors Marty and Sarah Letscher gave their input.

“Why would bowlers go to a house that’s not as easy as some others?” Marty asks. “My shot is easy, but it seems that some of the other houses have a higher-scoring condition. I don’t fault any proprietor for doing what they do. It’s unfortunate the USBC never got on the ball on this. They should have done this in the 1980s by regulating lane conditions so that scores didn’t get out of hand and are as high as they are where 300 doesn’t mean anything anymore.”

Is it futile?

“Now the USBC is trying to bring back the integrity by putting out a sport shot,” Marty said, “but bowlers would prefer high scores the easier way as compared to working for it. In the past, guys who wanted to get better just practiced. Now, they go to an easier house.”

The Letschers have attempted to restore the skill factor.

“We have a sport tournament every Friday night, where the shot is rotated between the five PBA sport shot patterns,” Sarah Letscher said. “Bowlers can be challenged with the various ‘sport’ lane conditions.”

She was asked if proprietors walk a fine when deciding on type of oil application, which could keep customers happy or drive them away.

“In this part of the country, there are many centers for bowlers to choose from, so proprietors need to compete to keep bowlers. In other parts of the country where a center may be the only one for miles, lane conditions might not be as big a factor.”

Secretary Ron Haus of Tuesday Niters at Mahoning Valley Lanes said his members think the shot is hard enough because there are not that many high games compared to the other lanes where they have bowled.

“They feel that the lanes that have a lot of high scores should change their shot to make it harder for the better leagues to attain high scores, but for the average league players, leave the shot as it is.”

Mike Yurco of West Side’s Armando Saab Classic, likes the virtue of the USBC’s new Red, White & Blue program to graduate bowlers from easy to more difficult lane-dressing conditions.

“I’ll bowl my 38th national tournament in Reno in April and will find the difference in the sport shot to be like night and day,” he said.

Tony Corradetti, 2nd vice-president of the Greater Youngstown Bowling Association, believes that centers should acquiesce to the average customers.

“There are a handful who want a tougher shot, but the majority of league bowlers want an easy shot,” said Corradetti. “This is evidenced by the low turnout for any tournament that we have where we put out a hard shot — and the same for tournaments that aren’t held at a bowler’s own house. The typical league bowler wants to be able to walk into a bowling alley, not have to think, and be able to average 200.”

Corradetti said a harder shot prepares him for out-of-town competition. But his view is in the minority.

“If a league puts out a hard shot, the bowlers complain. And if it doesn’t get easier, they will go to another bowling alley that puts out an easy shot,” he said.

Corradetti has seen the advantages and disadvantages of bowlers on both ends of the spectrum: One who gravitated to an easier house, then lost his handicap cushion at tournaments and another who sacrificed a 240 average for 201 to hone his concentration.

“If a centrally located house were to start one league with a hard shot, I think it would do good. But more than one would have a hard time attracting bowlers.”

West Side Lanes bowler/sponsor/secretary Guy DePizzo thinks it is better for business to have an easy shot.

“Who wants to work hard when there isn’t much if any money to make? Bowlers should be able to enjoy themselves,” he said. “Golf hasn’t gone back to the wooden shaft, neither has tennis to the wooden racket.”

Some argue the harder shot keeps their average down for when they go to tournaments, but how many people go to tournaments and how many do they go to?

“Is it worth it to bowl on a difficult condition for 30 weeks just to go to one or two tournaments and hope to make a couple hundred dollars?” said DePizzo. “I don’t think that makes sense. If you bowl decent without much effort, you are more likely to go back to the alley. How many golfers would be golfing today if there were still wooden shafts and they could only drive the ball 150 yards?”

Ted Bundy, GYBA sergeant-at-arms, believes, despite superior equipment, bowlers must still adapt.

“Most houses try to give all bowlers a fair shot, but only the good ones will find the right ball for the conditions,” he said. “I bowl at three different houses and have to play different lane patterns at all of them. I bowl local, state and nationals and all conditions are different and the bowler has to adjust. If you leave the same pattern out there, bowlers find the shot to score.”

The personal opinion of Andrew Bouch, St. Christine Men’s secretary at Wedgewood, is in favor of a tougher shot to make bowlers work for their scores.

“But, if you were to ask the bowlers in my league, I think most of them would say they want the same pattern week to week,” he said. “I have bowlers complaining that they wish they would put a better shot out their so they can score better. They want the shot to be the same each week, where they have some room for error and they can score higher.”