Let me add my .02 to this topic:
On the golf vs. bowling comparisons - the one thing I fail to see mentioned is the fact that it takes a lot of practice to improve one's golf game a few strokes. While on a THS pattern it takes zero practice to improve one's average a few pins. People bowling one night a week on an easy THS will see an improved average over the prior year, usually. This alone should show us that the lane conditions are too easy. It has nothing to do with lower average bowlers beating higher average bowlers, it has to do with the fact that people who put zero effort in to improve their games, see improvement based soley on how easy the shot is.....that is just wrong.
On the better bowlers averaging higher on THS - while this is true, the easy THS allows the gap between the better bowlers and the lower average bowlers to shrink. The better bowlers develop their games to score on tougher shots. One of the things that makes the shots tougher is usually higher volumes of oil. I have personally seen, and have had happen to me, a higher average bowler who hits his mark more consistently have problems because the lower volumes of oil on a THS don't reward being consistent. The shot breaks down faster cause you are hitting the same spot over and over causing balls to overreact with little or no warning. It causes the better bowlers to make more adjustments (different lines, different balls) than a lower average bowler spraying the ball across a 10 board area. And some nights that means losing carry for the higher average bowlers. The problem with a THS is that it not only rewards the wrong behaviors, it hinders or even handicaps the right behaviors.
Bowling is a business, and I know why centers put out the easier THS shots. They want the most bowlers to come to their center and the majority of the bowling world wants to be able to average 210 without practicing and bowling once a week. The centers do not want to lose bowlers, leagues to other centers because they put out a tougher shot. Just like people are asking the bowling ball manufacturers to ban together and fight against the PBA fees, if all the bowling centers in an area (or the BPAA for that matter) got together and said we are going to put out the USBC White or USBC Blue patterns and get away from this too easy THS, maybe we could make a difference. If people still quit then, then that's on them and it shows how spoiled they really are.
And lastly, I keep hearing people say THS isn't the problem, but no one has spelled out exactly what the problem is then. If it isn't THS, what IS really the problem? Is it the fact that bowlers are worse than spoiled little brats who want their high scores week in and week out without ever having to practice or improve? Is it the fact that bowlers egos are so big they can't fathom they might not actually be as good as their THS average suggests? Please tell me, I am waiting to hear.
