Select The Right Bowling Competition

bowlingball.com, Originally Posted: 4/4/2013; Updated: 5/10/2023

One important factor in enjoying your time on the lanes in competition is to select just the right venue to match with your skills and experience level. All too often bowlers will choose a league or a tournament group in which to bowl, but are overly qualified for the given competition or under qualified for the competition.

If you are in a league, for example, and are a relatively new bowler without much experience in the game, joining a team in a league which showcases the best talent in town may not be your best course of action.


 Many bowlers will be over their own heads against much stronger caliber players and will never get a chance to relax or blossom into the bowler they can become. If you are on a team now and are used as the “low average” link to get the team additional handicap or stay under the league average cap, you might be a victim of being in the wrong league and bowling with the wrong set of bowlers.


Although bowling with and against better players can work in your favor to help you progress and improve by being exposed to talented players, it can also work against you as you can easily be intimidated by the quality of talent in the league and possibly on your team.


If this is the case, there are intermediate level leagues where experience and skill levels are not as high as your present league, but certainly better than low average leagues that beginning bowlers tend to join.


 The trick is to place yourself into a competitive environment where you can relax and have some fun yet test your skills against other similarly experienced bowlers. It might be a benefit to you to find a suitable league and put together your own team of people you are confident you will enjoy bowling with for many weeks. Where your team can be competitive and not the “doormats” of the league.


Search for a league or leagues where you think you will have the best chance to enjoy yourself and develop as a competitive player. Once you do, you stand a good chance at moving up against better levels of players in the future.


The same reasoning holds true if you are in a league with far lesser experienced and skilled bowlers. Being the top dog in a mixed league, for example, where many bowlers are fairly new to the game and not in the same average range as yourself can weigh on you over time. You can easily get frustrated watching these bowlers struggle for decent scores and never improve, or worse yet, be on your team and you never experience the thrill of winning.


 Finding the right tournaments and teammates in tournaments is also an important objective for you as a competitive bowler. There are several established tournament organizations which contain average divisions within the structure of the organization so you can compete against bowlers with similar experience and skill levels.
These tournament groups are fun to bowl in, prizes are awarded, and in many cases are handicap tournaments where you have more than a fair chance at winning if you bowl well.



 There is no question that finding the right competition level for your leagues and tournament bowling is vital to your growth as a bowler. If the “bowling walls” are closing in on you in your present leagues or tournaments, start the search for a new venue or a new team to join and change your setting and environment.


 Waiting and never making a change will perpetuate your frustrations and drive you away from the game. You are in control of where you spend your money, invest your time, and which level of competition you engage. Make a good decision and have some fun. Select the right competition and enjoy your time on the lanes.