I had the opportunity to speak with some of the touring exempt pros and a ball representative during the Buffalo Tour Stop. To my surprise, many of the answers that were given to me differed immensely from person to person. The following are some candid interviews that I did.
Interview with Bill O’Neill
February 22, 2006
Flo: What pound is the equipment you use?
Bill: Fifteen.
Flo: Have you always been fifteen?
Bill: I changed from sixteen to fifteen about two years ago. I had a little bit of tendonitis in my wrist so it forced me to do it and it worked out because when I threw sixteen, my wrist gave out at the bottom like once a game. It would cause me 2, 8, 10’s once a game.
Flo: What do you think of the tour format as it is now versus what it was? Which do you like better?
Bill: This is my first year, I didn’t bowl in the old format. But, I enjoy this format. I think it’s exciting for the fans that they can watch the seven-game match and that being here for two days to figure out who makes the show. It’s a little more. . . each game really means something. When you’re bowling game one of a round robin format, you just bowl and then go the next pair. There’s a lot more strategy involved than in the heads up matchplay than there is in the round robin.
Flo: What advice do you give to anybody coming up through ranks and turn pro?
Bill: Just work hard. Work hard and make sure that you excel at every level before you try to come out here because if you try to come out here and you’re the middle-range guy in the amateurs and you’re middle-range guy in the regionals, it’s gonna be hard for you to make it out here. You have to really learn how to win and excel at every level before you’re able to come out here.
Flo: What do you do during the off-season?
Bill: Again, since this is my first year, I haven’t had a lot of off-season experience, but this off-season, I’m looking to buy a house. So, that might be a summer long project.
Flo: Oh, it will be.
Bill: Well, I’m thinking about buying a condo so it won’t be as much work as a house but we’ll see. Hopefully, I’m gonna do a lot of bowling in a lot of regionals. Hopefully, I’m going to be doing that camp that’s up here in July. So, hopefully, doing a lot of stuff like that.
Flo: And, where do you see the tour being in ten years? What do you think is gonna happen?
Bill: I think the guys are putting a lot of time and effort into it. So I would assume it’s gonna be better than where it’s at right now.
Flo: Now that you’re out here full time for your first year, is there anything you didn’t expect that’s here or is it pretty much what you expected?
Bill: I thought that out here the guys, the bowlers, the reason why they were so good is that they’re just dead-on accurate and that’s why they’re bowling everybody else. But that’s not necessarily the case. They are accurate but they don’t split boards. What makes them better is how mentally good they are as far as ball choices and lane play and how to use different releases in different situations. That’s what makes them better than everybody else.
Flo: Do you find them reachable? Are they happy to talk to you being the new guy out?
Bill: Yes. A guy like Chris Barnes, he’s on the same ball staff and he tries to help me out every chance he gets and he doesn’t have to do that. And, he’s the reason I bowl with the guys like Ryan Shafer – you kind-of just pick up little things here and there that they may say.
Flo: Who do you room with?
Bill: Mike Fagan (?)
Interview with Chris Barnes
February 22, 2006
Flo: What pound equipment do you use?
Chris: 16
Flo: Do you find that better for you? Have you tried 15?
Chris: No, I pretty much believe in that weight. I just have enough physics background in college and I haven’t seen anybody convince me that 15 pound equipment carries better than 16. If somebody can show it to me, then I’ll switch. Injury or ball speed, I don’t see the need.
Flo: Speaking of injury, how’s your back?
Chris: It’s good. It’s alright.
Flo: Healing well?
Chris: No issues at all at this point.
Flo: What do you think of the tour format now as opposed to the old tour format?
Chris: I think each have their strengths. And you have to be better at different things in each of them.
Flo: Do you like either one in particular?
Chris: They’re just different. I’ve had some success in either one and I feel like really for the most part, if you bowl any format long enough, then the cream will rise to the top. And, Walter has been successful in both of them and people thought he’d struggle in this one, and to some extent, he probably struggled in this one more than the other format. But, all in all, he’s still made his fair share either way. You look at a guy like Tommy Jones who you think maybe he’s a product of the matchplay format, but he goes down on the toughest pattern we bowled all year and he wins the US Open. So, that theory doesn’t hold water either. The fact is that pretty much any format you bowl on, if you bowl it every week, the best bowlers figure it out and they’ll make it the show more often than not.
Flo: What advice do you have for anybody that’s aspiring to be a pro bowler?
Chris: The same old adage about spares. Shooting all your spares straight because although the patterns are different every week on tour. The 3, 6, 10 is a lot tougher to make when the gutter doesn’t hook. But, the other thing now, aside from being very repetitive, which is good, it’s not all about repetition now and really to a greater versatility is the biggest key to being successful on tour now. Having three different ball speeds, maybe three different hand positions and three different tilts is probably as important as anything you can do to be successful here.
Flo: What do you do in the off-season?
Chris: Exhibitions. I have several days that I work for Columbia300 and do a lot with them. I have twin boys that are three years old, so I try to do my best to make up for lost time with being out on tour for six months of the year. And, I play a little golf.
Flo: Where do you see the tour in ten years?
Chris: That’s a great question because there’s a lot of directions it could go. My best hope is that maybe ESPN ends up buying the tour and owning it. It would increase the sponsorship and visibility of the tour. It might be back bowling on Saturdays again. Probably still an exempt field but an exempt field that’s probably a little bit larger. And, some hybrid formats – some matchplay formats and some more traditional formats, kind-of mix it all up.
Interview with ROBERT SMITH
February 22, 2006
Flo: First thing, is what pound equipment do you use?
Robert: I use sixteen.
Flo: Any particular reason?
Robert: Well, actually I was throwing fifteen earlier this year, but I kept breaking the bowling balls! So, I had to use sixteen to try to get them to last a little further.
Flo: What do you think of the tour format as compared to the old way? Do you like it better?
Robert: On a bowling level, personally we like to bowl our games. We like it where total pins all the through matters. But then again, on a bad aspect, when you’re watching the matches and stuff, yeah, they’re a little bit more exciting because everybody’s got a chance. You throw a bad game, you’re still in. All you do is lose one game. So, on that aspect, yeah, it keeps the fans interested. You don’t sit there and think this guy’s out of it so we stopped watching. It has its pros and cons but it can always be tweaked. But I mean it’s getting there. Next year, it probably will be a touch different too.
Flo: You’re right, I think it is getting there. Your advice to future pros?
Robert: Well, you know, a lot of kids that I talk to and even the parents of the kids that I talk to from stop to stop, think that there’s a set of proper way that everybody’s gotta execute shots for timing and thing like that. I look at it this way, I mean half these guys out here probably even more, we bowled messing around, trying to see what we could and couldn’t do – find your limits. And, that’s probably the biggest advice I could give to some people. It’s just know your game, know what you can and can’t do to the ball because you’re never gonna be able to pull your “A” game every week. There’s no way. And, so a lot of times what happens is when people start not striking or not hitting they’re line just on they’re “A” game, they think the lanes are bad. But that’s not the truth. It’s just you have to have a broad spectrum on how you throw the ball. And, so that would be my biggest advice. Just mess around, practice, know your limits, find out what you can and can’t do to the bowling ball. And what you can’t do, work on it.
Flo: What do you do in the off-season?
Robert: I work still. I go to Japan a lot during the summertime to do exhibitions, bowl a couple tournaments out there. When I’m home, it’s pretty much my vacation. Actually, physically home is my vacation time. Most of the time, I’m out doing exhibitions, bowling tournaments overseas and things like that.
Flo: Where do you see the tour in ten years?
Robert: In ten years, hopefully a little bit bigger than this. I like how. . . what they did this year as far as getting promotion and advertising and things. I think now it’s just coming down to the point where we need to figure out how to get these big businesses to come in and do some advertising. A lot of it is just actually physically getting the presidents and vice presidents to meet us. Not just go to ProAms and meet us for five frames and move on. Literally, come down for a couple hours, bowl with us, mingle, just hang out and get to know that we’re just like everybody else. And I think if we can get that going, I think ten year from now there’s no reason why our prize couldn’t go up tenfold.
Flo: See that’s the problem that I was talking to Rosie about. I said that when you look at golf, those people are as approachable as anybody else; maybe some aren’t because of the elevation they got. But that’s a sport that everybody can partake in just this one. So why. . .
Robert: A lot of it is just business. I mean, if you look at the big businesses that go out, the presidents and vp’s and stuff – what do they do on their business meetings? They take ‘em out to golf. Golf is a big sport that these people like. So they can first hand appreciate Tiger Woods and those guys and what they do and therefore, that’s why they get a lot of these sponsors. It’s kind of like a company morale issue, that they use, these advertisings and things like that. So if we can figure out a way to get them to treat bowling like they do golf where they want to bring the company people in and things like that, I think that’s where explode. But until then, we’re just nickel and diming our way up to that point.
Flo: Did you practice this morning?
Robert: No. I’m still a little beat up from The Open.
Flo: When you walked out, me and my wife said, “What’s with the hair?”
Robert: Oh, the hair. You know, look at everyone else out here. They got short hair and they’re balding. I was just getting’ lazy over the summer. I was out in Europe for three weeks and then I was out in Asia and I just kinda let it go and after awhile, I’m just gonna see how far this goes. So, if I end up with a ponytail next year, I end up with a pony tail, who knows.
Interview with Wes Malott
February 22, 2006
Flo: What pound is your equipment?
Wes: Fifteen.
Flo: Do you find that beneficial in any way? Have you tried sixteen and then dropped to fifteen.
Wes: I dropped to fifteen back when I was like seventeen, eighteen. I’m 29 now, so I just felt I had a little bit more control over the ball. With the equipment being as powerful as it is nowadays, it doesn’t seem to really affect it. In some ways, a lot of people actually think it’s both because of the way it deflects through the pins.
Flo: What do you think of the tour format the way it is now versus the old format?
Wes: Every format they’re gonna come up with got its good and bad. I’ve been pretty fortunate, so far, pretty successful on this format. I’ve learned the strategies on how to play the lanes and break them down and how to do stuff like that which you don’t do with the other format. If you’re bowling bad, you don’t have to continue bowling. You’re pretty much done when you’re bowling bad. So, you don’t sit there and frustrate yourself and go through a lot of mental struggles and everything. But other than that, the format is exciting. A lot of people would like see the other format, but next year you might see a little bit of change in that. I’m not real sure; it hasn’t been announced yet but I have a feeling something’s coming.
Flo: Any advice to someone coming up through the ranks who’s aspiring to be a pro?
Wes: If that’s what you want to do, what you to pursue, don’t give up. It’s not something, a lot of people when coming from juniors going to adult, you’ll go from being the top of your game or the big fish and you jump into a bigger pond and you’re a smaller fish. It’s no different that that. And for me, I’ve been pretty fortunate. Everytime I made that jump, I guess I either waited long enough or I just have been successful at doing it. I see a lot of people make that jump and they give up. Don’t give up. Get some coaching if you need it. Pursue your dream if possible.
Flo: What do you during in the off-season?
Wes: In previous years, I still had to work because I haven’t made enough money. When I was working, I was doing carpentry work, I trimmed houses, doing the finish work. This summer, now we moved up to the Dallas area where my wife’s family is, she wanted to be by her family when I’m on tour, so we finally made that move. So this summer could be a little bit different. I’m going to talk to the ball company that I’m with, Columbia, talk to them to see if there’s any additional work or something to do. That way I don’t have to do any real physical work. And, possibly have a little bit more time to weight train and get in better shape, even better shape than what I was coming into this season. Just losing some weight and try tone some muscles, the right muscles for our sport and see what happens with that.
Flo: Where do you see the tour in ten years? Where do you see it going?
Wes: That’s a good question. It’s either gonna be really good or it’s gonna be really bad or we might not have a tour. I don’t know that we won’t have a tour. I don’t want to say that. I think we’ll always have a tour but we might not have the prize fund that we’re bowling for now. It might go back to the old $25,000 for first instead of us bowling for $40,000. It’s either gonna be that or bowling for $100,000 every week depending if we keep on the right direction and get the right sponsors and get more sponsorship and take the rights steps. I don’t think there’s anybody better doing what they do other than the guys that we have on right top now. So, they’re the guys that are gonna make it happen if it’s gonna happen.
Interview with Rick Benoit
February 22, 2006
Flo: Some of the questions I’m going to ask you, I know you’re a ball rep but, what do you think of the tour format now as compared to what it used to be?
Rick: I try not to compare them because I think the only way. . . my whole idea out here is to help bowlers develop. That’s my whole purpose or thought process out here. And, when I watch any specific format, and we bowl in the same format every week, certain characteristics come out and it goes to an advantage of certain style of players. Believe it or not, the format has a lot to do with that. I would prefer a larger variety, a wider variety of conditions and format. I try to avoid any kind-of discussion which format is better and which one’s worse.
Flo: Your advice to anyone anticipating coming up through the ranks to be a pro.
Rick: Not to be afraid of friction in the front part of the lane. Make it your friend. Like oil down the lane and don’t be afraid of friction. How people learn to bowl rather than having the ball push through the front part of the lane.
Flo: What do you do during the off-season?
Rick: Well, I’m involved in a lot of R&D work with Brunswick. I also do a lot of special appearances or give seminars and stuff with Brunswick. So, basically, it’s still Brunswick-oriented and then developing players as well on the side.
Flo: Where do you see the tour in ten years?
Rick: It’s still a big question. I don’t really see the influx of sponsorship to take it where we want to. I do see that there will always be people wanting to bowl. They will always be bowlers. And having the right environment, having the right stage to display them is questionable. I think that we’ve got a great opportunity but I’m really not seeing it come out as I’d like to.
Flo: One more, it’s kind-of an individual question, but maybe you can answer this from a ball rep-instructional aspect, what pound equipment are you seeing most of the pros throw?
Rick: Fifteen. Most of them are throwing fifteen. You still got your select few that throw sixteen but I would say, 70% of the guys are using fifteen.
Flo: What do you think the reason is that they’re still throwing sixteen for? Is it just old school or do you think that they’re afraid to make a change?
Rick: You know, when I see players make a change in weight, the first thing they notice is the feel if relative to their swing. So, the heavier weight allows people to feel like the ball weight helps their swing or assist their swing more than anything else. The people that go down in weight, typically go down in weight because they’re trying create more speed or revs and both of those are good characteristics to have right now. So, a lot of people are gonna drop down in weight to try to create more ball more ball speed or revolutions.