Our event this weekend was at Bowlero Kyrene, and with all the other events going on throughout the Valley we would have another great turnout to kick off the 2024 Summer Quarterly Circuit (July – September). We had 118 total entries (85 qualifying & 33 economy parlays) for 2 squads, with 31 prize winners and a 1 in 3.81 cash ratio, paying out over $6,700 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on the 42ft PBA Scorpion oil pattern that played pretty tough at the start of the qualifying squads. The pattern has an out of bounds if you get it too far towards the gutter early, then your ball would not make it back to the pocket. There looked like there was enough of a built-in track that the bowlers were able to overcome it. We would see some higher scores as bowlers could see the difference as they moved from pair to pair. Once the oil pattern started to break down in the later squads, then scores would start to pick up.

This weekend’s event was our 3-Day Memorial Day Major at Bowlero Kyrene. We would see 273 total entries (205 qualifying and 68 parlay entries) this weekend and we can’t thank the bowling community enough for all the help in making this such a successful event. The event had 71 cashers, a 1 in 3.84 cash ratio and paid out over $19,000.00 in main and side event prize funds. It was great to see everyone come out to compete and had a good time. We would draw entries from around the state to bowl our event. The players bowled on a 41ft Freedom (41ft Kegel Arsenic) oil pattern that proved to be very tough but playable when moving pair to pair. There were some bowlers that seemed to match up well for a game or two but would get lost in transition when moving pairs.  This would put a premium on spare shooting this weekend. Bowlers had to be able to leave makeable spares and try to repeat shots. The scores were on par with bowlers only needing to get slightly above average to make the cut.

This weekend we had a 3-squad tournament at Bowlero Mesa.  We had a great turnout with 115 total entries (88 qualifying entries and 27 economy parlays entries).  We had 30 cashers, a 1 in 3.83 cash ratio and paid out over $7,200.00 in main event and side event prize funds.  The players bowled on the 48ft PBA Shark oil pattern that plays a bit differently as it is a long pattern in length but does not have a lot of volume in the middle.  This creates a bit of an odd transition as the lanes start to “dry out” in the front and middle parts of the lane which forces bowlers to move left (for righties) quickly.  However, with most patterns you can still get the ball out towards to outside part of the lane and hook it back but with this pattern if you get it too far outside too early it would hit the out of bounds and not come back.

This weekend was our very final event of the 2023 season. We had our Match Play Invitational at Bowlero Kyrene. The top 24 bowlers in total season points, except the Player of the Year, 2nd and 3rd place bowlers were invited to bowl this event. We would be bowling on the 2017 PWBA Wichita Open oil pattern which would prove to be a bit difficult. The bowlers were competing to win SFT event exemptions as the winner of this event would win 2 exemptions and 2nd place would receive 1 exemption for the upcoming season. Event exemptions allow the bowler to automatically be placed into the quarterfinals of any regular SFT season event without having to qualify. This means that the bowlers would automatically take home the minimum $100.00 last place and could possibly win up to over $1,000.00 for free depending on the event they used their exemption on.

This weekend we were at Bowlero Kyrene for our last 3-squad tournament of the 2023 season. We would see a good turnout with 99 total entries (79 qualifying and 20 economy parlays) with 28 prize winners and a cash ratio of 1 in 3.53, which paid out over $6,000 in main and side event prize funds. The bowlers played on the 40ft 2022 U.S. Open PTQ oil pattern which was very tricky, deceptive. Many of the bowlers would think that since there was more oil volume that it would play similar to a modified house shot, but with all the oil in the front and outside portion of the lanes being relatively flat, it made it very hard to swing the ball. Because the pattern was not very long or very short, it allowed players to attack it from a variety of angles. The cut scores were kind of low with bowlers only needing to bowl a few pins over their average each game to advance to the quarterfinal round. The main key for the day was to leave a makeable spares and then pick them up.