Bowling anyone?

[Steveruch]

I used to be a pretty avid bowler (some years 4 leagues a week); for a variety of reasons I haven't bowled in league, or out since 1999. 5 or 6 months ago my oldest grandson got into bowling and joined a junior league with his best friend.
I dug the old ball out of the closet and started going with him to his practice sessions. My 40 year old rubber ball did not work worth a darn on the new synthetic lane surfaces, I could not get it to hook. I almost had a stroke when I saw how much a new ball costs: $150-200. My lucky stars must have been in alignment when I took a stroll through Goodwill a few months ago and found a slightly used urethane ball in the exact weight I was looking for. I got the ball and a bag for $14. The local pro shop operator plugged and redrilled it for $35.
I might even get back into a league before too long.

 

[Homercidal]

STFU, Steve!

Just kidding. Haven't bowled in a while. Mostly just rolled a bit here and there with family. Never could get any kind of hook. I mostly bowl straight and average about 130-150 when I'm practiced up.

It's a fun time if you can find people interested enough to roll with you.

 

[Steveruch]

Never could get any kind of hook. I mostly bowl straight and average about 130-150 when I'm practiced up.

It's a fun time if you can find people interested enough to roll with you.

That's why I had to get a newer ball, which hooks nicely at the bowling alley less than half a mile from my house where my grandson bowls league.

 

[kh54s10]

Another straight ball bowler. I never was able to control a hook. Did a league one year.

I won't ever try bowling anymore after damaging my rotator cuff in a fall, stepped on a stick on a rock, it rolled, I fell on my elbow which jambed the shoulder, about 4 years ago. I might be able to bowl a game but would most likely pay for it in pain the next day or more.

 

[mullet6577]

I worked as a pinsetter mechanic for several years at a couple different centers in the past. Had quite an arsenal to chose from since I got equipment pretty cheap at the time. Bowled in up to 7 leagues each week while I wasn't working. Averaged around 195, best game was a 299 (stupid 10 pin!!!!)

I only occasionally get a chance to go anymore when the kids feel like bowling but I still carry 2 (bowling) balls with me when I go. In my 20s, 10+ games in a night was nothing. Now at almost 40 2 - 3 games is my max unless I don't have a need for my arm the next day.

 

[Steveruch]

Averaged around 195, best game was a 299 (stupid 10 pin!!!!)
.

I was averaging 195 back in 1974 when I ruptured a disc in my lower back. Until I stopped bowling back in 1999 I averaged 144 to 172 depending how my back held up.
My best was a 279, only one pin from 300 but in a different spot than yours. I had 6 in a row, packed a 7 pin, spared and struck out. It was the first game in a major tournament and I ended up in 4th place. I won $414 ($64 for my squad's side pot and $350 for placing 4th). This was back in 1978 and $414 back then had the buying power of $1,572 in 2016 dollars.
That 7 pin cost $100 that I would have received for first 300 of the tournament and at least another $ 150 for the higher finish I would have had with another 21 pins.

 

[timdillon36]

For a while around 08 me and the guys I worked with were way into it. There were 8 of us and we traveled with a racing team and drove everywhere. Everyone had at least 2 balls and we would bowl every time we had a chance.

2-3 days a week lunch was at the ally. 2 games and split a pizza.

On the road it was almost every night. We were mostly 150-180 average but I never had a game over 200. But in the middle of the day in the middle of the week at a s**t hole of a place we all watched as one of my coworkers bowled a perfect game.

I also have and currently work with guys that had a 2 lane alley in the shop and could rool 100+ games a week.

 

[Brutus Brewer]

I used to bowl in 1-2 leagues per week, didn't like the 30+week commitment though. In the end the last league I was in folded and haven't bowled since. Had 279 4 times and shot 767 for a high series. I have picked up the 7-10 split, and one night shot 630ish with only strikes and opens, no spares.

 

[Steveruch]

The perfect ball?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006JGNZHE/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Steveruch]

I used to bowl in 1-2 leagues per week, didn't like the 30+week commitment though. In the end the last league I was in folded and haven't bowled since. Had 279 4 times and shot 767 for a high series. I have picked up the 7-10 split, and one night shot 630ish with only strikes and opens, no spares.

I just missed a 700 the week I had a 270, 202 (opened by missing an 8 pin), and a 222.
One time I chopped the 7-10 off of the 6-7-10.

 

[Yooper]

I've always hated bowling! I was raised in bowling alleys (quite literally, as we didn't have day care in the 60s as far as I know). My mom and dad had no place to take me while they ran a huge bowling alley.

My dad was on tour in the fall/winter with the bowling tournament and occasionally I'd go along with a babysitter and I'd beg to stay in the motel. As a surly teenager, I'd often just sit in the car or motorhome and pout. I spent more years in bowling alleys than any place else, and later worked in them.

I did get pretty proficient at pinball, though!

My brother bowled in a league with my dad right up until my dad died. My dad bowled in the same league for something like 45 years in a row. My brother is an excellent bowler- probably better than my dad was in his day, but he has no interest in tournaments and making a living at it. I just didn't like it because it was what I had to do, but it made me very popular for birthday parties and events when my friends had the run of the place.

The old bowling alley is still (barely) open, being run by my dad's lifelong partner/friend, but probably not for much longer. Even during a league night, about 25 lanes stay open. It wasn't that way at all in the 70s, when the business was rocking. Sometimes people would wait an hour or more for a lane.

I'm sorry now that I never enjoyed it.

 

[Steveruch]

My dad was on tour in the fall/winter with the bowling tournament
I'm sorry now that I never enjoyed it.

Is that the PBA? Would any of us old timers recognize his name.
The bowling center .4 of a mile from my house is owned by David Husted.

 

[Yooper]

Is that the PBA? Would any of us old timers recognize his name.
The bowling center .4 of a mile from my house is owned by David Husted.

Yes, PBA. You probably wouldn't know him- he rarely was televised on the Saturday show, and Earl Anthony always beat him, it seems like.

My dad did mostly the east coast circuit, east of the Mississippi River. He stopped in the very early 80s, I believe, after my mom died and I grew up and he couldn't go out on the road with my young brother.

 

[Steveruch]

Yes, PBA. You probably wouldn't know him- he rarely was televised on the Saturday show, and Earl Anthony always beat him, it seems like.

No shame in that, he beat a whole lot of people.

 

[seatazzz]

I too grew up in bowling alleys, both of my parents were bowlers. I remember back in the 70's getting a quarter from my mom for candy, got a handful of M&M's & Sprees, then sat in the restaurant with a glass of water that I dumped half the sugar dispenser into. My husband and I are both bowlers and I just this last season retired from bartending in one, after doing it for over 20 years. We're lucky to patronize a place that has stayed open while a lot of centers around here (Greater Seattle area) are shutting down due to lack of interest in the sport.

 

[doshotone]

I'm back into bowling after 6 years and it's fun again for me. I've averaged as high as 222 before and have shot some big games (300's) but no 800 yet. I can usually break even for the year between money out and money in. I've bowled in a few national and state tourneys and have always had fun as well no matter the score.

Good luck to you and it's worth getting a new ball because they are drastically different than urethane.

 

[Steveruch]

Good luck to you and it's worth getting a new ball because they are drastically different than urethane.

The closest lanes usually have a somewhat light oil pattern and the urethane ball I got at goodwill works great, but the next closest center seems to have heavier oil and I'd have to get something different if I bowl there very much.

 

[Steveruch]

Check this out.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...E2E0717F8AF87ED44175E2E0717F8AF87ED&FORM=VIRE