The 'new' Bowling Center

The common belief, especially among young male bowlers, is that the greater the speed of the bowling ball, the more pins will ultimately fall. Why then, can a 5-year-old stand at the foul line, roll the bowling ball with two hands at a speed slower than a crawl and knock down about as many pins? "Fast is macho, but it doesn't knock down pins," said Karen Pullman, owner of Karen Pullman's Pro Shop/Bowling Center in Sandy. "Bowling is a game of angles. "Most of the time you see recreational players choose a bowling ball that's too light because they want to throw it down the alley at 20 miles per hour." For the ball to turn the corner, for that little hook into the pocket and into a perfect strike, it needs to decelerate between 3 to 3 1/2 mph, she said. A bowling ball thrown too fast can't decelerate, thereby missing the perfect spot. While the game of bowling itself hasn't changed much over the past century, how it's played has changed starting with the scoring table. There are no more pencils and scoring sheets, only buttons and a computer program that can add scores, show standing pins and, with the option on, advise the bowler where best to stand and release to pick up remaining pins. "In most cases, bowlers don't want to be bothered with the computer giving them advise, so we shut that part off," Pullman said. Computer scoring also makes it impossible to get in those few extra practice rolls before starting the game. "No, once I turn on the lane, the first roll counts. The game starts from the get-go and ends with the last player rolling the last ball in the 10th frame," she added. Some of the biggest changes are in the bowling ball itself. Once made of hard rubber, new balls are made of polyester, a harder more aggressive product. This has caused a rash of changes, not only in the delivery, but also in the number of bowling balls high-scoring bowlers may take with them. "The old bowling balls wouldn't do a whole lot, only what the bowler was able to do. New bowling balls are harder and have all kinds of things added to the surface, like glass bubbles and microchips. It's like added studs to snow tires. Now the bowling balls can do all kinds of different things." At issue is not so much the bowling balls but lane preparation. The oils put down on the lanes determine how a ball responds. Too much oil will mean the ball slides instead of grips; too little oil means the ball may grip too soon. "A proprietor can either make you a good bowler or a bad bowler, depending on how much oil is put on the lanes. A proprietor can open a lane up for a righty or lefty or close it. That's why bowling will never be in the Olympics. Proprietors have learned how to manipulate the lanes," she said. The introduction of the more aggressive bowling balls has also resulted in how the game is taught. High scores are no longer the main objective. "Now we teach, especially young bowlers, to knock down pins and have fun. We're no longer worried about high scores. That will come," she said. "If they learn this when they're young, then it carries over when they get older, and we've found they'll stay with the game longer and won't drop out. This is especially so since there is now bowling in high school and college. Over the long run we may lose them for four or five years when they start young families, but when they can they come back." As for today's bowlers, Pullman said league play has slumped off but open play has picked up, especially among the younger generation. "We're getting a lot more families out, and also teens out on a date. They'll sometimes come bowling before or after a prom," she said. One thing that has helped young players is the addition of the bumpers or gutter guards. The old "gutter ball" has been eliminated. The bumpers keep the ball in the alley, albeit not necessarily on a direct path. What it means is that pins fall on almost every roll. And being able to keep the ball rolling in the alley without the bumpers is the goal of every young bowler, she added. What Pullman has found, too, is that older bowlers approach the game with some built-in bad habits, the main one being aim. The old method, passed down from bowler to bowler, is to hold the ball in front of the nose and aim for the pocket, thinking that the ball will follow the nose rather than the arm. "But the nose doesn't deliver the ball, the shoulder does. Sure, the nose should be in line with the pocket, but if the shoulder isn't, you won't knock down pins ... especially spares," she said. "You start with the shoulder in line. It's the shoulder that delivers the ball and the thumb that guides it." The objective, too, is to have a loose arm swing straight back and then straight forward and a smooth follow through. As far as the weight of the bowling ball goes, the move is toward slightly lighter bowling balls. Almost gone are the 16-pound bowling balls. Most of those sold today for adults are in the range of 14 to 15 pounds. But gone from a shop's inventory are the old $19.99 rubber bowling balls. The introductory bowling ball is now around $61.95. As to whether it pays to own rather than use house bowling balls, Pullman said if someone bowls two or three times a year, then owning is not necessary. Sonix night runs from 8:30 p.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. The new bowling experience is accompanied by strobe, neon and black lights, as well as amplified music. It is especially popular with teenagers and other young bowlers. "But for someone who bowls two or three times a month, then, yes, I would suggest they look into purchasing. When you buy a bowling ball, that ball is made to fit the bowler. For starters, they don't need to walk around trying to find one that fits," she said. For those who want to improve their game, the bowling business now uses video to help pinpoint problems. Pullman also has two lanes set up with a computer system that tracks a bowler's delivery. The computer analysis is $25 and the videotaping is also $25. Something new bowling lanes are doing what Pullman calls "Sonix." Every Friday and Saturday evening from 8:30 to midnight, the main lighting system is turned off and bowlers roll in darkened conditions, illuminated only by strobe, neon and black lights, all done to the sound of amplified music. She said this evening experience is extremely popular, especially with the younger bowlers. At one point, bowling was the No. 1 participant sport in the country. It lost a little ground, but in recent years has been recovering. Computers, better bowling balls, bumper guards for the kids and a little friendly competition are all playing their part in bowling regaining its popularity.