Glow bowling definitely isn't my cup of tea but it has its own place in the bowling alley. That's my opinion tho. My center I bowl at does glow bowls Friday and Saturday night. 8:45 to 11...and 11:00 to 2:00 AM. Almost all the people that come in are recreational but the center gets A LOT of its revenue from these specials. It's 52 bucks a lane and most of the time the alley is full so they make a pretty penny every night. It helps keep them open and improving the bowling alley.

Yes I bowled there a couple of times, but it was/is located two long bus rides from where I used to bowl. I bowled out of Fieldstone Lanes, which is now a pool hall/rec center. Started bowling at University Lanes, Fordham and Jerome. First junior league was at Riverdale Lanes, 233rd and Broadway, 10 lanes in a basement. Last league I bowled in the Bronx as a regular was at the now defunct Fieldstone Lanes. I did sub two years ago at Van Nest since I was in the area visiting friends, went over to the bowling alley, and someone was looking for a sub. Had to pay NYBA local dues since Staten Island decided it didn't want to be a part of NYC bowling wise and formed its own association. Two Houses. But what I feel about that is a whole other conversation... Didn't make sense to me, made sense to me when there was 8 houses on Staten Island, but not nowadays.... with only two houses, and one house is grossly under-represented on the local association board.....

I see (in a post of yours in another thread) that you also bowled at Rainbow Lanes in Sheepshead Bay. Very cool... Did you ever meet Mark Roth?

Here's Rainbow as it looks today:

http://www.gerritsenbeach.net/2007/07/15/welcome-to-mini-circuits/

I bowled agaist Mark in league play at Rainbow. Thursday Night Scratch Majors.

I have wanted to chime in on this topic for awhile.

I too learned to bowl and bowled the most in the 70’s. I mostly bowled with my Dad on the weekends (usually 9 to 12 games) and did not even get on a league until the 80’s. I have to admit I never thought much about what the lane conditions were at that time. I do remember lanes being oily or dry and that was about it. You adjusted accordingly and went on about your business. By the time I stopped bowling in 1992 I was on 2 leagues, went bowling quite often on weekends, and was carrying an average in the upper 170’s low 180’s.

Coming back to the game after 14 years off has been interesting. What struck me as the most odd right off the bat was guys coming in with an arsenal of bowling balls at their disposal. I always had one bowling ball and when I got a new one I retired the old one. As I have gone along and with the help of this website I learned all about today’s game and the need for multiple balls and coaching sessions. I also learned about walled up shots and the increase in 300 games, etc. It all seems to be kind of overwhelming and despite all these changes and not touching a bowling ball in 14 years I was still able to make it to the middle of the pack with my league average.

Since then I have not been able to improve much (in fact I had a period where I fell back) but in all honesty I have not put forth the effort. In some ways I am happy being what is considered a recreational league bowler. I bowl just once a week and with my handicap and my tendency to bowl better against better competition I do very well. On the other hand I would like to improve and raise my average 20 or 30 pins to be up with the big boys but that would require more time, effort, and financial requirements (equipment, league fees, coaching) than I have at this time.

So I guess for right now I am going to just try to be the best I can and realize with just 3 games a week that is not going to be anything spectacular. The main thing is I still find bowling to be a lot of fun and I enjoy it and look forward to it every week.