Author Topic: Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler! (Read 8332 times)

BrianCRX90 · « **on:** November 27, 2005, 01:32:44 PM »

I hate these corporate bowling alleys tailoring for kids. It's obvious that these chain bowling alleys only want to tailor to kids and not leagues anymore. This is the reason at an AMF house my Friday night league got terminated, or as I say "kicked out" so they could make time for glow bowl. The league was small and the only one but I've never heard of an alley kicking out a league to please open play bowlers. At this alley I checked up on their revenue so to speak on a Friday I had off league bowling at another alley and I didn't see that many people in it. Mabey when you charge over 4.00 a game that may be why.

Now AMF isn't off the hook solely. Brunswick is as much to blame. This freakin "Brunswick Zone" Taco Bell Blockbuster Walgreens Home Depot look alike crap is phoney and ridiculous. Look at these so called pit areas. They put in tables and stationary chairs with cheap kiddy furniture and call this a bowling alley.

So I go to practice at a Brunswick alley. One that is close to my house never has a lane open on the weekend it seems cause it's too busy with Birthday parties and glow bowl. We wouldn't want the serious league bowler to practice or anything. So I go 30 miles north to another Brunswick alley and when it's usually not busy it's packed this first time. I only get one lane but to make it worse I'm placed next to a birthday party. After just ignoring it I throw a few shots and this moron teenager asks me if I am a professional. I told him "If I was a professional do you think I'd be bowling next to the likes of you?". Then glow bowl comes on. After awhile I just went with it but after 6 games I went to throw a shot and even though I check my shoes every shot I didn't feel it coming but I stuck so bad I bashed my knee on the approach. I got so mad I kicked the ball return as hard as I could and I just left.. I'm sick of this BULLSH|T from these bowling alleys. Unfortunately the choices of independent bowling alleys in this country much less my area is getting slim. They are real bowling alleys most of them and don't appease to KIDS. I hate bratty kids, I hate birthday parties, I hate cheap a$s pit areas and I hate glow bowl. And if you don't like this post, then up yours!

Edited on 11/28/2005 4:33 PM

Edited on 11/28/2005 4:34 PM

BrianCRX90 · « **Reply #16 on:** November 28, 2005, 11:11:01 AM »

quote:
Businesses are in business for the business of making money. Remember that the AMF philosphy for quite some time has been to get roughly the same amount of money as the family of four would spend if they were to go to a movie theatre instead of the bowling center.

AMF is doing great. They are doing so great they filed for Chapter 13 and got kicked off the stock exchange. They have glow bowl also.

scotts33 · « **Reply #17 on:** November 28, 2005, 11:18:22 AM »

quote:
It's not the end of the world to have only 1 lane but last I checked we still by USBC rules have to bowl on a pair in santioned league. This is what practice is about, learning to bowl on a pair to prepare for league and tornaments.

Brian--Are you ready to pay for two lanes use...especially when a house is busy? Like most have said many houses are closing because they can't make the bottom line. A house needs to do what they need to do to make $ and stay open.

Look at it as an opportunity to work on distractions.
--------------------
Scott

Pinbuster · « **Reply #18 on:** November 28, 2005, 11:26:53 AM »

When I practice (which is seldom any more) I want to bowl only on one lane.

That way I know it is my execution and not any difference in the lanes. Plus the lane will transition faster (twice as fast

).

And while it is normal accepted practice the USBC sanctioned games are on a pair of lanes I donâ€™t believe there is a rule to that effect. A game can be bowled on a lane, a pair of lanes, or even move than 2 lanes as long a pre determined order is followed.

scotts33 · « **Reply #19 on:** November 28, 2005, 11:41:50 AM »

quote:
They are only there to socialize, not bowl.

So, are the majority of handcp. league bowlers.
--------------------
Scott

cgilyeat · « **Reply #20 on:** November 28, 2005, 11:43:59 AM »

quote:
quote:

You mentioned that you could only get one lane? I see alot of bowlers who inisit that they by themselves need a pair, because God forbid that you only bowl on one.

uhhh...

It's not the end of the world to have only 1 lane but last I checked we still by USBC rules have to bowl on a pair in santioned league. This is what practice is about, learning to bowl on a pair to prepare for league and tornaments.

Practice is to work on a weakness in your game, NOT to worry about the score, and not to simulate league play. True practice does not require 2 lanes, just because leagues use two, does not mean you need to for practice. I rarely ask for two lanes, even though the house will always ask if I want a pair (if there is a pair open). And, most times, I don't even turn the scorers on when I'm practicing. I don't want the score to distract me from what I am working on.

Edited on 11/28/2005 12:35 PM

nd300 · « **Reply #21 on:** November 28, 2005, 11:44:53 AM »

I can understand a little frustration,but to act out like that kind of worries me,especially being a single parent. I'm trying to teach my daughter that bowlers are good people to get to know and trust. You aren't helping that cause any.
Second,the alley I bowl in is trying to find ways to get open play in. Trying to make it on league money alone is difficult as any center owner can tell you.
I also don't mind the distraction from glow bowling,because if you can score on lanes in that condition you should be able to sdcore really well on lanes that DO have a shot to work with.
Besides,who said that you have to score in practice??? Take your spare ball and work on accuracy. Try and hit 12 ten pins in a row.Play a game of low ball,where getting one pin is the best you can do on the first ball,and two or even another single pin is the best you can do on the second. A perfect score is 20 if I remember right.
Another trick I was told recently is that when the lanes are shot like that for glow bowl,take your plastic adn get used to shooting the 3 board as your primary line,so that if that happens in league,you ahve a backup plan if you low flare ball is hooking too hard.
It's almost guaranteed that no one else would even try that line and you can play that line alone with no one to mess it up.
As they say,when handed lemons,make lemonade.
--------------------
Chris
Lane#1--nothing else hits like 'em.

htotheizzo3561 · « **Reply #22 on:** November 28, 2005, 11:57:39 AM »

quote:
quote:
Businesses are in business for the business of making money. Remember that the AMF philosphy for quite some time has been to get roughly the same amount of money as the family of four would spend if they were to go to a movie theatre instead of the bowling center.

AMF is doing great. They are doing so great they filed for Chapter 13 and got kicked off the stock exchange. They have glow bowl also.

A little off topic, but AMF is failing by trying to squeeze every dollar out of its customers and league bowlers without trying to upgrade. When Brunswick Zones first started popping up they would either build one new or buy out one, then they would gut the entire center, making it modern. AMF is currently nickle and diming their way back unsucessfully, their snack bars are a joke its a snack bar, not a resturant.

Anyway, my local amf is a dump they don't cater to league bowlers, heck they could care less if they didn't have any. This past year they lost 200+ league bowlers the reason being, no benefits from the house! Sure coporate gives out a league bower card with discounts at other stores, but not at amf 2 bucks a game for league members and 15% off the snack bar that raises its prices 10% every year with quality going down. Plus it pisses me off that I got to pay 2 bucks a game practice while spening around $500 there annually during my league when senior leagues pay 6 bucks a week for 4 games during prime time and spend nothing and demand free coffee. Not to mention that the shot is always screwed up, they oil at night and have kids and high schoolers on them all day. As said in this topic Brunswick give away free coupons and benefits to league bowers this is a lot better then AMF.

Bowling has changed, in the corporate view, lets face it kids make the most money for centers from bowling in youth leagues to birthday parties to cosmic bowling to buying from the snack bar. Corporate centers have sold out by catering to them, not league bowlers who are at the center for 30+ weeks out of the year. Many private houses cater to both, offer cosmic weekend nights and cheaper practice weekday nights. Maybe my opinion has been changed by the poor managment at my local amf but bowling at a private center is usualy better in my opinion.

BigB20 · « **Reply #23 on:** November 28, 2005, 12:05:24 PM »

I had a situation in a house on Sunday that really pissed me off. I go in for my league, and the pair I am supposed to be bowling on is broken down. So we're sent down to the end of the league where I find a group open bowling on the pair which I'll be bowling on. The lanes are run prior to the league beginning so I usually have a fresh shot. Anyway, I go to the desk and ask if after the open bowlers leave, if they are going to run the pair of lanes as the rest have been ran. The man at the desk tells me they will not run the pair and we have to bowl on them as is. Now granted I still shot 630, While the rest of the league had good head oil and fresh backends, I had to deal with drier heads and spotty, carried-down backends that made me have to move 7 more boards than I normally would. Something similar happened to me in the same center, same league last year. They put a birthday party on the pair of lanes that my team was bowling for the league championship on, and refused to rerun the lanes or move us to a different pair. This just really pisses me off when a house just doesn't care about keeping their league bowlers happy as long as they can get that little bit of revenue in from open bowling before the league starts.

BrianCRX90 · « **Reply #24 on:** November 28, 2005, 02:06:12 PM »

quote:
I had this happen today. I practiced in a house that I'll be subbing for in a scratch league this coming Wednesday.

I show up at 11:45 (right after bowling on TV) and caught their $1 game special. Well, 15 minutes into bowling, out go the lights on come the disco music and about 10,000 kids suddenly appear out of nowhere. To make matters worse, the desk b!tch put them all by me. Plus. there's no oil out on the lanes and their f'd up as well.

I paid for 4 games, bowled two and then walked out. On the way past the desk (i was going to complain) the desk b!tch looked at me and said "no refunds". I gave her the one gun salute and walked out.

Your the man! We need more people like you. True competive bowlers don't put up with Disneyland nonsense. Amen brother!

--------------------
Keep looking... I'm sure there's a 300 in one of those balls you keep buying!!

supernoodle · « **Reply #25 on:** November 28, 2005, 02:40:58 PM »

Some of you guys make me laugh! While I fully understand that having glow bowling,noisy kids,corporate Junkies for Centre Managers etc,you lot in the states should count your blessings.

In the UK it is worse,there are very few independant bowls and even some of those are either closing,being taken over or becoming more corperate.You should count your blessings that You pay less than almost anywhere else to bowl.In the UK prices are around $4.50+ a game.League bowlers get NO benefits what-so-ever and if there is any times when bowling is cheaper it is always at a ridiculous time.For example there are only two times at my bowl (apprx $1.60 per game) both on the weekends,starting at 8am (I have to leave my house before 6am to get there on time).Also condotions in virtualy all centers fall into 3 categories 1) Patchy 2) Bone dry (Due to no oiling at all) or 3) Dressed once a day and you have to hope that you get on a lane(s) that have not been bowled on by kids,plus when the school holidays come the lanes are flooded once a day.

At least you lot in the US for the most part have quite a lot of different alleys to choose from,If I want to go to another I either have to travel longer than the 2 hours I do already,go to a centre tailored entirely for kids or give up.

Hell if you lot want good conditions etc,you can at least bowl in "High" level touneys where you are guaranteed good conditions,over here even that does not guarantee good conditions.

What I'm trying to say is yes while I hate the loud music,the drunken idiots,the managers with dollar signs in thier eyes and the degredation of our sport,I can only seeing it getting worse.However its not all bad,you lot over the pond pay less,have better pro-shops,cheaper equipment,better food and a "Pro" tour,is on terrestial tv and is seen as a sport.These are things that bowlers in the UK would love to have.

So chill out,enjoy what you do have and next time a kid asks you if your a pro,say yes and enjoy the attention!!!!

BrianCRX90 · « **Reply #26 on:** November 28, 2005, 03:48:24 PM »

I hate kids that are just there to socialize. This is serious buisiness, not a circus. I like how my Brunswick ripped out the league meeting room so they can put neon pool tables in there for kids. Now on Friday nights we get a bunch of braty teenagers. It's gotten so bad the employees have to kick some of them out cause there is too many of them. Nice going Brunswick.

Speaking of the dips that work for Brunswick, does anyone at the top management and board members and presidents know anything about bowling? Who came up with this Zone crap?

shelley · « **Reply #27 on:** November 28, 2005, 04:08:01 PM »

quote:
I hate kids that are just there to socialize. This is serious buisiness, not a circus.

We're all real sorry that your unrealistic expectation of bowling and bowling centers is causing you so much grief. I'd be willing to bet that 90% of the users here bowl in at least one "social" league, where the majority of the league members are social, handicap bowlers. And of the 10% that aren't members of such a league, I'd be willing to bet that they started off in such a league.

We're all real sorry that other people's enjoyment gets in the way of your chosen profession (you are a professional bowler who makes his living at the sport, correct?). It's a shame that your bowling center allows non-competitive, recreational, non-PBA-card-carrying customers to bowl. Perhaps you could work out a deal with the owner to come in one night when no one else is there so that you may have the absolute silence and concentration that is required for your 300 average.

Do you expect the serious people you bowl with to maintain absolute silence during bowling? I can only imagine the frustration you feel when someone else makes noise because their ball hit the pins. And talk about the incessant whine of the ball return. It's amazing you can even pick up a bowling ball with that noise.

Or is it different for them because they're league members? They can drink or chat or socialize during league and it's ok because they're members, but if that sort of behavior is displayed by open bowlers, it's unacceptable.

SH

Rileybowler · « **Reply #28 on:** November 28, 2005, 04:18:40 PM »

The leagues are the reasons half of these places are open and yes there are some of these places that do not want small leagues to bowl there especially on Friday nights when they want to open up the lanes to open bowling. What needs to happen is the large medium and small leagues that bowl at the same house ban together and demand that these leagues are not denied the right to bowl there when they have bowled there for years. If all the leagues stick together it won't happen . There is a league that bowls there on Thursday night that use all 50 lanes and I believe they are five man teams they can't afford to throw that much regular revenue away. I have heard a rumor that they don't want my league and another league that bowls on Fridays anymore
--------------------
Carl

sdbowler · « **Reply #29 on:** November 28, 2005, 04:19:44 PM »

Sounds like someone needs to grow up a little here. If you are so mad about everything then just give up the sport. It sounds like nothing is making you happy with what your local centers are doing so just either give it up or get the money to build your own center and run it the way you think it should be ran.
--------------------
Brunswick

BrianCRX90 · « **Reply #30 on:** November 28, 2005, 05:57:18 PM »

quote:
quote:
quote:
Businesses are in business for the business of making money. Remember that the AMF philosphy for quite some time has been to get roughly the same amount of money as the family of four would spend if they were to go to a movie theatre instead of the bowling center.

AMF is doing great. They are doing so great they filed for Chapter 13 and got kicked off the stock exchange. They have glow bowl also.

This past year they lost 200+ league bowlers the reason being, no benefits from the house! Sure coporate gives out a league bower card with discounts at other stores, but not at amf 2 bucks a game for league members and 15% off the snack bar that raises its prices 10% every year with quality going down. Plus it pisses me off that I got to pay 2 bucks a game practice while spening around $500 there annually during my league when senior leagues pay 6 bucks a week for 4 games during prime time and spend nothing and demand free coffee. Not to mention that the shot is always screwed up, they oil at night and have kids and high schoolers on them all day. As said in this topic Brunswick give away free coupons and benefits to league bowers this is a lot better then AMF.

Yes my friend, welcome to the AMF world. Some of the poorest management in buisiness history, makes Enron look like a stable company. I'll give hats off to Brunswick one issue, at least they give out free games for acheivements in leagues and if you miss a week you get free games. And you can use as many as them at a time as you want, no questions asked. Thier prices in most of the Brunwsick centers have gone up very little compared to AMF. Brunwick's problem though lies in the continuing raising of lineage. AMF's problem....where do you start. There is one AMF center that is 4.50 a game or 16 an hour on weekends. Course I remembered there was no "weekend" rate or "night rate" or any of that garbage but to charge someone that high is ridiculous. For the short time I was a member they would charge me 2.50 for league rate. 2.50?? It was 2.50 8 years ago for NON league members! Despite the direction Brunswick has gone it's working cause they are racking in money. AMF decides insted of concentrating on bowling they want to take the Brunswick route. But AMF is stupid. AMF could have been the elite house tailored to the league competitve bowler but they are miserably failing at trying to rip off Brunswick's ideas, and every idea that AMF has come up with is a direct rip off from Brunswick. A manager asked me on this AMF league for a survey and I told her off. You don't kick out league bowlers, you don't charge 4.50 cents, you don't have 15 hours of glow bowl and birthday parties and you don't screw with loyal members.

Author Topic: Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler! (Read 8332 times)

BrianCRX90

Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler!

BrianCRX90

Re: Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler!

scotts33

Re: Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler!

Pinbuster

Re: Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler!

scotts33

Re: Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler!

cgilyeat

Re: Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler!

nd300

Re: Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler!

htotheizzo3561

Re: Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler!

BigB20

Re: Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler!

BrianCRX90

Re: Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler!

supernoodle

Re: Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler!

BrianCRX90

Re: Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler!

shelley

Re: Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler!

Rileybowler

Re: Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler!

sdbowler

Re: Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler!

BrianCRX90

Re: Corporate bowling says screw the league bowler!