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Author Topic: Tough centers in/around Chicago...  (Read 3607 times)

anorexicwonder

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Tough centers in/around Chicago...
« on: December 16, 2005, 11:12:48 AM »
Just trying to compile a list of the more challenging centers in the Chicagoland area.  Please feel free to add your own comments.  I've only got two so far:

Wheaton Bowl - Wheaton, IL:  Old wood lanes with Guardian heads that are beat to hell.  Hooking heads with tight backends are commonplace.  The guys that work the pro-shop inside the center won't bowl there.

Tivoli Bowl - Downers Grove, IL:  Small 12 laner in the hotel basement.  Wood lanes w/Qubica scoring.  Lanes 1 and 12 have walls right next to them, making corner pin shooting interesting.  Long ball returns, and columns supporting the ceiling make playing inside difficult.  





 

realbowling1

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Re: Tough centers in/around Chicago...
« Reply #16 on: April 01, 2006, 01:52:36 AM »
Didn't know you moved to Missouri.In previous posts it sounded like you still were in IL.

Gene J Kanak

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Re: Tough centers in/around Chicago...
« Reply #17 on: April 04, 2006, 08:09:42 AM »
I'll chime in with another vote for Tivoli Bowl. I bowled there for a couple of years. Getting to the pocket wasn't all that tough, but getting the pins to fall down certainly was. Bad racks and no pin action left you reaching for your spare ball before your first ball had even reached the pins!

Broadview can also be fairly tough. The las time I bowled there, I swore they only oiled the backends. Down the lane, that place was tight, tight, tight. It may have just been an isolated incident, but I would not be in a hurry to go back there.

Suburbanite Bowl in Westmont is another night-and-day center. I used to rip the place apart during summer practice sessions, but they would always get nasty when ABT came to town. I remember more than one occasion in which cut scores were down in the negatives.

You guys who mentioned Rolling Lanes are on track, at least in the experiences that I used to have. If they've changed the lanes, then maybe things have improved, but that place used to be fairly tough.



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chitown

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Re: Tough centers in/around Chicago...
« Reply #18 on: April 17, 2006, 10:38:18 AM »
quote:
I'll chime in with another vote for Tivoli Bowl. I bowled there for a couple of years. Getting to the pocket wasn't all that tough, but getting the pins to fall down certainly was. Bad racks and no pin action left you reaching for your spare ball before your first ball had even reached the pins!

Broadview can also be fairly tough. The las time I bowled there, I swore they only oiled the backends. Down the lane, that place was tight, tight, tight. It may have just been an isolated incident, but I would not be in a hurry to go back there.

Suburbanite Bowl in Westmont is another night-and-day center. I used to rip the place apart during summer practice sessions, but they would always get nasty when ABT came to town. I remember more than one occasion in which cut scores were down in the negatives.

You guys who mentioned Rolling Lanes are on track, at least in the experiences that I used to have. If they've changed the lanes, then maybe things have improved, but that place used to be fairly tough.



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I can't bowl 300, but I can bench 345 : )
 I provide the muscle for the Fellowship of the Saws  


I have bowqled at the rolling lanes on Sunday morning the last 3 seasons.  The Sunday morning league is far different than anyother league they have there the rest of the week.  The Sunday morning league is the tougest patterns I have ever bowled on.  Of course some patterns they use are better than others but 99 percent of the patterns are brutal.  I have seen many different patterns this season compared to last season.

There will probably be some opening on some teams for next season.  So if anyone is wanting to bowl at a very tough place where there's a lot of money in pots look into joining a team on Sunday mornings at Rollling lanes in Counrtyside.


realbowling1

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Re: Tough centers in/around Chicago...
« Reply #19 on: April 18, 2006, 05:42:42 PM »
You forgot to mention one thing about the league at Rolling Lanes on Sunday mornings,they don't let the best bowlers bowl in the league because you have to average 200 or under to bowl in the league.I know there not tougher than the Boot Hills.If the best bowlers were there,I guarantee they would hit it pretty good.



Edited on 4/18/2006 5:58 PM

Speedburner89

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Re: Tough centers in/around Chicago...
« Reply #20 on: April 18, 2006, 05:49:29 PM »
The Sport Shot at Beverly Lanes in Arlington Heights is supposed to be one of the hardest in the nation, guys that easily average 220 on a ths shoot around a buck eighty five or ninety.
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DukeHarding

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Re: Tough centers in/around Chicago...
« Reply #21 on: April 18, 2006, 05:53:54 PM »
quote:
The Sport Shot at Beverly Lanes in Arlington Heights is supposed to be one of the hardest in the nation, guys that easily average 220 on a ths shoot around a buck eighty five or ninety.
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quote:
jus stick to bowlin and call it a game.



This year, Curt Aemisseger (sp?) averaged 218, couple of other righties averaged 208, 205. Leftues 200, 190s....

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realbowling1

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Re: Tough centers in/around Chicago...
« Reply #22 on: April 18, 2006, 06:04:15 PM »
There are all kinds of different versions of the sport patterns.Some are easy,some are medium and some are tough.This is why sport bowling needs some consistancy in its patterns and they also play different on different lane surfaces.

Edited on 4/18/2006 6:03 PM

northface28

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Re: Tough centers in/around Chicago...
« Reply #23 on: April 19, 2006, 01:45:27 AM »
I average 188 at Beverly. Its pretty flat and backends can get pretty tight.Curt and Mark London make it look really easy on most nights.
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