Where do you bowl?

cast_iron

So where do people here bowl?

There are quite a few alleys around Dublin. I usually go to Stillorgan (though not too often these days) and I suppose it's adequate.
The problem with most places is the lanes are usually just oiled once a day, so no big hooking or the like.

r3nu4l

I bowl in SuperDome when I'm home, I used to bowl in Stillorgan quite a lot too as my Gran used to live there.

Magic Pips

I haven't bowled in years... about 8/9! lol... Might get a new ball, anyone suggest a purchase/drill option?

r3nu4l

Magic Pips wrote:

I haven't bowled in years... about 8/9! lol... Might get a new ball, anyone suggest a purchase/drill option?

That's a whole new area of discussion, start a new thread

Juan Pablo

In Stillorgan in the Monday night fours. Must point this new forum out to a few fellow bowlers who also use boards from time to time!

r3nu4l

Welcome Juan Pablo It would be great to get a few of the Stillorgan bowlers online.

Are all of the lanes in Stillorgan still wood or are tehre any synthetic lanes in there now?

EDIT: I only discovered yesterday that my local bowling alley in Bury St. Edmunds runs leagues so I'll be bowling there for competition in future and bowling in Cambridge for the social/fun aspects from now on. The Cambridge bowling alley is excellent

califano

Leisure plex Coolock is pretty good.
They have a competition or league running soon but i domnt know the full detail, im sure their website has further details.
I played there a couple of weeks ago. In off peak hours they have a special combined price for an hour of pool and a frame of bowling E19 for 2 people i think it was.

cast_iron

Juan Pablo wrote:

In Stillorgan in the Monday night fours. Must point this new forum out to a few fellow bowlers who also use boards from time to time!

I often wondered what sort of leagues they run there. Can you elaborate a bit on what's runnunig out there and when?
Thanks.

conZ

I work in Clare Leisure World in Ennis. We're affiliated with the Galway & Athlone Leisure World and The Planet in Cork. Galway is crap - theres plans in motion to knock it and rebuild in a few years, haven't been to the other two yet.

We've got 8 synthetic lanes, pins are on the string, automated score and siderails, and a Bar. The setup is only about two and a half years old and works well. €7.50/game for an adult and €31/hour (family) & €38/hour for up to 7 people (Prices only just went up last week). We've got a mid-week offer up until 7ish of 2 (games or hours) for the price of one. In-house balls are good too.

We've got the whole 'Cosmic Bowling' thing going on from time to time - UV lights and all that, but I prefer to keep normal lighting when I'm on (UV lights absolutely mess with my dodgy eyes when they're on). We've got projectors and TVs dotted around the place too.

Lanes are oiled every 2-3 days (they're not heavily used during the week) and are good enough.
We don't run competitions or leagues directly (there isin't much of a regular bowling crowd), but there are fundraising competitions every few months (next one Thursday Febuary 8th for Ennis/Phoenix Twinning Committee). No real pro's, but there are a few regulars that enter. Can get very competitive. Generally teams of 4, €40-€50/team. Enjoyable nights, few beers, prizes depend on the group really (could be vouchers for a hundred bucks, or just a bottle of wine each for the winners). My regular team have came third and first. When we came first, we only got a 3/4 size bottle of wine.

We've got all the other money-spinning lark which adds noise up until about 6 o'clock - Kids parties, Quasar, and fast-food at the weekends.
From 6 till 11 then it's mainly Bar, Pool, Snooker, Astroturf, Bowling and a small bit of Quasar.

We also have 5 x 3/4 length Snooker Tables, American Pool, Astroturf pitches, Regular & Kids pool and the usual games.

It's grand though, nice setup. I've spent many a Saturday evening there with mates before hitting the town.

I get to play (for free of course) about 4 to 6 games a week (i've been very busy of late) and i've got a few aggrevated bowling injuries which hold me back from time to time.

When I've got time to kill in college (of which I haven't had in about 3 months) I play in the Funworld in Limerick. It's not great - i've never seen the lanes with a scrap of oil on them, and the house balls are shocking enough. And it kills me to pay for bowling.

r3nu4l

I know what you mean about paying for bowling:) I got all mine for free when I worked in XLBowl (SuperDome). All wooden lanes.

The machines there were Brunswick A2 pinsetters, lanes oiled every two days using a century 100 system with double layer of oil. They may have changed the system these days to a single layer daily as it's even busier that it was back then when I worked there.

The good thing about having league bowlers on your lanes is that they are sure to complain if there isn't enough oil on the lane or if the back ends are wet with oil so you are kept on your toes . Of course, league bowlers often complain even if everything is perfect . I remember two guys complaining to me because we had installed new pins and they were reacting far better than the older oins, they were giving out because bowlers with a lower average were getting higher pincounts as a result...

On the flip side, league bowlers don't put massive dents in the lane as they tend to drop the ball close to the lane surface as opposed to fun bowlers who often drop the ball form a height onto the lane

K!LL!@N

I bowl league at the local AMF lanes here in Sacramento.
Pretty good lanes.
They've got about 40 main lanes and another 8-10 in a kind of party area.

There's league bowling 7 days a week so the lanes are oiled at least once a day.

It's generally a pretty nice setup though my ball has suffered a couple of injuries ( the pro shop at the lanes fixed them free of charge ).

Killian

glen290

I bowl at my local AMF league in Wigan here in the UK.
Secretary of the Thursday-Night Doubles league

bbability

Just finished bowling in a League in Alsaa last year. Had too many things on to continue with it this year but hopefully I'll get back into it in '08. Oh they have 10 lanes (Brunswick A-2) and some russian scoring system they got from Del Boy:D . Lanes are generally kept in very good condition. Hats off to "the staff".

DEmeant0r

I've been planning on going bowling at least once a week in Dublin, but I always end up going back home to galway in the weekends and have no time to bowl in the weekdays lol. Anyone know where the nearest bowling alley is to Smithfield in Dublin?

r3nu4l

Have a look here

As you can see, being in the centre of Dublin you do have some choice
Driving is the best way to all of them but there are good public transport links to a few of them. The Luas will take you out to Tallaght Bowl. 46A Dublin Bus to Stillorgan. Not sure about Coolock although it is probably your closest. Superdome is probably a bit far if you are carrying equipment as there is a ten minute walk from the bus stops.

bbability

Just wondering if anyone knows if there's a bowling alley in Portlaoise or Tullamore?

r3nu4l

bbability wrote:

Just wondering if anyone knows if there's a bowling alley in Portlaoise or Tullamore?

Ask and ye shall receive

Portlaoise Bowl

There is a link to a complete list of bowling centres in Ireland here

5pin5

just saw this thread when looking at poker i bowl in stillorgan every thursday must checkout this again

Tar.Aldarion

Galway in headford.

Spyral

beside the greyhound track in dundalk for me.. i suxxorz tho..

r3nu4l

Spyral wrote:

beside the greyhound track in dundalk for me.. i suxxorz tho..

Yeah but they serve beer in that place so you can blame any poor performance on having had one too many

WildFox

I used to bowl in Bray but then I moved to Stillorgan but now I dont really bowl apart from when I mess around in the one in Wicklow only because I work there.

This is

there are two new bowling alleys where i live in drogheda.
Both are less than 6 months old. One of them has that neon vibe in it and it gets very annoyin especially when sweaty men come up behind you after being on the astroturf facilities.

the other is funatasia in the industrial estate.

i cant praise it enough. Natural light, leather couches, a large spectator area. Serious potential for competition bowling. Might email the itba and see if they know about the place because its not listed on their website.

bbability

This is wrote: »

there are two new bowling alleys where i live in drogheda.
Both are less than 6 months old. One of them has that neon vibe in it and it gets very annoyin especially when sweaty men come up behind you after being on the astroturf facilities.

the other is funatasia in the industrial estate.

i cant praise it enough. Natural light, leather couches, a large spectator area. Serious potential for competition bowling. Might email the itba and see if they know about the place because its not listed on their website.

Don't think the owner is keen on running anything official at present. I've spoken to them in that past about Bettystown. I think they want to fininsh off the water park before he does anything serious. Must go up and try out Funtasia Drogheda. It looks fab

This is

Its great. Well worth a trip. The staff are sound too and its never too packed if you go at the right times, like everywhere else really. Was it the owner or the manager that you talked to? Surely the owner would grab a P.R opportunity big or small?

the groutch

Juan Pablo wrote: »

In Stillorgan in the Monday night fours. Must point this new forum out to a few fellow bowlers who also use boards from time to time!

I bowl wednesday 4's