Bowling Balls... seriously?

[Papa Deuce]

My kids were off from school today so I took them bowling. A very long time ago my average was about 190. Today, using a very ill fitting ball, I decided to only bowl 1 game, and I bowled a 110. I probably would have had a better time and bowled better with the right ball... proper weight, and proper placement of the holes.

So, as I have been thinking about getting back into bowling, I went into the pro shop... When last I bought a bowling ball, I specifically remember it costing $75 to buy it and have it drilled.

Today, in the pro shop, there was not a single ball under $99 - and I have no idea if that included drilling as there was no salesperson in the shop to talk to.... but I "guesstimated" that the average bowling ball was about $175. And I saw some that were $329??????????

Seriously?

What in the world could possibly make a bowling ball worth $329?

 

[kirbsam]

have you priced softball bats lately? i think everything is made out of the same thing that they made the space shuttle out of.

 

[Papa Deuce]

have you priced softball bats lately? i think everything is made out of the same thing that they made the space shuttle out of.

Yes I have and I can't believe those either!

 

[AshleyW]

Bowling is actually kind of an expensive hobby, unfortunately. I started when I was a little kid (like 5) and kept at it.. I was on our high school's team, and still do a few tournaments when I have time. But it really adds up.. I had two balls I used on a regular basis, and a 3rd as a back-up. I probably spent $600+ easy between the three balls and getting them drilled/tuned up every once in awhile. The shoes I liked were about $80, and I replaced them at least every 6-9 months or so. Plus tape, towels, see-saws, resin... all on top of league and tournament fees. I have kind of a love/hate relationship with bowling just because of the money involved.

 

[lillygator]

have you priced softball bats lately? i think everything is made out of the same thing that they made the space shuttle out of.

softball bats I know about, DH plays and those suckers are EXPENSIVE......and there are guys that have them doctored for more money - the HR rules have changed quite a bit because of it.


bowling balls?? wow, had no clue, but never purchased one.....and I need the bumper lanes anyway!!

 

[TerryKitten]

a plastic straight ball (basically your own "house" type ball) is 50 bucks drilled at our pro shop. It is what I use and it is really nice to have a ball drilled to your hand.

 

[JOCAmom]

Bowling is actually kind of an expensive hobby, unfortunately. I started when I was a little kid (like 5) and kept at it.. I was on our high school's team, and still do a few tournaments when I have time. But it really adds up.. I had two balls I used on a regular basis, and a 3rd as a back-up. I probably spent $600+ easy between the three balls and getting them drilled/tuned up every once in awhile. The shoes I liked were about $80, and I replaced them at least every 6-9 months or so. Plus tape, towels, see-saws, resin... all on top of league and tournament fees. I have kind of a love/hate relationship with bowling just because of the money involved.

Most of my family on my Dad's side are bowlers. Uncles, Aunts, Great-Uncles, they all bowl. My brother has been bowling since he was kid but is down to one league right now. My dad on the other hand bowls on 3 leagues. It is very expensive once you stop bowling just for leisure.

I will say, it makes gift buying easy for them. A gift card to the local bowling supply/equipment store and they are set.

 

[Papa Deuce]

Bowling is actually kind of an expensive hobby, unfortunately. I started when I was a little kid (like 5) and kept at it.. I was on our high school's team, and still do a few tournaments when I have time. But it really adds up.. I had two balls I used on a regular basis, and a 3rd as a back-up. I probably spent $600+ easy between the three balls and getting them drilled/tuned up every once in awhile. The shoes I liked were about $80, and I replaced them at least every 6-9 months or so. Plus tape, towels, see-saws, resin... all on top of league and tournament fees. I have kind of a love/hate relationship with bowling just because of the money involved.

Interesting... because when I had my 190ish average, I was about 17 years old. And a college coach came to see me bowl once. He told me that with training I may have been able to become good enough to bowl professionally... And I was using that same $75 ball, and a cheap pair of bowling shoes.

I had no interest in being a "pro".... by the time I had turned 20, I wasn't even bowling anymore....

Now, my hands are bigger - fatter - and they don't fit in the holes, which is why I went to the pro shop today.

And it IS kind of expensive... We rented 3 pairs of shoes, and bowled 5 games... 1 by me, and 2 each for my kids, and it was about $25 for just about an hour of bowling.

 

[AshleyW]

Interesting... because when I had my 190ish average, I was about 17 years old. And a college coach came to see me bowl once. He told me that with training I may have been able to become good enough to bowl professionally... And I was using that same $75 ball, and a cheap pair of bowling shoes.

I had no interest in being a "pro".... by the time I had turned 20, I wasn't even bowling anymore.....

Yeah, you CAN do really well with a cheap ball and house shoes. I got some scholarship money in high school using a crappy plastic ball and house shoes. It just makes it easier to do well if you have a bit better equipment - like most sports, I suppose.

Our alleys around here usually have one night a week where they do "quartermania".. it's a $5 cover charge, then it's 25 cent shoes, 25 cent games, 25 cent sodas and of course.. 25 cent beers I try and do more of that versus the $50+ it is for weekend tournaments.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I really don't see how this is surprising 20 years of inflation should have caused the prices to rise pretty close to that. When we are caught off gaurd by these things it just goes to show our age

I am glad you had a fun time bowling with your DDs. In my experience, many alleys have special prices for kids' leauges or even for the adult leauges or even just slower nights (we used to lways bowl on Wednsdays becuse women got free shoe rental on Wednesdy so then we only had to pay for DDs shoes--we never bowled quite often enough to but our own.). So, if you want to keep at it a little research might help you bring the price down

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

A little side note to this topic...

About 5 years ago DH and I saw a Monsters Inc. Mike Wazowsky bowling ball in DTD at the sports shop. Yes, a lime green bowling ball that looked just like Mike's big eye! I have no clue how much it was, but if I bowled I would pay anything for that! It was SO cool and made me want to take up bowling ASAP!


I have looked for it again and haven't seen it since.

 

[phorsenuf]

If you still have your old ball you can always have it plugged and redrilled.

 

[NHdisneylover]

A little side note to this topic...

About 5 years ago DH and I saw a Monsters Inc. Mike Wazowsky bowling ball in DTD at the sports shop. Yes, a lime green bowling ball that looked just like Mike's big eye! I have no clue how much it was, but if I bowled I would pay anything for that! It was SO cool and made me want to take up bowling ASAP!


I have looked for it again and haven't seen it since.

Is it this one? It has the eye on just the one side and Sully and the gang on the other. We used to see a man bowling with one like this pretty often. I thought it was so cute.

http://www.bowlingball.com/viz-a-ball-monsters-inc-eye-ball-bowling-ball.html

 

[Carl]

I really don't see how this is surprising 20 years of inflation should have caused the prices to rise pretty close to that. When we are caught off gaurd by these things it just goes to show our age

Talk about showing your age --- I paid $14.95 for my bowling ball. It was much longer than 20 years ago. Try 50. (I still have it in the original bag.)

 

[kimmar067]

...if you think a bowling ball is expensive, try getting into SKIING!

 

[DVC Sadie]

...if you think a bowling ball is expensive, try getting into SKIING!

You've got that right!

Skiing is right up there with golf in my book, both expensive sports.

 

[ckay87]

Amen to skiing! There is NO cheap way to ski, ever.

I joined some kind of beginner or family 8-week league with my kids last year and was given a free, custom-fitted ball. I am sure it's not top-of-the-line, but I chose it, I chose the weight, and my hands were measured and the ball drilled accordingly. I wonder if you have anything like that around you. We love our custom bowling balls and I found nice bags on Amazon for like $15 each (because one thing I hadn't considered was that we would need bags. Only when we found ourselves walking around with bowling balls tucked under our arms did it occur to me. )

 

[Savikins]

Well, if someone likes to bowl, I guess it'd be worth it NOT to have to stick your fingers in those dark, sticky holes that who knows how many creepy, sweaty, middle aged men have stuck their same nasty fingers in...

 

[NHdisneylover]

You've got that right!

Skiing is right up there with golf in my book, both expensive sports.

...if you think a bowling ball is expensive, try getting into SKIING!

So very true. Bowling does not even come close. Skiing, horseback riding, sailing, etc blow the cost of bowling out of the water

 

[NHdisneylover]

Well, if someone likes to bowl, I guess it'd be worth it NOT to have to stick your fingers in those dark, sticky holes that who knows how many creepy, sweaty, middle aged men have stuck their same nasty fingers in...

The big deal at the place we used to bowl was that you could have pizza delivered rigth to your lane. I could never imagine eating "finger food" in between turns touching all those germs