Why is bowling so popular in Texas and the rest of the Midwest?

[Albundy]

I know historically Milwaukee is famous for bowling and Texas now has the hall of fame and many pro bowlers are from there. Could it be air conditioning, beer drinking, the lack of other entertainment and the fact that more are still open. On Long Island many alleys have closed since the 80s but there are still alot...no matter where you live you won't have to go far to bowl...except Montauk. I have 3 within 7 to 12 minutes from home in opposite directions

[fordman1]

Milwaukee has always been a big bowling area. As has most of the great lakes states. Michigan in particular has always been the state with the most certified (sanctioned) bowlers. Metro Detroit USBC has always been the largest assn. and still is. Texas probably benefited from a lot of northerners moving there.
Now to your question. Texas is hot and has an awful lot of people. The north has a lot of cold weather and it lasts a long time every year.

[vdubtx]

Here in Dallas Metroplex area, we have a very vibrant tournament crowd. Many of the tournaments that are held in the area draw in folks from Houston, San Antonio/Austin areas as well.

One of the associations are run very well. North Texas USBC association is run by a younger(40's) group of competitive bowlers and actually get how to run the association. This association is basically from Mid-Cities Metro area over to Ft. Worth. They regularly add money to tournaments, that are run extremely well I might add, to draw lots of bowlers in.

The main Dallas USBC is run by older bowlers(60-70's) who are stuck in their ways and resistant to change. They miss out on good tournaments as they don't add much in prize money.

[Phonetek]

I haven't seen too much as far as the pro's go here in IL, they seem to be more in Indiana than here at least in the past year or so. They came here a lot more when I was a kid. The tournament scene seems pretty strong though. As I mentioned in my other thread, all is well here in IL otherwise. Over the past 10 years we lost several centers but I can't understand why some of them are gone. They were good strong houses with lots of leagues and always busy.

I do have concern for one of my old haunts though. They haven't updated ANYTHING in 25 years. Same masking units, same carpet, nicotine stained ceiling tiles, not so much as a coat of fresh paint. They said they are too broke to do anything because they made some bad choices. It was tumbleweeds when I went in there, only one lane occupied out of 36 not including me. The updated centers are kicking their butts. They better come up with something, find some investors, get some financing or do a fund raiser or they are gonna be gone soon.They need that remodel! I've known these owners for 35 years, I'd hate to see those nice people close up shop but I fear it may be too late. It's ashamed, they are in a good location too in a pretty well to do suburb.

[skfboiler]

In Indiana, we host 4 PBA50 tournaments in Hammond, Anderson, Kokomo, and Fort Wayne. For the past 3 years, I've been attending the PBA50 South Shore Open in Hammond. The crowds have been great.

[chip82901]

You could live in Wyoming with myself and have it be a minimum 2 hour drive to any tournament lol. We used to host one every weekend of april across all 16 lanes that brought in a pretty good crowd. That has since went away and we have started the Pla Mor Challenge (1 short pattern, 1 long pattern on each lane). It's a fun tourney that is 2 years in and continues to grow. But, I am only 2.5 hours from Utah which hosts some pretty great tourneys (Storm Open, Storm NW Tour scratch tourneys). There's some ABT's down there as well, but I refuse to bowl them any more due to my average and the fact that I'm spotting 30 pins to the next guy.

[Albundy]

When I retire..perhaps to the north west I'll make sure there's a bowling alley nearby

[fordman1]

I just had a thought about Texas. Bowling is what the guys who can't play football are left with. Up north it is warm in the bowling centers and cold out side.

[Phonetek]

Weather is a definite contributing factor. When it's sunny and 80 outside it's tumbleweeds on the lanes regardless of the specials. One drop of rain or a cold snap outside we have a waiting list for the lanes. The nature of the beast.