How far would your drive?

[six6guy]

I'm joining a summer league that is 35-ish miles away just to be with old bowling friends. Here in SoCal, we talk about distance as if it was time as traffic makes it painful... so that 35-miles is 45-60 minutes away by freeway.

Anyway, coordinating my near future summer league got me wondering how far you guys drive for a league night? and the juicy bits of why?

Brad

[asimovian]

I'm originally from LA, so I'm curious about where you're driving from, and to what center, if you're willing to share.

I am currently in a short (12-week) non-sanctioned league that is comprised of teams from my work and others in our industry. Purely for fun. I drive from Maryland across DC and into Virginia to get to this league, although the total distance is only about 26 miles. Normally takes me about 45 minutes, although there was an area-wide traffic jam last week that was so bad, I only got about halfway after an hour-and-a-half, and ended up turning around and going back home. Spent two hours and 40 minutes on the road to go nowhere (and to not get to bowl)!

[J Anderson]

My friend Jeff used to drive from Floral Park, NY to Fairfield, CT to bowl. Over 50 miles, at least an hour and ten minutes driving time and I think the tolls came out about the sama as what we were paying to bowl league back then.
Another guy used to drive from New Hampshire to Norwalk, Ct back in the early eighties, a good 3 hour drive each way.

[six6guy]

I'm originally from LA, so I'm curious about where you're driving from, and to what center, if you're willing to share.


I live in Burbank and am finishing a Wednesday mixed league there. After it sweeps (April 24th) I'll go to Simi Valley and bowl with friends who I bowled with 12+ years ago. The shot in Burbank starts off dry and transitions to bone dry, but parking is great.

My Monday league is in Glendale (neighboring city) and it just transitioned from winter league to summer league a couple weeks ago. I like the shot in Glendale but the parking sucks. I'm keeping Monday there this summer and we'll see come next winter.

I remember Simi Valley (Harley's Valley bowl) as having both good parking and a good shot, but my memory may be wrong and sometimes things change. Simi Valley is a possible for next winter, I'll figure that out this summer.

For those not familiar with the greater LA area, these are three smaller cities in the northern edges of the greater LA area. Most of the greater LA area is actually part of the LA city, but there are a few smaller cities sprinkled around.

Brad

[boatman37]

Mine is about 10 minutes from my house. The next closest center is about 20 miles away

[asimovian]

I live in Burbank and am finishing a Wednesday mixed league there. After it sweeps (April 24th) I'll go to Simi Valley and bowl with friends who I bowled with 12+ years ago. The shot in Burbank starts off dry and transitions to bone dry, but parking is great.

My Monday league is in Glendale (neighboring city) and it just transitioned from winter league to summer league a couple weeks ago. I like the shot in Glendale but the parking sucks. I'm keeping Monday there this summer and we'll see come next winter.I bowled in a summer league at Pickwick once, and used to bowl casually at Jewel City quite a bit. Agree with you on parking on both (especially Jewel City -- good luck figuring out which lot wouldn't get you towed at any given time if you couldn't find street parking). Never went as far out as Simi Valley, but I used to bowl at Matador Lanes in Northridge and was in a league at Mission Hills for a little while.

My general view is that I'd be willing to go pretty far for a once-a-week commitment, at least for a season.

[grumpter]

I think it is pretty universal to think about 'how far' as being mostly time rather than just distance. For bowling league I only have about a 20 minute ride (12'ish miles). For Golf League (9-holes which took about the same amount of time to play as for my bowling league) I had a 55 to 65 minute drive there and 40 to 45 minutes on the way back (just shy of 25 miles one way).

A lot of factors dictate 'how far' I am willing to travel. For the golf league I enjoyed playing with my league partner, loved the course, the people that ran the league did a great job, the bar was a great place to hang out afterwards and I became friendly with many of our competitors. Therefore I was willing to make that drive. A few years ago we moved to a new office and it would now take 65 to 75 minutes to get to the same course so that is where I pulled the plug. It didn't help that the bar had gone downhill as far as service.

Conversely I play in another golf league that is 4 minutes (1.2 miles) from my home. I hate the course, don't like the way the league was run (someone in the league finally took it over last year), didn't particularly like their bar but for the most part I liked the people I was playing with. If it took 15 minutes to get to I would start thinking about alternatives.

[Aslan]

As a previous Californian...I once lived in Yorba Linda and bowled in Norco in a sport shot league.

While the actual distance was just shy of 21 miles, that stretch could take as long as 3 hours during certain times of the day. That league was at 8:00AM on a Sunday...which really, really sucked...as someone who loves to sleep in on the weekends...but had it been a weekday evening league, I'd have never been able to do it. It would have easily been a 1.5 hour drive just to go that 21 miles. Even afternoon/evening on a weekend...it'd probably be 45-60min. At 8:00AM on a Sunday...20-40 minutes.

To answer the question...it depends.

How far would I drive in a NORMAL State with reasonable traffic...at a time when it was possible (not at 5:00PM when I get out of work at 4:30PM)...probably 45 minutes.

How far would I drive in California, DC, NY, NJ, Chicago traffic?? Probably no more than 20 miles.

It also depends on what is available. I have lanes literally 1.6 miles from me and I'd rather drive 9.7 miles to a center that is more geared to league play versus kids birthday parties. I'd probably drive as much as 40 miles to reward a bowling center that "gets it" rather than reward a bowling center that doesn't. And, for a sport shot league, maybe I'd go 45-65 miles if I wanted to participate in that and a center offered it.

Currently I bowl in a center 5 miles from where I work...but 20 miles from where I live. Would I bowl there if I worked where I live? I dunno. I'm kinda getting sick of bringing my equipment to work once a week...especially in the winter or summer when I can't leave it in the car...so maybe over the summer I bowl at that center 10 miles away instead. But, we'll see...haven't decided yet.

[six6guy]

Never went as far out as Simi Valley, but I used to bowl at Matador Lanes in Northridge and was in a league at Mission Hills for a little while.

My general view is that I'd be willing to go pretty far for a once-a-week commitment, at least for a season.

Small world!

My previous house was in Woodland Hills and I worked in Thousand Oaks at the time, the drive from Thousand Oaks to Simi Valley isn't bad (anti-traffic) so it made sense at the time. The locations this time around is further in miles but about same in time as my Glendale league... I'm freshly retired so I have all day, I'd just rather not spend it sitting in the car!

I've bowled at Northridge (back in the day) and their parking isn't 100%. If you are running late you have to park across a busy street (a block or so away). I remember the shot there as changing every few weeks (intentionally different patterns). Not sure they still do that.

Mission Hills bowl was torn down and replaced by a huge 2 story Target store (3-4 years ago). I have also bowled there back in the day. They used to put out a decent pattern, wood lanes if I remember right.

Brad

[MajorPhoenix]

I'm joining a summer league that is 35-ish miles away just to be with old bowling friends. Here in SoCal, we talk about distance as if it was time as traffic makes it painful... so that 35-miles is 45-60 minutes away by freeway.

Anyway, coordinating my near future summer league got me wondering how far you guys drive for a league night? and the juicy bits of why?

Brad

If you're bowling with friends, and the league is decently sized, I think an hour drive can be worth it.

Gives you time to catch up on podcasts :D

[JerseyJim]

A few years ago, a friend of mine recruited me to bowl on a team that he was forming. He was hoping to contend for a league title. If I had still worked in Newark, it would had been a 10 mile drive. But since I was laid off, I had to drive from my new job which was 35 miles away and during rush hour. It took a minimum of an hour to get there.

[classygranny]

On my Friday am league I drive 30 miles. It's with really, really good people and I've bowled it for over 10 years. Since it's early morning, I've arm twisted a few people into meeting for breakfast so I can drive across town before the traffic builds up - leave my house at 6:15am - get to restaurant at 7-7:15 and spend an hourish. Then we drive the rest of the way to the alley (about 15 minutes) to start our practice at 9:15. A few years back, my partner and I started bowling a flex league after the morning league, so now I bowl 6 games for the drive and get to spend time with really good people, friends, and mentors.

I used to bowl an evening league at this same house and I would head over to that side of town around 4pm for a 6:30 league. After I got married and moved farther away, my husband and I continued in the league. Even though we could use the HOV lane, it still got to me, because we wouldn't be getting home until after 10pm. Wasn't worth it as we just didn't get that much enjoyment out of it.

Now, we bowl in a house that is about 10-15 minutes away, and although I hate the lanes most nights, he really likes it being a shorter drive on a weeknight.\

So in essence, I think it depends on what you get out of is.....sort of like the principle of risk vs reward.