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Published Sunday, May 12, 1996, in the Miami Herald.

Cool way to enjoy hot day: Stop by the bowling lanes

icture this: School is out, and it's 85 degrees when the sun rises. Summertime in South Florida.

Need a place to escape the heat?

How about your local bowling alley? Each has ice-cold air conditioning and cool drinks for parched throats.

In the summer, bowling can be as refreshing as a dip in the pool.

Local proprietors use that to their advantage, offering a variety of leagues and promotions to draw people away from the malls and movie theaters.

League enrollments dip during the summer, as bowlers don't seem to be enthusiastic about committing to a 10-week league during vacation time. With fewer leagues, centers have plenty of lanes to be used. By offering discounted -- and sometimes free -- games, the houses can fill up the dead time fairly easily.

At the AMF Fair Lanes in Pembroke Pines, bowlers who join summer leagues earn free games during the week. Join one league and get three free games. Two leagues get you six, and by joining three or more leagues, Pines is offering unlimited practice.

That's a lot of lane time.

Area day camps often send bus loads of kids to the lanes during weekdays. Pines allows camps to come in and rent a lane for $6 an hour.

Don Carter All Star Lanes at Sawgrass has a number of incentives to bring in new bowlers and keep their regular clientele interested. Sawgrass has come up with a Florida Marlins' league in which all bowlers get to attend a Marlins game at the end of the summer.

The Sawgrass lanes, 1391 NW 136th Ave., Sunrise, also adds a juniors league on Mondays and a family league on Sunday evenings. During the week, Sawgrass will host Bud Light Fun Nights, giving away prizes and goodies during the evening sessions. Moonlight bowling makes an appearence each Saturday night, when the center turns down the lights for a different bowling experience. As usual, there will be a number of prizes handed out.

Last year, AMF Pines General Manager Tom Ferraro said his center had a record summer thanks to the rain. Unlike the Florida Marlins, he's hoping for another monsoon-type season.
Spares and strikes

  • Don Carter's Tamarac Lanes: Pete Bektese had the highest series at the center last week, rolling a 788 with a high game of 279. Richard Karpeles rolled the best game of the week, dropping 290 pins. Celia Rutther had the best female series, rolling a 722.

  • University Lanes: Junior Robert Cook was The Herald's junior boys' Bowler of the Week two Fridays ago, rolling a 744 to finish top among South Florida's boys.

    Danny Saunders finished fourth in the men's scratch division with a 786, and Thomas Hagler (759) and Robert Green (757) also finished well.

  • AMF Fair Lanes Pines: The center, at 296 S. State Road 7, is being refurbished with a new coat of paint on the walls and new synthetic lanes in the 32-lane house. General manager Ferraro says new carpeting will be put in next week.

    Two weeks ago, the old wooden lanes were taken up, to be replaced with the synthetic lanes. Scores haven't been noticeably higher, but Ferraro says they've been more consistent. ``We're just learning how to condition them,'' he said. ``I do anticipate them going up.''

  • Marci Robinson was South Florida's top female junior two weeks ago, rolling a 656 series in The Herald's Bowler of the Week competition. On the boys' side, Jay Linn was third with a 691 series, and David Wisehart followed with a 666.

  • Don Carter's Sawgrass Lanes: Tom Susi rolled the best series at the center this week, a 777, topped with a 266 game. Susi, who sports a 218 average, rolled 123 pins over his average. Jo Martha Randel's 694 was the top female in the series.

  • Forum Lanes: Jim Chepeleff and Eric Walker rolled the two top series in South Florida two weeks ago, with Chepeleff rolling an 804 and Walker coming in second with a 790. Mike Ruggerio was fifth, dropping 772 pins.

    Lisa Purser and JoAnn Braswell were two of the top female bowlers in the area two weeks ago, with Purser's 684 series fourth best in the region. Braswell was just two pins off the mark, rolling a 682 series for fifth.

    George Richards' local bowling column appears every third Sunday in Hometown Herald. Richards can be contacted in Fort Lauderdale at 527-8430. If you have something you would like to see in the column, fax it to 527-8490.



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