HUDSONVILLE, Mich. — The locally-owned bowling alley that's been the popular spot for strikes in Hudsonville transitioned to string-pin bowling this fall with new ownership wanting to modernize.
"When you're here just to have fun, it's really easy to just have fun," said Dana Sorensen, proprietor of the lanes. "When you're here to be competitive, it's really easy to just be competitive."
While bowling alleys traditionally use free fall pinsetters, the string-pin system connects nylon cords to the pins' tops, raising them into a rack after each bowl. When settled and still, the appropriate pins are then returned to the lane for more fun.
"There's been a lot of questions about the playability, about the purity of the game," Sorensen said. "I would say, 'Give it a try.'"
The longtime bowler says string-pin bowling is faster, quieter, and requires less maintenance. Perhaps more importantly, though, they result in the same scores and gameplay, according to Sorensen.
"They're not seeing a difference," he said about the United States Bowling Congress.
The Hudsonville Lanes have long been a part of Sorensen's life. When a little bowler at twelve years old, he told the then-owner that he one day planned to buy it from him. More than two decades later, he did.
"With a dream like that, it's something you entertain in the back of your mind, but it never feels like it's something that could actually happen or would actually happen."
When Sorensen purchased the lanes in 2022, he took responsibility of decades-old, free fall pin setters that had been running since the alley first opened in 1961.
"When you look at what the game is," Sorensen said. "It hasn't changed."
Trying to find a new take on the throwback sport, Soresnen took a page out of Top Golf's book of technology and play.
"We were at the Top Golf in Fort Worth," Sorensen said. "We were playing Angry Birds and were like, ‘This is awesome. Why do we not have any Angry Birds bowling?'"
Through Spark Immersive Bowling by Brunswick Bowling, Sorensen can play just that, along with other technicolor, dynamic minigames projected onto select lanes.
"We've seen a lot of people starting to come back to bowling," Sorensen said. "There was a period of time where it wasn't that popular."
Despite pandemic-related difficulties in the industry, Sorensen says the Hudsonville Lanes are a "bit of an exception," still family-owned after decades of strikes, spares, and the occasional gutterball.
"It's important for us, especially in a community like Hudsonville, Sorensen said. "One way or another, we'll figure out a way to get the ball down the lane."
