Garrett, Fenneberg enjoy competing in Pro Am at Indianapolis

Wanda Garrett and Dan Fenneberg said it was a fun experience competing in the Denny's Tour Pro Am Professional Bowlers Association event during the PBA tournament at Woodlan Bowl in Indianapolis.

Both local bowlers had the opportunity to bowl three ‘no tap' games with several professional bowlers. "It means if you knock nine pins down it counts as a strike," she said.

Garrett said she bowled with Tommy Jones, Parker Bohn III, Mike Machuga, Dino Castillo, Tom Hess and Robert Smith, and Fenneberg said he also bowled with a lot of those same bowlers. Every five frames they bowled with a different pro.
Garrett rolled games of 190 210, 300 for a 700 series.

"The amateurs had a good time and I think the pros had a good time," Garrett said. "They set up trick shots and performed them. They talked about everything from their families to giving us tips, and they gave us ‘high fives.' It was exciting, but it wasn't quite the challenge of regular bowling."

She said this was the first time she had bowled in a Pro Am. "I really didn't know what I was in for when I got there. Rudy (Hinojosa, Starlite Bowl manager) told me some pros would be there but I didn't know it was going to be the big names, the ones you see on TV, so it was a little intimidating and I was nervous."

Garrett said she felt like she threw a good series "especially after I calmed down and got a hold of my nerves a little bit. My first game wasn't all that great, but the second was better and the third was awesome.

"I didn't know they came to Indy every year and bowled like that, and I didn't know amateurs could go and bowl with them. On my lane there were three ladies, and there was youth bowling also, and it was great for them to bowl with guys they see on TV."

She said the guys that bowled in the Pro Am were not the ones that were going to be in the finals, because they were resting up for the finals the next day.

"I would do it again, definitely," she said. "I would encourage anybody to do it if they got the chance."
Fenneberg said this is the second time he has competed in a Pro Am event. "I bowled in one when I first started bowling in adult leagues (in the 1980s).

"It was pretty neat to go do it. I bowled with a couple of the pros that were on my lanes, in scratch tournaments before they became pros, so it was a  little weird.

"Some days you don't bowl that well and that was one day I didn't bowl that well. The first game I bowled bad and after that I hit the pocket every shot except one or two.

"More people should go do it. It's fun. It's a handicap, no tap tournament so my chance of really doing well tournament-wise was not very good.

"They had four lanes set up where the pros bowled on for the week, and I went down there and bowled." He said bowlers were able to bowl one practice shot, and four shots. "It was $5 entry fee and they gave gift certificates away. You had to get nine or better to strike. On the practice ball I struck, and on the four balls that counted I left the 10 pin all four times. I felt like I hit the pocket on those lane conditions."

Fenneberg said there will be a PBA experience league at Starlite Bowl this summer with the patterns  the PBA bowls with. "That should be pretty neat. We may not get that many because of it being in the summer. In the PBA shot you have to be a lot more consistent than what you would have to be in a typical league shot The lane conditions are easier in the leagues."