Biggest change I see is that the seats in the pit used to be for sitting. Now they're for storing all the bowlers' multiple balls. :)

Thank-you for the advice
I'm going to stick to one old bag and ball and see how it goes. I'll check out Jack Schmidt. Is there any experts at AMF Leesburg that drills holes?

LOL, don't do it!!! Use that old ball I mean. I'm positive it is an old rubber ball, most likely out of round and it will Definitely not fit your hand properly after all the years. I doubt seriously any pro shop would even plug and redrilled it. And bowling just a few games with an ill fitting ball could lead to hand injury or at the very least aggravate arthritis.
Seek the advice of a professional as to buying a new ball. Most likely a urethane ball would work for recreational bowling, and they are much less expensive that to new hi tech resin balls. I have heard of Jack Schmidt, but I have no personal knowledge as to how good he is. It probably wouldn't cost you much to find out.

I'll stick with golf.

You can't go wrong there...

I did a little reading and a little filing and my bowling ball feels pretty comfortable. I did a little more reading and practicing on my footwork and it's all coming back to me.
Now I need to find out what I can use to clean and maybe polish or wax the ball. I'm left handed so it's not so easy to find a ball on the rack drilled for a lefty.

Tom,
Use a good household degreasing detergent (simply orange or similar) to remove old OIL. Dry. Then use denatured alcohol to further clean the surface. DO NOT WAX OR APPLY ANY OTHER MATERAIL TO THE BALL. If you must, use the ball conditioner at the alley. The ball is intended to be as clean as possible to work correctly with the alley. If you apply any other coating, other than a cleaner (Tac-up) you will interfere with the path the ball will take on its way to the pins.
Also, do not try to have polish the ball, you will ruin it. The above are a temporary 'fix'. Balls absorb oil from the lanes, and the only way to completely clean the ball is drop it off at a pro shop for a few days to have it cleaned and resurfaced.
If you would like to discuss more, drop me a PM and I will give you my phone number.

thank-you
How about Goo Gone?

Tomwed, let us know how it goes. VT gives good advice regarding cleaning a ball, but let's not forget it's a 50 plus year old rubber ball that will most likely slide on the newer lane surfaces of today, it won't grab the lane and react to the conditioning on the lane, and it will most likely go pretty straight down the lane. But, as long as it doesn't bother your hand, it probably doesn't matter much.

"Newer lane surfaces"...different kind of oil or what?

My friend at work had the right idea when it comes to bowling or golf. He used to say "if I can break a hundred in either game, I'm happy".

All, there is actually a list of approved cleaning agents on the USBC website: BOWL.com | Home
Goo Gone is NOT on the list, and is actually a lubricant, and will ruin the ball surface until it is removed.
Also, the lanes were at one time wood, they are now almost all synthetic and react much more differently then wood lanes. Also, the approaches now tend to be synthetic, and actually RESIST sliding. I was found some time ago that you can get more power (aka speed) to the ball if you do not slide.
Hope this helps.

The surface is synthetic, unlike the wood lanes that we grew up bowling on. Though we used rubber and plastic bowling balls back then, a bowler could get the ball to hook for a number of reasons. A couple of those being less oil to the outside of the lane, or a deep track worn into a certain area of the lane that most people used. Those areas provided friction for the ball to "grab ahold of" thus creating a hook of some sort.
The newer synthetic lanes by nature do not allow for a high degree of friction, unless there is a very minimal amount of oil applied to the lane. The newer bowling balls today are resin or composite resin based, with either a symmetric or asemetric weight block. Under a microscope, the surface would be very porous, thus creating friction and a hook to some extent.
The old rubber ball that Tomwed has does not have a porous surface. Matching a non porous surface to a synthetic lane surface with a decent amount of oil, that is a recipe for a straight ball and not a whole lot of fun.

I would probably have more fun with a ball that breaks. But unless I get hooked I don't see myself going very often. It's just a neighborhood someone is putting together.

Bowling equipment, like golf equipment can get expensive. If your neighbors do get you hooked, buy a used "resin" ball and have it redrilled.