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“We were in shock,” said Stuart, smiling at the memory.
“The ball was halfway down the lane and it went into the
gutter. We wanted to know how she could put it in the toi-
let.”
Gold, now in her ninth season of league bowling, takes
the 290 in stride. She said her last shot didn’t slip; she was
just feeling nervous at the time.
“Seriously, it’s every bowler’s worst nightmare to do ex-
actly what I did,” Gold said. “But I think because I did it, I
had no fear of doing it again. I think that helped me to con-
tinue to bowl 300s and the back-to-back [300s].”
She said that after the ball fell into the gutter, she “started
laughing. You have to laugh at yourself when you do stupid
stuff like that.”
Gold said that the 290 game was “what she was known
for” until she cranked up the two perfect games.
“Bowling back-to-back 300s is just an awesome accom-
plishment,” said Bob Englehart, a local bowling legend who
has rolled 29 300s and 21 800 series. “I’ve never done that.
She’s in her prime and has great game. And she’s very
humble and that makes her more attractive.
“My New Year’s resolution for her this year is that she’ll
get her first 800 series.”
Gold has been close with one series in the 790s. She had a
strong chance for an 800 after her back-to-back 300s, but
wound up bowling a 161 in her final game.
She says that an 800 series ranks as her immediate goal.
“My long-term goal is to be the best woman bowler in the
Valley,” she said.
In the meantime, she bowls in three leagues a week and
enjoys the “social aspects” the most.
“There are so many great people [bowling], the Bobs
[Englehart], Troys [Gibson] and Ricks [Auerbach],’’ she
said. “How many places have that many characters?
“And I’m including myself.”
After Bowling Back-To-Back
300s, Kelly Gold Is Riding High
Kelly Gold has made a name for herself as a bowling ace.
Credits: Fred Eisenhammer
By: Fred Eisenhammer
Examiner.com
Earlier this week, bowler Kelly Gold walked to the line, slipped as
she released the ball and did an awkward pirouette that landed her
with her back to the pins.
Gold maintained her balance well enough to keep from fouling as
her ball hooked into the pocket and buried the pins for a strike. She
walked back to her teammates, chatting away and explaining how
she nearly tripped, all with a big smile.
That’s Kelly Gold – throwing strikes with a frenzy, enjoying the
game immensely and doing it her way.
Her way has catapulted her to among the very elite of amateur
bowlers – men or women. Gold sports a powerful 211 average in
the highly competitive “Wednesday Stars” league at
n Woodland Hills, but that doesn’t tell half the story.
Nor does her eight certified 300 games.
Gold is just a perfect fit in the highly charged atmosphere of
a
enter. She’s a lightning rod for attention with her playful,
self-deprecating personality, her striking looks, her bowling excel-
lence and the ease in which she exchanges zingers with her col-
leagues.
“She’s very bubbly and always energetic,” are the words that Ken
Stuart uses to characterize his “Wednesday Stars’’ teammate.
Gold, a 48-year-old West Hills resident, says simply that she’s
just “a goofball.”
But she certainly doesn’t bowl like one.
In January, Gold accomplished what few people would even
dream about. She bowled not just one 300, but back-to-back 300s
at
n her first two games of her women’s travel
league.
“We started bowling and I just got on a roll,” Gold said. “And I
wasn’t that nervous at the end of the first game like I usually am.
“I felt pretty good, the ball was moving nice and I kept striking. It
was just like it was automatic. My timing was good. It was weird,
surreal. And really great.”
All the strikes were shots in the pocket, although she said some
were “light hits” that carried.
The right-handed Gold achieved considerable recognition for that
feat and it also wiped away the slight embarrassment of her 290
game a few years earlier during league play at Woodlake Lanes.
Now a 290 is not a totally uncommon score. If a bowler hits a
spare in the first frame and strikes the rest of the way, that score
can be accomplished
But Gold achieved it in her inimitable fashion.
Eleven strikes, then a gutter ball.
