THE PROS
TENPINS AND MORE: HOME OF THE PROS!
Tenpins and More is a really special bowling center; we provide our bowlers with access to professional bowlers! Use our new “Ask a Pro” feature to get help.
PRO TIP OF THE MONTH:
Dear Pro, How important is communication with your teammates?
The Pro says: In team bowling it is vital to talk to your team and get information when possible. Lanes will transition; you can make that easier while watching your teammates’ shots, and assessing the results. Last but not least, you might be able to line up your partner with good information, where he or she may be in doubt.
From our owners to our Pro Shop, you can find all the advice and help you need right here! Take a moment to check out our professionals:
Owner/manager of Tenpins & More, Steve Mackie has been involved in the game and business of bowling for over 45 years, since first walking in to Sydney, Australia’s St. Leonard’s Bowl shortly after it opened in 1962. Mackie has been chairman of the Lodger’s Tax Advisory Board, a part of the Rio Rancho Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. He is also president of the New Mexico Bowling Centers Association, which operates under the auspices of the Bowling Proprietor’s Association of America. He is also on the roster of the Sports Advisory Council.
Mackie became a four-time Bowler-of-the-Year in his native country while winning 17 national bowling titles there between 1967 and 1977. He is a member of three Bowling Halls of Fame and has bowled a total of 23 perfect games of 300 in Australia, New Caledonia (a small French island in the south Pacific Ocean) and in the US: two here in the Albuquerque area.
Mackie found niches in the business side of bowling while managing a high-profile 32-lane center in Sydney before taking on a national role with the corporation, AMF Bowling, that included creating national and regional televised bowling events. He moved in to multi-unit operations in Australia before migrating to the US in 1991. He became responsible for the results at more than 130 different Centers throughout the US and ultimately eleven overseas countries through 1998. In December 1999, Mackie and partners purchased the old Fun Lanes in Rio Rancho, breathing “new life” into the ailing center. Since then, more than $1.25 million has been spent on building, lane and equipment upgrades to Tenpins & More.
The most important transformation, however, has been how many customers have turned into excited league and tournament bowlers as many have grasped opportunities to improve their own game through direct access to professional advice and coaching as well as a myriad of different tournament and league formats, including the coveted New Mexico Open – an annual August fixture at the center.
If anyone in bowling has truly “been there, done that,” it is quite possibly Mackie, who has been to more than 500 Bowling Centers in 31 different countries on every continent in the past four decades. During this time, he has racked up more than four million miles of (mostly) air travel, including over one million in his last six years with AMF.
WE DO GREAT BIRTHDAY PARTIES!
Dana Miller-Mackie The other half of the best brother/sister team in bowling is Dana Miller-Mackie, who was inducted in to her sixth Hall of Fame in Las Vegas int the fall of 2013. Dana was added to the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Hall of Fame in recognition of her 16 national tour titles, 31 regional crowns and another dozen wins that bring her career total to 59 championships. Dana was named in January, 2011 as Senior Woman Bowler-of-the-Year 2010 by the Bowling Writers Association of America. In what was described as the closest vote in the past ten years, Dana edged out Char Hammel of California 133-120 for the coveted honor.
Dana is in seven different Halls of Fame: the Indian Sports Hall of Fame, the Albuquerque and New Mexico Women’s Bowling Association Halls of Fame, the Albuquerque Sports Hall of Fame, the Women’s International Bowling Congress Hall of Fame, the University of New Mexico Hall of Honor and the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Hall of Fame. The latter was in recognition of her 16 national titles (that includes four majors – the US Open twice and back-to-back AMF Gold Cups) as well as local, regional and international wins now totaling more than 60. Dana achieved her Bachelor of Arts for Physical Education and a Bachelor of Science for Health at UNM in 1979 after earlier graduating from Sandia High School.
She and Steve were married at Calvary of Albuquerque in 1988 and continue to sit under the teaching of pastor, Skip Heitzig there Saturday nights. The couple lived in Steve’s native Sydney, Australia the first two years, a move that Dana credited with rejuvenating her bowling career in the 1990’s.
Dana enjoys art (much of which adorns the interior walls at Tenpins & More, and is for sale) as well as helping her dad, Gary and three homeless stray cats – Tsidkenu, Shalom and Melchizedek.
Her recent bowling form includes a new six-game house record of 1,551 and current league averages as high as 232, one of her career highlights.
WE DO GREAT COMPANY PARTIES!
Paul Yoder took over as proprietor of the Tenpins & More Pro-Shop in 2021 and has built up a strong reputation and following amongst the Center’s 800-plus league bowlers as well as many others from around the city and state. He’s been an owner/operator of Pro-shops for over 30 years and brings not only that knowledge, but also as a successful regional bowler on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour.
Paul captured four regional titles and added an American Bowling Congress Eagle after winning doubles with Bobby Stives of El Paso at the 2006 national tournament held in Corpus Christi, TX.
He’s a certified instructor, available for coaching individuals and groups at Tenpins & More. He’s also coached local High School teams and UNM college bowlers.
WE OFFER GLOW IN THE DARK BOWLING!
Mike Miller, one of the co-owners of Tenpins & More, has been a member of the Professional Bowlers Association for many years and is a founding member of the “Rio Rancho Sports Advisory Council”, part of the tourism strategy of the Rio Rancho Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. An unsuccessful “journeyman,” he decided to make a radical change in the way he released the ball by taking his thumb out and in effect, palming it down the lane. He made history shortly after by winning the first of his three national tour titles – a major – the PBA National Championship in 1991 and almost $100,000 that year. Mike added the Wichita Open the following year and the Don Carter Classic in Dallas in 1999. He is the second-to-last man to bowl a nationally-televised 300 game, that coming on Father’s Day in 1999 at the Bowling Stadium in Reno. It was worth $10,000!
Mike has a wealth of knowledge that he imparts on a daily basis to league bowlers at the Center. He has spent more than twenty years of his life to accumulate it. You shouldn’t be shy in asking him for help! (Little-known-fact: Mike practiced bowling in his parent’s garage when he was just a small boy).
