A SIMPSON beef farmer with a passion for tenpin bowling posted the sixth perfect game of his career in Warrnambool this week — and has no plans to stop.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Merv Billing, 63, became the latest Warrnambool Tenpin Bowling Association member to bowl a 300 at the Timor Street lanes on Thursday night.
He sent down 12 perfect shots — “in the one-three pocket” — representing Terang Post Office in the Moonshiners league, en route to a three-game series of 744.
“Even though it’s not my first, it’s still something pretty special. It doesn’t happen that often, even for the bowlers who are experienced,” he said.
Billing said his tenpin bowling career started at Colac in 1969. He was initially a casual bowler but discovered a team in a teenage league had a spot to fill.
“Not only were they short of a bowler, but one of the players in that team was a guy I’d gone to tech school with. They helped me along,” he said.
The sport has become “an addiction” which he immerses himself in three times a week — at Colac on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Warrnambool on Thursdays. “It’s good to catch up with friends.
“At the end of the day the scores are one thing but it’s about the friends you make over the period,” he said.
His first perfect game was a long time coming, achieved at Colac in 2006.
Billing replicated the feat at Boronia in 2008 and Warrnambool in 2009.
The past three years have also featured perfect games — at Moorabbin in 2013, Boronia in 2014 and Warrnambool this week. Experience is proving its worth.
“There are a couple of things with tenpin bowling. One is making the shot on the line you’re targeting,” Billing said. “The other is the delivery of the shot as far as the speed and the release. I felt in the second and third games I was a bit too quick.
“It doesn’t take much to leave a corner pin. They were still reasonable games, but all 12 shots in the first game were in the one-three pocket.”
Billing said sticking to a routine was the key to a perfect game and helped him overcome nerves.
“It’s not a matter of trying harder because the shot has been working.”
He will represent Colac in the Victorian Senior Shield on the June long weekend. A trip to Perth with the Victorian over 45 squad in September is also on the radar.
“I’ve told my kids my dream is to go bowling on my 100th birthday,” he said.
“But who knows what’s down the line. You hope you can still do what you love.”