AUBURN - For many years, Steve Spinney has best been known as the golf professional at Highland Golf Club, providing instruction in the game that has been his passion for most of his life.

But Spinney has roots firmly planted in the world of bowling as well.

Growing up in Union Springs, Spinney said he was always pretty outgoing athletically.

“I played everything,” Spinney said. “I played basketball in high school and growing up I played everything. I was the kid that always had the ball or the bat or whatever we needed to play.”

Spinney's mother was an avid bowler, who took him to the lanes and got him started in the game when he was 7 years old at Starlite Lanes.

By the time he was 12, Spinney was participating in the junior leagues and finding a growing passion for the game.

“I became obsessed with bowling,” Spinney said. “We'd be there and we'd bowl 20 or 30 games every weekend.”

During his high school years, Spinney began working at Starlite and was part of the lanes' moonlight bowling, often spending weekends bowling until three or four in the morning.

After graduation, Spinney was hired to work at Starlite, eventually becoming manager through the mid 1970s and into the early '80s.

During his years at the lanes Spinney was instrumental in starting new leagues and helping to establish a youth program, which he said had more than 300 bowlers in four leagues during those years.

In the '80s, Spinney became involved in the Professional Golf Association and began to spend more and more time focusing on golf.

While he was still a competitive bowler, he was no longer involved in the business side of the game, and he found that golf was taking up much of his time, a game he said he had also been passionate about since he was about 7.

“I always loved both games,” Spinney said. “They were both something that I'd always had a love for and I became a PGA member and I was the guy that was there to help you and that was something I really enjoyed.”

But even during these years he was never too far from the alleys. While he didn't have as much time to dedicate to his own game, Spinney said he spent his time working on clinics at Polish Falcons and giving some individual instruction.

And occasionally finding a way to combine his two loves.

“There used to be bowling and golf tournaments years ago,” Spinney said. “Those were a lot of fun. You'd play 36 holes of golf and six games of bowling; they were a really good time.”

Recently Spinney has been spending more time getting back to his roots with bowling and has found himself back at Polish Falcons, working to help lane manager Jeff Shutter promote the facility and the game.

One of Spinney's goals in his position is to promote the youth side of the game.

“We are competing with a lot of other sports,” Spinney said. “We aren't growing the game as much as we used to. That is something I really want to focus on here is getting more kids involved in the game.”

Spinney also hopes to be able to pursue one of his favorite aspects of his years as a golf pro - teaching.

“I want to do more instruction,” Spinney said. “That was one of my goals with the PGA. I'd like to get on the (Professional Bowlers Association) and do more teaching. There is a lot of talent and I think I can help that talent to grow.”

Spinney and Shutter have also been discussing ways to expand on opportunities for adults.

“My main thing is to help grow the game,” Spinney said. “I can see a time when I'd like to get more into competition again and bowl more on that level again, but really I want to help grow the game and get more going on and get more people involved.”