Fort Point to find out if duckpin bowling all it's quacked up to be

The Boston Licensing Board decides tomorrow whether to let the operator of the existing indoor golf-simulator joint near City Hall expand into a second location at 311 Summer St. in Fort Point and buy the liquor license from a South End seafood tapas place.

In addition to six golf simulators, the proposed Five Iron Golf will also have two duckpin bowling lanes. Duckpin bowling, like Old Bay seasoning, a Maryland fixture, uses what look like shrunken tenpin pins and keglers get three balls per frame rather than two. The balls are also way smaller than tenpin ones and, unlike them, but like the candlepin balls bowlers north of the Rhode Island line are more used to, don't have finger holes.

At a hearing today, Five Iron attorney Dennis Quilty said the facility would be open until 1 a.m. indoors, with a patio open until 10 p.m.

Quilty noted that Five Iron had originally hoped to keep the patio open until 11 p.m. - the same time Trillium at Farnsworth is looking to open its patio until - but agreed with a request from the Fort Point Neighborhood Association to close the patio at 10 p.m. However, he said he hoped that if Five Iron operates without problems, it could come back for an extra hour on the patio.

Tom Read of the neighborhood association said the difference is that Trillium is in a stand-alone building not really near any residences, while Five Iron would be close to four residential buildings with some 200 residents. He said the group is generally supportive of Five Iron - it is looking forward to what is now a vacant space being "activated" and would be willing to consider an extra outdoor patio if Five Iron can operate without disturbing neighbors.