Guest Author - Gary King

I recently added an article on my Bowling Site here at Bella and stated that bowling ball manufacturers should get their act together. This is a sort of follow-up because there was not much solved because of the other article.

I have been dealing with one manufacturer whose particle shell ball I owned was supposed to hook well on oil. That ball did hook on oil and was really an asset for me UNTIL it got all messed up at the Iowa Games. The ball return or something in the return or backend caused all the balls on that pair of lanes to take nicks, scratches and gouges. It was probably caused by a nail that came loose or something. In any case, the owner of the lanes said we could leave the ball there and they would fix it for us, or we could have the ball fixed and the bill sent to them.

I chose to have my ball fixed elsewhere, in a pro shop closer to home. The ball looked good when it was done but it never did hook on oil like it did before the damage was done to it. I later mentioned to someone at Columbia 300, which made the ball, about the situation and was told that once that happened, the only recourse was to buy another one. Which meant that I was up the creek without a proverbial paddle.

I have been in contact with Columbia 300 since that last article and they asked me for the name of the pro shop where the ball was fixed, the name of the owner and the phone number. So I gave it to them in an e-mail message and that is the last I heard from them.

The bottom line is that I am very skeptical about Particle Shell balls and will probably not buy another one, I don't care how many strikes it gets. It is absolutely not worth it to pay maybe $200 for a ball and then have to absorb the loss when something goes wrong.

So what has changed since my last article? NOTHING except that I am now convinced that particle shell balls are not worth the price and unless some manufacturer can prove to me that they ARE worth the price, I will not buy one again. There are a lot of good reactive balls out there and if you are thinking of buying one, do your homework. Be very careful what you buy, who the manufacturer is, and where you buy it. Check out the pro shop where you want to get the ball and ask some other bowlers about where they bought their equipment. This will save you all a lot of troubles down the road.

Bowling can be a lot of fun and it can be rewarding in a number of ways. It can be fun, it can be rewarding when you bowl a high score or series, and even more rewarding if you bowl a 300 game. But it can be more fun and more rewarding if you play the game right and buy the right equipment from the right source.

I mentioned that I have bowled two 300 games. Well, believe it or not, the ball I bowled the second 300 game with I bought at the ABC National Tournament when it was put on sale for $79.00. It seems they were discontinuing that line of balls and were selling all the ones they had of that particular model and brand. Later, in a pro shop in Iowa, I asked them to resurface the ball because it was starting to track. Guess what? They not only resurfaced the ball but dulled it, rather than polishing it, because they thought I would like it better that way. So I had to take it to another pro shop to be redone again. This pro shop did an outstanding job and that is the ball I had my second 300 with.

The bottom line in this sport of bowling is to learn about your equipment and gain some knowledge so you can deal with people on fairly equal terms. When you buy a ball, tell them what you want in a ball, what you want the ball to do, and make sure it fits. If you want to have the ball roll farther down the lane before it hooks, have them drill it to hook late. Do whatever you want because it is your money and your ball and you are the one who has to live with it.

Hang in there, whatever you do and think positive. Have fun bowling and play your own game. Do not learn to bowl someone else's way. You can listen to them and learn from them, but develop your own style, your own way, because you are the one who has to live with that. As for me, I don't care how they slice the cake. The key to this game is getting the pins down and as you learn more about the game and the equipment you are using, you will find ways to get those pins down. And the more pins you get down, the more fun bowling becomes. And who knows, maybe the next message you send to me will tell me YOU bowled your first 300 game. That would be fantastic and you will know what I mean if it ever happens. Rolling a 300 game makes it all worthwhile and changes your whole outlook with regards to the sport of bowling.

Remember: BOWL to ROLL to HAVE MORE FUN!