Why No Bowling Ball Articles?

I was recently asked about providing information with regard to good bowling balls with good weight blocks, specifically for dry lane conditions. Nowadays, rather than produce only one type of bowling ball, it seems that “all” the manufacturers will put out an array of balls to cover the whole spectrum of a bowler’s needs. There are so many balls that overlap in technicality, variations, and specifications that it is a formidable task to try to state exactly which ball is better than the other.

I’d like to share my response to that person to give you an insight into modern day bowling balls in case you have been asking the same questions(s).

Hello: Thanks for your email. Without having seen you bowl and knowing key factors such as your style of bowling, types of balls you are throwing, the types of lanes you're bowling on, the oiling pattern(s) you're bowling on, etc., it will be difficult to give you definitive answers to your points. The following seven points illustrate the difficulty of doing what you ask of me:

1) "The problem is that 95% of good balls are made for oily lanes." What is your definition of "good balls“? How do your bowling centers oil their lanes - are they using a 'typical house pattern," how far down do they oil and do they use a flat pattern, Christmas tree, or other variation? If 95% of "good" balls are manufactured for oily lanes and most of the bowling centers around the world use the minimum USBC specs, than those 95% of bowling balls would not have a large volume of sales. The minimum specs would tend to be a drier condition.

2) “...I don’t like to hear about adjusting...“ I have been bowling since 1960 and have come through the rubber, plastic, urethane, reactive-resin, and particle eras and have had to make the necessary adjustments in order to keep my average in the 200+ range because that has always been my goal (not all my adjustments worked out for the better as there were periods where I dropped into the 170's and 180's). I have not met anyone who liked very dry or very oily lanes - the gripes and moans are always rampant when the conditions drift out of our comfort zones.

3) “I clicked on dry lane balls ... and found mostly rhetoric instead of useful info..” Any specs you see for bowling balls will most generally take you to the manufacturers site and they seem very general in nature because each ball can be made to do various things depending on how you alter the ball surface, where you set the weight block, and where the pin is placed in relation to your positive axis point. If you go to sites where individuals provide their input for the different types of balls, you will get their personal opinion based on their styles and their conditions; not necessarily your style or your conditions.

4) “ .. bowlers that know how to adjust .... most don’t have to ... can’t out-bowl inaccurate bowlers that don’t have a clue what adjusting really means .. “ Typical house shots have been known to allow a bowler to miss their target by about 7 boards on either side of their target - that is a 14 board swing! But, if you study Break Point and/or Exit Point strategies (used by some of the current Pros and international bowling stars) you will see that regardless of where they drop their ball on the lanes, at about 45 to 50 feet down the lane, they hit the same point before their balls make their charge to the pocket. If you have watched the PBA telecasts, you will see Randy Pederson draw a line from an overhead view showing how Walter Ray is playing the outside line and Tommy Jones is playing a deep inside line but the balls hit the same break point down the lane.

5) "They buy their average from the pro shop." Several of the 220+ average bowlers in our scratch league bring in 6 bowling balls and sometimes end up using all of them - to me, they have made adjustments to their game by using ball technology instead of having to change things with their hand, speed, etc. I can't afford that many bowling balls so I have to make adjustments to the best of my ability. When I see them in tournaments the generally do as well as me. Their equipment works great for the typical house shot but not so well for other types.

6) Bowling ball manufacturers are not as individualized as they were in the past. For the over 20+ ball manufacturers out there today, they all manufacture and offer bowling balls from low-end reactive to high-end reactive. Check out their product line and you will see the wide range of different types of balls. Many of them sub-contract out their manufacturing to another company, who also makes their own line but are willing to set up a separate line for them.

Every ball being offered today has the potential to be a good ball for you. Talk to your IBPSIA certified pro shop owner and/or consult with your bowling coach. They should have more specific answers for you.

A Hui Hou! (See You Again!)