Choosing a Bowling Ball That is Right for Your Arsenal

We had Lindsay out on the lane today. We were trying to match up the equipment to the patterns that you're bowling on. We had the 42 foot pattern, then we had the 36 foot pattern, so two drastically different patterns. And we have the arsenal of five bowling balls that we chose, and we chose them for a reason. They have all very similar layouts. So pin distances to PAPs are all very similar because this is a layout that works best for her based on her speed, rev rate, access, rotation, and tilt. So it's always good that you have that benchmark in terms of a bowling ball, but you also have a benchmark in types of layouts. In all the years of work in the tour and working with a lot of good players, they use the same layout in a lot of bowling balls. We have Pete Weber that might have five or six bowling balls that has the same layout in every single bowling ball. So in that first pattern, her benchmark bowling ball, the Hysteria, solid reactive, a medium RG, medium diff, just that good, middle of the road bowling ball. So that's her one where she kinda tests out the patterns to kinda see, "Hey, this is where, do I need to go stronger or weaker based on what I have?" And we saw on that long pattern that she had two or three shots that were really good. I mean, she went strike, strike, strike, but the minute she missed a little left the ball has a little too much energy down the lane, so it misses high. So we know that, "Hey, we need to go to a stronger bowling ball." So we moved to the far end of her spectrum, which is her strongest ball, in the Crux, which is a real strong asymmetrical, so one of the strongest cores having like the strongest motor with one of our most aggressive coverstocks. And so she got lined up with that, had great reactions. She left a couple of half tens, struck a couple of times knowing that that was a good ball to start with. And so some that she would know that, "Hey, I'm not necessarily looking to have 240 ball reaction off the start but something I can get to the pocket with." And as the lane started to develop and the friction starts to build, she knew that she was gonna have to change, that the minute she get too far left with a ball like this, it reads too soon, doesn't have enough motion down the lane. So we were gonna make a ball change as we got through the block. And we were gonna go to a Marvel-S which is still a symmetrical ball, one that would go a little farther, give us still motion on the back but not too strong. Asymmetrical is very strong off the spot, so now we're switching to that ball. It's gonna give her a little forgiveness in getting length, but still giving us that strong back end. So those long pattern balls, we know we were gonna stay pretty much on the stronger side of her spectrum. But when we switched to the shorter side of that pattern, we went to that 36 footer, we felt that, "Hey, Urethane should probably be the way to start." And we tried with a Pitch Black because we know on that 36 foot pattern that 36 minus 31, five. So she needed to know she needed to stay to the right. That's where the pattern was playing. So in that one we saw her, that she tried to use the Pitch Black. It was close, but not quite enough. And we switched over to an Optimus and the Optimus gave us a strong core, a pearlized cover. She was kinda close with it, but what she saw was, it was a little sharp off the back and she was afraid that if she moved it would go too long because of the pearl cover. We know pearl covers give us a little bit more length. So in the end, her ball of choice was gonna be the Hysteria, back to that benchmark bowling ball knowing that it would read the lane 'cause there was a little more oil on the front of the lane, but still controlling the back end a little bit. So you as a coach or a player understanding your arsenal, what's my strongest ball and what's my weakest ball? And I always have to have my benchmark bowling ball because that's one very crucial element, and understanding when to use 'em, how long the patterns are, and have that progression on what to go to. Coaches and players, it's very important today to understand your equipment, understand when it really should be in play, and in the end, understanding what layouts work best for you. And I urge you to work with your coaches, your pro shop operators to understand and build your arsenal and develop something that you're gonna have great success with from the low end of the spectrum to the high end of the spectrum.