How to Choose the Best Bowling Ball for Your Needs
Scott PohlDescription
With so many bowling balls on the market today it can be overwhelming trying to decide which one is the best bowling ball for you. Bowling balls are expensive, and once holes are drilled into them, you can no longer return them. A bowling ball consists of a coverstock and core. Coverstock is the material the bowling ball is made of and the core is inside of the bowling ball. Both affect the bowling ball’s hook, but studies have shown that coverstock is responsible for the majority of a ball’s reaction on the lane.
In this free video, Scott Pohl, owner of On Track Pro Shop simplifies the process and provides basic principles that make finding the best bowling ball for you easier.
Shiny Bowling Balls
A shiny bowling ball tends to roll down the lane farther and hook more in the back end.
Typically, a shiny ball is better served for someone who has slower ball speed or is playing on drier lane conditions.
Duller Bowling Balls
Duller coverstocks tend to grip the lane earlier. This means they hook earlier on the lane and give less back end reaction.
A bowler that throws the ball faster or finds themselves on oiler lane conditions is better served bowling with a duller bowling ball.
Middle of the Road Bowling Balls
Not overly shiny or dull, middle of the road bowling balls are geared for medium speed, medium rev rate bowlers. Most bowlers fit in this category and it is a great place to start when looking for your first ball.
There are many different manufacturers out there that provide bowling balls in each of these categories. All of the manufactures have pros and cons. It comes down to personal preference when choosing the best ball for you.
Check out “Developing a Bowling Ball Arsenal” and “Fit of a Bowling Ball” from National Bowling Academy to help improve your game.
Hi, my name is Scott Pohl, I'm from On Track Pro Shop, we're here at Concord Lanes today in order to be talking about how to choose a bowling ball to fit your needs. What is real important, the first thing, if possible at all, is to have your Pro Shop operator watch you bowl. There's a lot of factors to consider with the correct bowling ball to get, and make sure it matches for how you throw the ball. We have three different bowling balls in front of us here. Obviously, we have sort of a shiny looking ball. We have a really dull porous bowling ball, and we have one in between, that, let's just say it's very smooth. Each one matches up to a certain style of bowler. So, for instance, the shiny bowling ball here is a lot harder surface, if you will. It's actually fairly slippery, so it's going to get down the lane a lot easier before it starts to hook. For example, the type of player for this is someone who throws the ball a little slower, or also someone who's playing on a little bit drier lanes, this one's going to match up much better. Conversely, the duller, porous bowling ball is going to start hooking a lot sooner. So what we want to do for this bowler, it's going to typically be the person who throws it a little harder or they're bowling on a lot oilier lane condition and we want to see the ball hook a lot stronger amount. And vice versa, we have one in the middle, typically the most versatile bowling ball, someone who has those medium speed, medium revs, looking for just that average type of hook. This is going to be, most likely, the most popular one.
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