Ball Buying Guide

last SG · 2006-03-21T02:25:43+00:00

Well put. I have certainly been to my share of forums when personal opinions were both reviled as well as revered. One man's joy is another man's poison.

enginboi SG

I have been a bowler for about 4 years, and when i began, i was really frustrated, hoping from pro shops to shops, trying to get a ball driller that is really good. There will be a lot of hearsay here and there, saying this pro shop is good, that pro shop is good. I was like that, listening and searching around, buying balls and trying out. but it is really an expensive way to find out which pro shop is good, on the way you really waste alot of money. Sometimes even coaches will ask their students to go to a particular pro shop to buy ball, the reason is simple, the shop pays them for every ball that the student buy. so be really careful. Fortunately i have found a pro shop that is really "professional" now, but i dun think it is appropriate to name the pro shop here. i just hope that the following new articles will help newbies have a better idea before they decide to buy a ball!

p.s. These articles are only meant for newbies to make a more imformed decision before buying a ball. Not really to show off my knowledge or wat. i just hope new bowler's wont end up like me having to buy 6 balls before finding a decent pro shop that is really professional.

enginboi SG

Before you even decide to buy a ball, i will have to you, the most common mistake for first time ball buyers is that they will just walk into any pro shops, see that the price is right, and just buy the ball without the slightest idea of the skill level of the person that is going to drill your ball. Big mistake. Unfortunately at present, alot of pro shop do not have a qualified ball driller! So always ask to see certificates, but usually if they are qualified, they will proudly display their certificates on the wall anyway. So price may be an important factor, you may be be getting ten dollars less, but if the driller screws up your ball and give you a badfit, it will affect your bowling tremendously that you might as well just use house ball.

Another fact which most don't know, there are fake balls in the market!!!! Brunswick got 4 parallel importers in Singapore, and i can tell you, not all the source are reliable. But of cause most of the time there is no way to tell if a ball is real or fake. but recently i got spot some, for example, ebonite performance ball XXXcel comes only from 14-16 pound as listed in official website, but recently i spotted some 12 pounds, 11 pounds, wat have you, and the best part is that they are shiny, which is different from the original factory out of box finish, so can these balls be real? you judge yourself

enginboi SG

Firstly, i would like to introduce to you about bowling balls. They comes in many different brands, weights and colours. They can weight from 6 pounds(lightest) to 16pounds(heaviest), and price ranging from $100 to $400 including drilling and inserts. The brands available in singapore are Ebonite, Brunswick, Storm, Hammer, RotoGrip. Ebonite and Hammer are "bothers" company, so is the case for Storm and RotoGrip.

For fit wise, there are 3 kinds. Conventional, finger tip and spinners. The house balls that you use at bowling centres are all polyester ball drilled with the conventional grip, that means you can insert your fingers up to the 2nd joint. this provides more grip and control. "Spinners" fit are similar to the conventional fit, but i am not too sure as i never bowl spinner before. Mayb the spinners can share some info about their fit? the last one will be Finger tip, this is the grip that you should choose if you intend to learn playing Hook, that means if you want your ball to travel in a curve instead of just going straight. In his fit, the fingers are just drilled to the depth of your first finger joint. this is to enable you to create more revolutions with the ball, which is needed to make the ball hook!

enginboi SG

Next, i will talk about the kind of bowling balls in the market. There are basically 4 kind, polyester, reactive, pearlised and particle. they can also be categorised into beginers, entry performance, mid performance and high performance ball. the price is as follows:

Polyester -$100 to $140(special editions cost even more)
entry performance -$190 to $230
Mid performance -$240 to $$290
High performance -$300 to $400

Polyester is the most basic bowling ball, the material is the same as the house balls you used in bowling centres. this is the ball that is recommended for most beginers. This ball does not react much with the lanes and pretty much go where you send them, ie it goes straight. advance bowlers use this ball for shooting spares too. So for beginers, it is a good choice to start with, and eventually when you move up to higher performance balls, your first polyester ball can stil be used to shoot spares!!

As for reactive, pearlised and particles ball, they have special coverstocks(the surface of the ball) that enable it to find friction on the lanes so that the ball actually hooks and not go straight. however, do not expect to be able to play hook just by buying a performance ball, you stil need to learn how to properly release the ball in order to for it to hook. It is just like computer, the ball is the hardware, and your release technique is the software, in order to hook the ball, both software and the hardware must work hand in hand!!!

enginboi SG

Looks and colours

Alot of buyers choose bowing balls according to the whether they like the colour or look of the ball anot. This can only be applicable if you are buying a polyester ball, where it comes in many different colours and designs, some even have special graphics or cartoons on it. For entry performance ball like ebonite tornando or columbia scout, there is stil a few, but much lesser colour to choose from. from mid range to high performance onwards, there is only one design and one colour for one specific ball. So if you are looking for performance, forget about choosing the colour!!!

enginboi SG

So after you decide the style of bowling you want, your budget and performance level you want, and verify that the pro shop is indeed professional. You can make the decision to buy the ball.

So wat is the right weight to choose? It really depends on individual builts and strength, but a safe guide will be to the weight of the house ball that you are comfortable with +2 pounds! This is because when the ball is drilled to your hand specifications, it will provide a better grip and hence you can handle a heavier ball than your usual house ball. so if you always bowling with a 10 pound house ball, it would be safe to buy a 12 pound ball.

You will usually have to choice of whether you want to use thumb blocks and finger inserts anot. It is individual preference, but mostly recommended for hook bowling, as it is more comfortable and give a more consistent release.

After your ball is drilled, test the feel of the ball, the distance between your thumb and fingers should be such that it is comfortable and not too tight, unless that is wat you prefer. learn to keep your thumb straight and not grip the ball too tightly, relax your thumb and fingers, the ball should not drop off too easily, or else it means that the the holes are drilled too big. Lastly, remember to get a see saw(ball carrier) from the shop, it should be included.

enginboi SG

Buying a performance ball

When you intend to buy a performance ball, there will be more things to look out for. It is always good to read about the ball you intend to buy from its official website, find out more. don't just listen to the pro shop one sidedly, as i have mentioned before, many pro shops are not as professional as it seems and should be. alot are just interested to clear watever stocks they have on hand.

factor 1) Pin distance

The pin is the spot on the ball with a coloured dot, usually yellow colour, about 1 cm in diameter. this is actually the spot which marks the position of the core inside the ball. The centre of gravity(cg) is the heaviest spot on the ball, marked by another dot or mark. Ask the ball driller where these spots are if you not sure, and if they can't answer you, get out of there!!!! the guy obviously dunno much abt bowling ball, let alone ball drilling.

the distance between the pin and the cg is very important. for spinners, you should choose a pin-in(0-1inch) ball, or 180 degree oppisite. if you are playing hook, try not to buy a pin-in ball, at the very least the pin and the cg should be more than 1 inch appart. this is because a pin in ball will not hook much.

factor 2) ball mapping

this part is much more complicated and takes alot of basic knowledge in order to understand ball mapping. It is also not easy to tell the ball driller wat you want the ball to do. But it is definitely possible. you can tell the ball driller to make your ball go long and strong, or early and strong, or wat have you. in order to do this you need to have very good knowledge of bowling already of cos. In this case, if the ball driller do not know how to give wat you wan, then it simply means he is not good at ball mapping.

for others who dunno much about wat you want, if you already have a ball, bring it along when you buy the new ball, the ball driller will have to look at your old ball, analyse your ball track, measure your positive axis point(PAP) and ask you want you want to do with your new ball. If he did not even bother about your old ball and simply proceed to drill, stop him, dun buy the ball from him, because PAP is a major influence on ball reaction, and if he doesnt even care where your pap is, it means he either can't be bothered, or he is a lousy ball driller. so do you trust your new $300+ performance ball with such a ball driller?? you judge yourself.

vIn.Warrior SG

Rolling Eyes Shocked

Chris10 SG

hey.. thats good information!

enginboi SG

Coverstock
anyway, i saw someone with the question abt ball erratic behavior. So mayb i can try to explain why this is so and explain more abt coverstock. For beginners to understand more easily, you have to understand why a ball hooks. A ball hooks only when it finds friction. Different lanes may have different amount of oil and oiling pattern at different times, so your ball may hook alot when the lane is dry, but a few hours later when u return to bowl again, you find that the ball hook much lesser. This is most prob due to that the centre just oiled the lane again, so your ball finds less friction, and therefore hook less. so i shall expalin now the different type of coverstocks

polyester- min friction, goes very straight.

reactive-reactive coverstock is special mixture of urethene with added resin that makes the ball tackier and hence increase friction, therefore increasing the hook potential.

pearlised-pearlised are reactive coverstock that is hardened to make the ball slide through the heads of the lane. so that they retain more energy for the backend. specially used for heads break down(when oil at the heads is carried further up the lane by balls).

particle- particle coverstocks are reactive coverstocks that have added microscopic particles on the surface. This creates very higher friction and is especially useful in very oily lane. The hookiest coverstock of all three kind.

Od cos there are always changes, now they have new coverstocks called particle pearl, that ensure alot of energy is retained and have a very strong backend.

The trend now is towards reactive and also more shiny pearlised ball actually, as in tournament condition where every player use high end particle balls, these balls absorb so much oil at the heads such that within 1 game, the heads will become very dry and breakdown, and from then on, the use of particle ball will not be suitable as it will read the lane too early and may hook too much and lose too much energy at the backend.

enginboi SG

~~reserved for future post~~

enginboi SG

~~reserved for future post~~

enginboi SG

Hi, thanks for visiting, hope you will drop by more often, post any questions or comments, and intro your friends to this site. cheers!

Armadillo SG

wowhahahahaha..........hey, thats was good "WRONG" information.........wowhahahahahaha Mr. Green

I feel so sorri............paiseh, paiseh.....just couldn't control mayself.....sorri, sorri Embarassed

jae SG

hi Armadilo,
u seem to be telling us that u disagree with the information that engineboi has shared.
u'd like to share your point of view, so that we can benefit from your sharing too? Very Happy

Armadillo SG

Hi Jae, I really disagree with the information tat enginboi shared. A lot of the information was mis-leading. It takes more than juz writting a few paragraphs of words & then understand how it works.

There's too much to talk abt when considering purchase of ball. 1=types of lane cond 2=bowler's bowling style eg. stroker, tweener or cranker 3=bowler's skill level.....etc. When choosing a bowling, things like RG, Dif value, coverstock type, pin distant, top weight, drilling pattern....etc will determine how the ball perform on specific lane cond.

The list goes on.......u need to look up & read more information/literature from the manufacturer & at the same time experiment with it. U oso need to be honest with your own bowling skill level & knowledge. A will to trial & error with your game & tat dun mean u must go on buying new ball.

Its gd to start off w one first, then work on your skill level till u hv reached certain average(eg. 180+) After which, u then consider getting new ball. Remember, u cannot have 1 ball & travel all over the world. In today's game, u need a nos of ball which is known as ball arsenal to help u overcome dif lane cond. Only with gd understanding & experience u will then be able to move on & be master of the game.......

enginboi SG

Well, i am not saying you are wrong, but wat i am providing here is just a general ball buying guide for new comers as they usually have no clue of wat bowling balls are about. You dun talk about RG, differential, mass bias, ball mapping when they dun even have the fundamental knowledge of wat these terms are. Yes definitely one ball dun work for all conditons, thats why players in advance level have an arsenal of balls. Wat you are talking about here is really very advance level of ball knowledge.

So while you are welcome to share your knowledge of advance ball mapping and stuff, i definitely dun think wat i wrote is wrong. It is just putting in general about balls purchase. And that doesnt mean i dunno about advance drilling and stuff, just that it is not suitable to explain these things to new comers!!! So if you think you are so good, let me ask you a few fundamental questions. A balance hole can be drilled for three purpose. Wat are they?? Wat is a mass bias point?? wat is the influence of mass bias point position on ball reaction???

So dun be so quick to luff and disregard wat people had said, instead, i welcome you to make it constructive and share wat you know instead.

enginboi SG

[quote]Originally posted by Armadillo:

Hi Jae, I really disagree with the information tat enginboi shared. A lot of the information was mis-leading. It takes more than juz writting a few paragraphs of words & then understand how it works.

There's too much to talk abt when considering purchase of ball. 1=types of lane cond 2=bowler's bowling style eg. stroker, tweener or cranker 3=bowler's skill level.....etc. When choosing a bowling, things like RG, Dif value, coverstock type, pin distant, [b]top weight, drilling pattern....etc will determine how the ball perform on specific lane cond.

and please, top weight consideration is outdated. top weight used to be important in the days when core and coverstock technology is not that advance, so top weight does influence ball reaction at that time. But with very dynamic cores in modern bowling balls now, top weight has very very little influence on ball reaction as the dynamic core becomes dominant. And further more, in singapore there is not much choice of top weight as the balls dun come in large quantity. So please, update yourself!!!!

enginboi SG

1. this indication of top weight is a standard practice passed down from last time when top weight can be a dominant factor, so if they suddenly dun indicate it, alot of people will start to question, for example if you are a ball driller that used to use top weight as a drilling criteria, and suddenly there isn;t any top weight indication anymore, wont you start complaining?? that is just a business practice.

2. simple analogy with car, core is like the engine, while coverstock is like the tyres. Formula one drivers use dry tyres on good weather and wet tyres on rainy day. it is exactly the same for bowling ball. core dictates the dynamic motion while coverstock dictates how the ball grip the lanes. Both work hand in hand. however top weight's influence is really just marginal for modern balls nowadays, it is considered old school thinking, same as people used to think the heavier the ball the better.

3. wat i mean is even if you want to choose topweight, there isn't much for you to choose as balls usually come in limited stocks in singapore. I din say it is important.

4. well, i would say bowling skills made up 60%. so for the rest of the 40%, it would be matching up to the lane, that is wat the arsenal is for, for example, on fresh long oil, you can use particle ball time strong core drilled leverage, as the lane break down, you can switch down to a pearlised coverstock ball with pin on track drilling....and it can go on and on....it differs for different bowling style. So basically it is matchmaking balls to lane conditions, each lane condition requires a different ball with different coverstock and drilling to maximise the strike probability. So if your ball release is constant and you can match ball choice very accurately to the ever changing lane conditions, you get your perfect game!

enginboi SG

ok...i tell you, drilling balance hole has 3 uses:
1) bring the ball to legal standards.

2)slightly modify ball reaction, taking weight out of ball by drilling balance hole alters slightly the RG of the ball, so ball reaction can be altered slightly by deciding how much weight to take out, and for the same amount, whether to drill shallow with bigger holes or drill deep with smaller holes.

3) alter your ball tracks on your ball, by moving the balance hole position up or down with respect to the centre line of the ball will shift your tracks, or rather the tie knot of your ball tracks on your ball up or down. So for example if your ball tracks flare over your finger hole, you can drill a balance hole upwards from the centreline, and your your ball track will automatically shift downwards and keep clear from your finger hole.

As for mass bias, it is the spot with mass closest to the surface of the ball, the placement of this spot will influence if your backend reaction is strong or even, you can even place it in reverse for those with extremely high rpm to make the backend not so strong, so that your ball would not over hook.