Could your bowling ball be the reason for your scores?

[Hammer]

I know, everybody says it is not the ball or the lanes it is you. Sure, in some cases that can be the reason. But did you ever think that maybe the layout,
the type of surface or the brand of ball you are using can be the reason that you are not scoring as good as you think you should. Maybe your technique
is okay but if you had the ball you are using tuned in for your style you can possibly score better. Maybe with a different brand of ball you can be getting more strikes and easier spares to pick up. There is a lot in this game that depends on what kind of ball you are using and if the layout is right for you.
Maybe the ball you have is okay but it needs a little surface tweaking to make it get into the pocket better. If your ball isn't right for you you can spend game after game wondering why you get pocket hits but you keep leaving the 7, 10 or other single pin spare standing. To make it more aggravating you can keep changing your target but you get the same result. So my question is can the ball you are using be the problem and not you? The right ball for you can change your scores and maybe for the better just as much as it can make you have worse scores. Let the replies begin.

[e-tank]

my ball + me is the reason for my scores. My ball wasnt drilled for me, i dont know how to read lanes or find strikes lines consistently yet and my technique is far from perfect

[Perrin]

It is definitely possible that the ball you have combined with your style doesn't match up with a particular lane oiled in a specifc way.


having a 'dead' ball not sure. I have heard it can happen but never really seen it myelf.

[AC500]

Im no expert but I have learned rapidly that for me the ball has played a valuable roll in my scores. I was throwing a Brunswick Alpha Max, worked at the local lanes, but was too much ball for league night. I purchased a DV8 Misfit, out of the box results were great but then struggled with it a bit, I found myself fighting it and trying to over control it, caught a few quick pointers form the local guys (200+ bowlers) and finally settled in and let the ball do its stuff, my league average went from 131 to 161 in less then 6 weeks and still climbing. With the Misfit in hand I feel I have the power to bowl 200+ every game, when before with the Alpha Max, I struggled to make my average.
So for me, I believe in my ball and my answer is yes.

[scottymoney]

I believe it doesn't matter until you have properly found your form. A ball does not make that much of a difference if you can not consistently hit shots. It didn't matter what ball I used when I first started back into leagues this year. I would get the same results (not very good). Then I found this site, read a bit, along with watching some videos and my score started to increase.

After I settled in and had some better results with fixing my form, I won a ball on here (Marauder Madness). The ball was drilled great and I have seen consistent gains 10-20 pins average better. But if I had this ball a month or so before I don't think it would have helped. Honestly I think I would have had a hard time adjusting and controlling it.

So yes a ball can make a difference, but I don't think it is much unless you have a solid form down and can be consistent on your marks. After I got my ball I had to find a new starting point and soon I found myself 6-7 boards left from where I usually stand.

[billf]

All I did was change my arsenal, had them drilled the way I wanted and gained 60 pins this year over last. So yes, it CAN make a difference if all other variables are equal.

[Zothen]

I believe it's 80% bowler & 20% ball! The ball is an extension of the bowler! You can take any ball and drill it to your style of bowling,but,if you can't control the hook or be accurate or consistant,then no matter how you drill the ball,it's not going to work for you. So in essence it's a person who practices and some what understands lane conditions and break downs and has the right equipment for his game,is the reason he has high scores.

Zothen

[Cochese]

I agree with Zothen that it is much more bowler than ball. But if you don't have a ball set up correctly for you or the conditions, it is going to hurt you for sure.

I have been in a bit of a slump and tried thowing my 10+ yr old Columbia Messenger a few games and it brought something to my attention that my new ball might be set up wrong for me. It a different coverstock and the span on my old ball between the fingers and thumb is just over 1/4" longer and for whatever reason, it allows me to get a lot more revs on the ball at release. It is making me think my new ball might have too short of a span and I am probably gripping or pinching it.

[AZBowla]

Any bowler and any ball can get a strike. My 5 year old stepson gets at least one every time we go bowling. The key is being able to do that consistently. Once you get to the point where you can throw the ball the same way consistently, then the ball becomes more of a factor. If I get my stepson a brand new high performance ball, it's not going to make him a pro, but for a bowler like me who is starting to build a consistent physical game, that ball could make me look a lot better than I actually am. My DV8 Marauder does that for me now, I've gotten a bunch of lucky strikes that should have been splits were it not for the ball making the turn into the pocket and slamming into the pins like a truck. A new ball won't make you into a bowling phenom overnight, but it certainly won't hurt you either provided it's the right ball for the conditions and set up correctly for you.

[Hammer]

When I opened up this thread I said that the person I was usuing as an example had the right technique and knew how to change revs and axis. Just to go further a pro bowler has to have his ball set up right or he won't bowl as good as he can. So type of core, layout and surface prep has to be right for you to be able to do your best. I am sure that there are bowlers out there that have good technique and can put different releases on the ball to make it hook more or less but the ball isn't set up right to get the max benefit out of it.

[billf]

If the ball didn't make a difference then the pros wouldn't have so many balls with them. They would all have single ball bags! Instead they have more balls than I have socks.

[Perrin]

If the ball didn't make a difference then the pros wouldn't have so many balls with them. They would all have single ball bags! Instead they have more balls than I have socks.

That is a great point. what I have started to notice is the people that have a bunch of balls do that so that they can remain consistent in how they throw the ball while getting a different look on the lane.

[J Anderson]

There is certainly no doubt that throwing a ball that doesn't match up with the lane conditions can and will result in lower scores. Even the most versatile bowlers, like Norm Duke and Chris Barnes, are at a disadvantage when they don't, for whatever reason, have the right ball and are using all sorts of adjustments in technique to get to the pocket. Yes, they shoot a clean game but their pin carry winds up way off.

For most of us, the problem is that we don't throw consistently. Compounding this is when we don't actually watch the ball to see if we hit our initial target and the THS masks our inaccuracy by keeping the ball in the pocket. Then we start walking around swearing that we were robbed and wondering if we're using the wrong ball or playing the wrong line and turn a sightly off game into a horrible game by making changes that we didn't need.

[Bizwan65]

Little bit of a tangent.

I was watching a match on youtube from back in the early 80's between Earl Anthony and Mark Roth and there were a total of 2 balls on the ball return. Just struck me as funny. I'm not a good bowler and I have 3 balls on the return when I bowl in my lousy bowlers club (max of 4 bowlers per pair).

[scottymoney]

Bizwan, back then they did not have the ball technology like they do today. Hence there wasn't much of a difference between balls like there is now.