my 1 month old OPTIMUS is not hooking.

[Bradski9]

I have an optimus that is a month old and now i can't get it to hook more than 5 boards. The only way I can get it to do anything is to go outside and hit the dry. I clean it after every outing and use ball cleaner.

[Stormed1]

Depending on how much you bowl it could already be time to do a hot water bath or oil exytraction

[Sourtower]

I have an optimus that is a month old and now i can't get it to hook more than 5 boards. The only way I can get it to do anything is to go outside and hit the dry. I clean it after every outing and use ball cleaner.

There's a guy who bowls two-handed at the bowling alley I go to, and he was pretty excited when he first bought the Optimus. After about a 6 weeks I saw him again and he had given it to his friend and ended up buying a Crux and a Hysteria instead. He said the Optimus died quicker than any of the other bowling balls he's ever owned.

[Bradski9]

There's a guy who bowls two-handed at the bowling alley I go to, and he was pretty excited when he first bought the Optimus. After about a 6 weeks I saw him again and he had given it to his friend and ended up buying a Crux and a Hysteria instead. He said the Optimus died quicker than any of the other bowling balls he's ever owned.
Interesting, I'll talk to the pro shop and see what they want to do, one of them agreed it shouldn't be that dead this early.

[bowl1820]

Depending on how many games you have on it:

1-You may have to refinish the surface (OOB is 1500 polished) if you've never done it yet.

2-As stated above depending on how many games you have on it, it could be time for a de-oil. Though being only 1 month old, You would have to have bowled a lot games and/or bowled on some oily conditions.

3-Could they have changed the oil pattern? You say you have to go outside and hit the dry, to see some movement. Sounds like they could have changed the pattern soon. You might need to add some surface.

[RobLV1]

The Optimus is one of those balls that give bowlers an odd mixture of characteristics, in this case a pretty low rg core encased in a skid/flippy polished cover. Other examples of odd ball characteristics were the Hammer First Blook (Low RG, polished cover), and the Storm Reign of Power (high RG, very dull cover). Balls like this are very condition-specific in relation to the individual bowler's style. You may very well have to play with the surface numerous times to find something that really works on the current condition. After one month with routine cleaning, I highly doubt that the ball has absorbed so much oil that it is affecting the hook to the degree that you describe.

[Bradski9]

Depending on how many games you have on it:

1-You may have to refinish the surface (OOB is 1500 polished) if you've never done it yet.

2-As stated above depending on how many games you have on it, it could be time for a de-oil. Though being only 1 month old, You would have to have bowled a lot games and/or bowled on some oily conditions.

3-Could they have changed the oil pattern? You say you have to go outside and hit the dry, to see some movement. Sounds like they could have changed the pattern soon. You might need to add some surface.

Nah they don't change the pattern. I think I have just bowled a lot of games on it. I have been going crazy and bowling at least 9 games a week on it for the last 5-6 weeks. would that be enough?

[Amyers]

It could definitely be time for a resurface I wouldn't think that it should need deoiled yet

[Sourtower]

Nah they don't change the pattern. I think I have just bowled a lot of games on it. I have been going crazy and bowling at least 9 games a week on it for the last 5-6 weeks. would that be enough?

Unless you're bowling on fresh oil after each game, I still don't think that would be enough to require it to be deoiled. See if the pro shop owner can watch you throw the Optimus a few times and see if maybe you need to change the surface on your bowling ball instead.

[Bradski9]

Unless you're bowling on fresh oil after each game, I still don't think that would be enough to require it to be deoiled. See if the pro shop owner can watch you throw the Optimus a few times and see if maybe you need to change the surface on your bowling ball instead.

I'll do this next time I see him in.

[RobLV1]

Nah they don't change the pattern. I think I have just bowled a lot of games on it. I have been going crazy and bowling at least 9 games a week on it for the last 5-6 weeks. would that be enough?

First off, don't poo-poo the idea that they changed he pattern. Every house changes the pattern occasionally, or, if they haven't changed it they may not have maintained the oil machine in a timely manner, or they may have performed routine maintenance and that change the pattern. Nine games for six weeks is only 54 games, and you clean it after each use. The ball is polished which greatly reduces the amount of oil that is absorbed. You have it in your head that the ball needs de-oiling and, frankly, that's ridiculous based on the cover, the maintenance, and the number of games. Your problem is somewhere else and, until you can look at it objectively enough to find out what it is, you are going to struggle. Get rid of your preconceptions thinking that the bowling ball is everything, and see if you can find the real problem.

[Mike White]

First off, don't poo-poo the idea that they changed he pattern. Every house changes the pattern occasionally, or, if they haven't changed it they may not have maintained the oil machine in a timely manner, or they may have performed routine maintenance and that change the pattern. Nine games for six weeks is only 54 games, and you clean it after each use. The ball is polished which greatly reduces the amount of oil that is absorbed. You have it in your head that the ball needs de-oiling and, frankly, that's ridiculous based on the cover, the maintenance, and the number of games. Your problem is somewhere else and, until you can look at it objectively enough to find out what it is, you are going to struggle. Get rid of your preconceptions thinking that the bowling ball is everything, and see if you can find the real problem.

More mud.

The ball polished or not, needs to absorb all of the oil that has attached itself to the ball surface to be effective.

A polished ball will attract just as much oil off the lane, assuming it is played in the same area of the lane.

The potential difference compared to a dull ball, is a polished ball tends to be thrown where there is less oil.

The net effect is probably less oil into the ball, but not because polishing the ball changes the absorption characteristics.

[foreverincamo]

What happened where I practice is the lane conditioning machine had issues. The part that was supposed to strip/clean the lanes wasn't working. So all they were doing was adding new oil to old oil . The only way I was hitting the pocket was by playing between boards 1 and 4.
A big tournament sponsered by Hammer was coming, so the owner had the lane mechanic perform an overhaul on the machine, which led to it being fixed. Suddenly the lanes are " fixed " and my ball hooks again. So it could be your lanes and not the ball .

[Bradski9]

What happened where I practice is the lane conditioning machine had issues. The part that was supposed to strip/clean the lanes wasn't working. So all they were doing was adding new oil to old oil . The only way I was hitting the pocket was by playing between boards 1 and 4.
A big tournament sponsered by Hammer was coming, so the owner had the lane mechanic perform an overhaul on the machine, which led to it being fixed. Suddenly the lanes are " fixed " and my ball hooks again. So it could be your lanes and not the ball .

Nah I know another lefty in my league that was playing near my line and he had no trouble with his disturbed and jackal.

[Sourtower]

Your problem is somewhere else and, until you can look at it objectively enough to find out what it is, you are going to struggle. Get rid of your preconceptions thinking that the bowling ball is everything, and see if you can find the real problem.

Now I wouldn't go as far to say that you have a problem, or that you're going to struggle, but I did bold the above text. Like I said, go visit your pro shop owner, and have him watch you throw the ball a few times. I'm sure you can get to the bottom of the issue very easily.

[dnhoffman]

Rejuvenator

[Bradski9]

I bowled today during open bowling with family and the ball literally did not move more than one board on the backend. It moved just fine on the dry on the way outside of the lane so I guess there was oil pushed back onto the backend inbetween the 5 board and the head pin?

[Amyers]

If you have another establishment in your area that you could try the ball at might let you know if it's a ball/you problem or a lane/oil problem.

[Shaneshu87]

a friend of mine had this happen to him as well, his track "glassed" over and changed the surface in the track only, after a quick resurface his ball was back to 100% now he just keeps a 2000 abralon pad in his bag and hit's it once a week by hand, he hasn't had a problem since