Spare balls

[Phonetek]

If you had a choice between a highly polished urethane ball or a polyester (plastic) ball which would you choose and why? Considering neither would hook much would what would the real difference be besides price?

[djp1080]

I've been using the Storm Mix urethane ball for quite a while. I originally began using my old Brunswick Black Beauty 16 lb. ball as my spare ball when I came back to bowling again. A couple of years later I thought I'd try a lighter ball and bought a White Dot. Used it for a season or so and decided that it somehow didn't feel right. Also, noticed that it was getting a bit scratched up. Then I bought a Storm urethane ball without a weight block, just the pancake. I've used it for years now and it's held up much better. Tended to like it as it hugged the edge of the lane a little bit and kept it out of the ditch on 10 pins every now and then.
Just recently I bought a 14 lb. Mix and asked the PSO to add a half oz. of side weight on the left to help keep the ball straighter. It did exactly what I was hoping for. This ball is jet black, shiny, straight and plan to use it for years to come. I'll not use it on any surfaces that I'm not familiar with or on wood lanes. It should last as long as I'm still able to bowl. Done buying spare balls... :) Now the only thing I'll have to do is perhaps polish it up every now and then and change out the finger grips, too...

[Phonetek]

Where are there wood lanes here in the Chicago burbs, you're south burbs right? I'd love to shoot on real wood again and take my kid to show him the difference. When I get this move done in Feb I'll be in the west burbs very close to Fox Bowl, Wheaton and Lisle lanes. I don't know about Wheaton or Lisle but Fox is synthetic.

[J Anderson]

If you had a choice between a highly polished urethane ball or a polyester (plastic) ball which would you choose and why? Considering neither would hook much would what would the real difference be besides price?

My coaching mentor, Ron Hatfield, would say that every bowler should have a polyester ball with a pancake weight block to use on spares.

Personally, I use a Storm Mix that I bought before meeting Ron. I have gone from using an old conventional grip rubber ball (1975-2008), a Hammer Black Widow (part of 2009, almost impossible to throw straight), Columbia 300 White Dot (2009-2010) to the Mix. The White Dot worked fine but started chipping around the finger holes, and the advise from the pro shop as well as from several other bowlers was that it was not worth fixing, just get a new one. Figuring that urethane would be less brittle I went with the Mix.

The down side of the mix is that even when you think you've released it perfectly straight, it will hook a bit. As djp 1080 said, this can give you a little extra miss room to the outside. On the other hand, it takes some away to the inside.

[Amyers]

Depends mostly on style. Urethane will hold up better but if you tend to be lower speed or rev dominate Urethane will hook more than plastic. I can hook a plastic ball all over the lane so trying to shoot spares with urethane is out for me.

[djp1080]

Wheaton Bowl is half and half. Their lanes are quite old. The back half is wood. It scratches up things more quickly than well oiled synthetic lanes.
Regarding going straight with urethane it made a heck of a difference with the bit of side weight on the left side. Rather than drilling it up with the CG in the middle of the grip. The CG is just offset to the left side of the grip center. Worked out very well.

[ALazySavage]

Depends on the bowler. High Rev bowlers should definitely use polyester because of the motion they will be able to create with the urethane ball. I personally have gone back and forth and seemed to have settled on polyester. The reasoning for me is that the urethane ball does not give me enough useful variety (the motion is obviously different than other reactive equipment, but I rarely find the instance where it makes the most sense) vs. the consistency of the polyester piece (especially when playing extremely short sport shots).

[Phonetek]

Depends mostly on style. Urethane will hold up better but if you tend to be lower speed or rev dominate Urethane will hook more than plastic. I can hook a plastic ball all over the lane so trying to shoot spares with urethane is out for me.

I am on the higher end of the spectrum with ball speed. As far as revs I can go either way, my "normal" release isn't a buzz saw but if need be I can slow it down and crank it up or flatten out my wrist which is what I do on spares. I don't know if I'd flatten it out enough to use a freshly sanded soft urethane to not take a left turn though. A polished one, I'm not so sure.


Wheaton Bowl is half and half. Their lanes are quite old. The back half is wood. It scratches up things more quickly than well oiled synthetic lanes.
Regarding going straight with urethane it made a heck of a difference with the bit of side weight on the left side. Rather than drilling it up with the CG in the middle of the grip. The CG is just offset to the left side of the grip center. Worked out very well.

I doubt I would put any side weight on a spare ball if anything a tad of reverse side weight. From what people say on here about modern balls side weight is rather irrelevant because the cores are going to make the ball react the way they are meant to. That said, I'm not going to claim I fully understand that yet. Then again, they may just be talking about reactive resin balls. I don't know if urethane or plastic has changed that much over the past decade.

Wheaton bowl 1/2 and 1/2 huh? I can honestly say I've never shot on that. They were either wood or synthetic never both. I'm going to live very close to Wheaton so I'll definitely check them out just because. Fox will be my lanes of choice for my new house because they offer sports leagues unless I find better money somewhere else.

[fordman1]

I use a pitch black for the 6-10 and 10 only. Just flatten out my wrist and go right at them. Everything else I use my strike ball. Sports and PBA leagues just seem to mess up your timing and at my age and with my knees I don't need anything new to think about.

[Phonetek]

I use a pitch black for the 6-10 and 10 only. Just flatten out my wrist and go right at them. Everything else I use my strike ball. Sports and PBA leagues just seem to mess up your timing and at my age and with my knees I don't need anything new to think about.

Pitch black, that's urethane I assume? What is the finish you have on it?

[J Anderson]

I doubt I would put any side weight on a spare ball if anything a tad of reverse side weight. From what people say on here about modern balls side weight is rather irrelevant because the cores are going to make the ball react the way they are meant to.

While the Mix is a ball that is currently produced. it does not have a modern core. Finger, thumb, and side weight are all all the driller can play with.

[fordman1]

Pitch black, that's urethane I assume? What is the finish you have on it?

It is mostly dull but shines from all the oil it has picked up going cross alley at the 10. Factory finish.

[Phonetek]

It is mostly dull but shines from all the oil it has picked up going cross alley at the 10. Factory finish.

Whoa whoa whoa wait a minute here. This may be better for a different thread but I'm sure this has been around for a bit so it's likely old news. I just looked up that Pitch Black on Bowlingballs.com to check it out and under the specifications for this ball it said "Fragrance" it listed none. I know that urethane has a distinct smell especially when you sand or scuff it but something tells me that's not what they are talking about. Are you telling me they make balls with particular scents like all these candle wax cubes my wife buys? Why in all things that are holy would such a thing even exist? I know I've bowled with some guys with some serious BO problems but I doubt a "April Fresh" bowling ball would help that. Might as well stick a Bounce dryer sheet in your bowling towel when you wipe the ball. LOL Wow, of all the gimmicks..... have ball sales really gotten so bad to where they had to do this? Some bowling shirts that smell like banana for all the sweaty gorillas out there I can see, even scented odor eaters for shoes but bowling balls seriously? It's hilarious!

[bowl1820]

Are you telling me they make balls with particular scents like all these candle wax cubes my wife buys?

Yes that's a Storm/Roto marketing gimmick, they've been doing it for about 18 years now. Use the forum search function, it's a horse that's been beat to death, there's several threads about it and making fun of it.

[Phonetek]

My apologies, it just caught me off guard. I've been all over this forum and haven't seen mention as of yet. I guess next time I'll search first before posting about it. Back to our regularly scheduled programming regarding spare balls.

[TCJ]

I use the typical pancake block polyester. I get way too much hook with urethane.

[JerseyJim]

I've used both, I had an old Manhattan Urethane that I started using as a spare ball. If I got a bit slow with my speed, it would hook. The polyester is much more forgiving, if I throw it slower, or hit up on it, it usually doesn't affect the ball motion that much.

[BlueTrane2028]

I have two balls for the purpose. A Columbia White Dot and a Storm Natural Pearl. The Storm is urethane with a decent core in it. During league play with fresh oil it doesn't move much when going for end shots. If the lanes are dry, the Storm can move well enough to be a strike ball and then the White Dot gets used for end shots.

The Natural Pearl is out of production as far as I know, I lucked into it in the used rack at the local pro shop. It's been great. I picked up all six ten pins I had to roll at last night, so clearly if I do my part it does its.

[mattmc82]

My coaching mentor, Ron Hatfield, would say that every bowler should have a polyester ball with a pancake weight block to use on spares.

Personally, I use a Storm Mix that I bought before meeting Ron. I have gone from using an old conventional grip rubber ball (1975-2008), a Hammer Black Widow (part of 2009, almost impossible to throw straight), Columbia 300 White Dot (2009-2010) to the Mix. The White Dot worked fine but started chipping around the finger holes, and the advise from the pro shop as well as from several other bowlers was that it was not worth fixing, just get a new one. Figuring that urethane would be less brittle I went with the Mix.

The down side of the mix is that even when you think you've released it perfectly straight, it will hook a bit. As djp 1080 said, this can give you a little extra miss room to the outside. On the other hand, it takes some away to the inside.

this is my spare ball http://www.gebhardtsbowling.com/bowling-balls/dv8-glitter-gold-polyester-bowling-ball

any idea if "High Density Bullet Core" is the same as a pancake block?

https://www.bowlingball.com/products/bowling-balls/dv8/11566/polyester-glitter-gold-with-free-sack.html

is that indicated anywhere? I am just trying to make sure I can identify because I am helping a couple people in my league get their first balls / first spare balls

[J Anderson]

this is my spare ball http://www.gebhardtsbowling.com/bowling-balls/dv8-glitter-gold-polyester-bowling-ball

any idea if "High Density Bullet Core" is the same as a pancake block?

https://www.bowlingball.com/products/bowling-balls/dv8/11566/polyester-glitter-gold-with-free-sack.html

is that indicated anywhere? I am just trying to make sure I can identify because I am helping a couple people in my league get their first balls / first spare balls

I am pretty sure it is. Not nearly as popular as T-Zones or White Dots as a spare ball, but I do know a few people who use it.