Trouble with my plastic ball, using strike ball for 10 pin.

[Blomer]

Hello all. I remember reading in many posts how some use strike ball for 10 pin. Just flatten out their wrist. Been inconsistent with my plastic ball lately. So I decided to use my Code Red for the 10 pin. And it’s been working. Rolls smoothly to the pin, doesn’t hook out at all. Now I’m thinking if I should stick with it or not! Pro is it allows another ball in the bag. What do you think?

[Eddy]

That's great if you can do it. But some people really need a plastic ball for spares/corner pins. I myself am going to try and ditch my plastic and start using a highly polished urethane for all spares. It frees up a spot in my 4-ball bag too.

[mattmc82]

There are plenty of spare pickups that are excuted with a straight ball much more often. Am I the only one that ever leaves sleepers or splits?

[mattmc82]

Hello all. I remember reading in many posts how some use strike ball for 10 pin. Just flatten out their wrist. Been inconsistent with my plastic ball lately. So I decided to use my Code Red for the 10 pin. And it’s been working. Rolls smoothly to the pin, doesn’t hook out at all. Now I’m thinking if I should stick with it or not! Pro is it allows another ball in the bag. What do you think?

You will be fine with this approach if you only bowl at one house and never plan on doing tournament play.

[boatman37]

In the past I used the same urethane ball for everything and was pretty good about it. I rarely had an open unless it was a split. I never tried to throw it straight but when picking up the 7 (lefty here) I stood about as far right as I could and threw about the middle arrow (it has been over 15 years since I have done this so can't remember now). Just got back into bowling about 6 weeks ago and have had trouble with all of my spares but especially the 7. Just got a Black Widow Gold a couple weeks ago and getting 7's with this is out of the question the way I throw). I am currently using a Hammer Spike that I throw the same way I release my strike ball and once I get my feet and marks figured out I should be good. But looking to buy a new ball this week that will be used for 4's, 7's, and 8's but will release it the same as my normal strike ball. Based on my past results and consistency I am pretty confident I will be fine and not need a dedicated 7 pin ball (can still use the new urethane ball for certain lane conditions if the BWG isn't working).

[JasonNJ]

I think with plastic, it exposes any inconsistencies in your swing which comes down to dedicating practice time just for spares. Just out of curiosity, how do you shoot your 10 pin spares with the Code Red? Do you flatten your wrist ala Norm Duke or are you throwing your normal release?

Now back to your question, go with whatever ball you feel more comfortable with. The more confident you are with the ball, chances are you'll throw a better shot.

[Amyers]

It depends mostly on your style, where you play, and how much time you want to dedicate to practice.

Style:

If you have good speed and lower rev rate it easier to shoot spare with the strike ball but beware of conditions that may make that problematic at best. if your lower speed and higher revs that simply isn't going to work

Where you play:

If your in a synthetic house with more oil throwing your strike ball for spare may work but what if you go to a tournament that has wood lanes or less oil would that still work? I see this often and watch it ruin peoples entire tournaments because they aren't prepared for the conditions they are facing

If you have plenty of time to dedicate to practice:

You can flatten out the wrist or throw harder to help straighten it out but with either of these it's learning something new. If your willing to dedicate the time in practice where that flat wristed release is just as good as your regular release than ok but even then think about how much time you wasted practicing that release that could have been used practicing your regular release that you missed out on. To save $80 on a plastic ball or an extra spot in the bag lol

I spend way to much time in bowling alleys and what I see are people Who think they can flatten their wrist but aren't that successful with it, people that have it in their head their more accurate with another ball they aren't it's just luck, and people who can get by 80% of the time in their home house shooting at spares with regular balls but on a sports pattern or at a different house learn the fact they really can't. It really only takes one trip to the State Championships or getting asked to sub in a different house to learn just how wrong you are. Save yourself the embarrassment buy PLASTIC

[mattmc82]

Amyers - I remember my first sport shot tournament. First ten pin I went after hit the gutter so hard I think it screwed up some guys delivery 2 lanes down.

Plastic balls should last forever right? I’m still working on correcting bad habits from using a strike ball for spares. Id say half the time my track on my spare ends up over my middle finger and thumb hole because of this. Unless somehow that is okay

[Amyers]

Amyers - I remember my first sport shot tournament. First ten pin I went after hit the gutter so hard I think it screwed up some guys delivery 2 lanes down.

Plastic balls should last forever right? I’m still working on correcting bad habits from using a strike ball for spares. Id say half the time my track on my spare ends up over my middle finger and thumb hole because of this. Unless somehow that is okay

Plastic balls tend to chip I'm on my second one after about five seasons. Tracking over a hole with the spare ball isn't really an issue

[J Anderson]

Amyers - I remember my first sport shot tournament. First ten pin I went after hit the gutter so hard I think it screwed up some guys delivery 2 lanes down.

Plastic balls should last forever right? I’m still working on correcting bad habits from using a strike ball for spares. Id say half the time my track on my spare ends up over my middle finger and thumb hole because of this. Unless somehow that is okay


Plastic balls tend to chip I'm on my second one after about five seasons. Tracking over a hole with the spare ball isn't really an issue

Plastic balls last forever only in the sense that they do not absorb oil and "die" like a reactive ball. I've never seen one split around the entire cover stock either. They will, as Amyers mentioned, chip around the finger holes when rolled end over end. My local pro shop doesn't like to be bothered with plugging and redrilling cheap balls, so they tend to recommend throwing them out and getting a new one.

I coach a few kids who are so rev dominant that that that even their plastic spare balls hook a lot. It certainly doesn't hurt to have a straight release in you bag of tricks to use with your spare ball. It's like wearing a belt and suspenders; you may look like a dork but there is no doubt that your pants are staying up.