teammate switching to 30 year old ball

[boatman37]

So this season our lanes have been very dry. Teammate has a Radical Squatch pearl, a DV8 Nasty Rumor, and a Roto Grip Wrecker. He has a suitcase style release at about 15 MPH at the pins. He has been struggling real bad keeping the ball on the right side of the lane. He is very resistant to get outside his comfort zone. I have been trying to get him to move in a little. He usually targets the 10 board at the arrows. Told him a few times to move in a couple of boards but he is reluctant. Anyway, he is down to 177 from 203 last year. Today he told me he is going to try his dads old ball. His dad passed away in 1994 so it's at least that old and probably urethane. The urethane should help calm down the bite but I know that isn't the right solution. He uses the Wrecker for 10 pins (I finished it at 3000). He had been pretty consistent with 10's but this year he is missing them like crazy. The ball usually hooks just before the pin and misses to the inside until he wings it way out to combat that and throws it in the gutter.

I told him the urethane will trash the right side but that might actually help us...lol. Our team is 3 lefties and the other righty throws it straight but at an angle. Maybe the urethane will hurt our opponents more than us...lol. But overall one teammate is down about 12 pins (207-195), this one is down about 26 (203-177), another is down 13 196 to 183), another down 15 (196 to 181) and I am up 6 (177 to 183) but down 5 from summer league.

I may take his Wrecker and hit it with a 5000. He has even thrown that as his strike ball. His Squatch and Nasty Rumor are OOB. One of the guys we bowl with has a Squatch and it was too strong so he hit it with a 4000 and threw a 775 and a 750 with it after that. Maybe we can talk him into going 4000 on his Squatch. I will try to get him inside the 10 board Tuesday.

[mc_runner]

This might sound harsh, but if he refuses to move or adjust, he's probably now a 177 bowler. He'd be better off using that urethane for his 10s though if he's hooking by them with a reactive.

[MajorPhoenix]

If he's that stubborn, you might just have a lazy bowler unfortunately. Like mc said, if he isn't interested in making adjustments, then he may be stuck down in the 177 range.

[boatman37]

I agree. We have been best friends since we were little kids (I'm 50 now...lol). I'm stubborn too and have been resistant to change but he has me beat. He will move his feet 3 or 4 boards but won't move his target. He will try it once or twice but go right back to the 10 board. Tomorrow night I'm going to try to talk him into moving left and getting into the oil in warmups. Hopefully he tries it. I think he is getting to the point that he will try anything now figuring it won't hurt. He targets the 10 at the arrows and about the 7 at the breakpoint. I think he is getting too far out into the dry stuff and it bites harder than it did last year with the new USBC league oil changes. I explained the oil changes and told him there is no oil outside the 10 board anymore. My favorite line is straight up the 7 board but this year that only works for about 1 game then its done out there. Last week me and a couple of guys from the other team weren't even wiping our balls off between shots to try to help it.

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow night.

[J Daisy]

Who knows? Maybe using the 30-year-old ball will actually help him make the 10 pin shots. I know a bowler with 6 in-league perfect games who uses a vintage ball from a thrift store as part of his arsenal, and it works great for him.

[ALazySavage]

There are two types of bowlers and this is a perfect example of that. The first type will go through a slump (typically) as they are determining how a specific rule affects them and their game, will adjust and learn, and at the end will have another tool in their bowling toolbox - the second type of bowler is the one who doesn't care to learn about the changes and adjust to the conditions and their scoring is not much more than a product of the lane environment (sadly this is the bowler our game is attempting to cater to).

[boatman37]

So tonight I hit his Squatch with a 4000 CTD pad. Didn't look much different but I think more than anything it cleaned it. He probably has 25-30 games on it. He did much better. He tried moving in a little and tried a few things. He had a 246/632 so he was happy. I think his ball just needed freshened up a little and he was willing to go outside of his comfort zone tonight. He did throw his dads old ball for 10 pins. Not sure what it was or if it was urethane or what.

[MajorPhoenix]

So tonight I hit his Squatch with a 4000 CTD pad. Didn't look much different but I think more than anything it cleaned it. He probably has 25-30 games on it. He did much better. He tried moving in a little and tried a few things. He had a 246/632 so he was happy. I think his ball just needed freshened up a little and he was willing to go outside of his comfort zone tonight. He did throw his dads old ball for 10 pins. Not sure what it was or if it was urethane or what.

Ask him what ball it is, now i'm curious.

[boatman37]

Ask him what ball it is, now i'm curious.

He said he may start using it every week for 10's so should have it next week. All I know is it was very dark green (all solid color) and really beat up

[Hammer]

I have a 41 year old ball that I put back into use. I bought it in 1978 and it is the plastic Columbia 300 yellow dot bleeder ball. I had the pro shop resurface it to take out all of the scratches and old track marks. He did a great job and it looks very good. I know where to stand to get a good hit on the pocket. It is 15lbs and has a very nice small controlled hook. I just bowled a 205 with no opens with it. I used it as a strike ball and for certain spares. For the 7 pin I use a plastic Columbia 300 Lava ball. I am a south paw. There is nothing wrong with bringing out an old ball to use if it works for you.

[boatman37]

He didn't use it tonight. Not sure if he even brought it. He used his Squatch and DV8 Nasty Rumor all night and had a 220, 164, 202 - 586.