Will a brand new ball improve my game?

[IlsonBowler24]

Hey I'm new to the forum and would be grateful if anyone can give me some advice.

I have been bowling approximately a month now, and I've learnt how to get some hook on a ball (throwing it down the second arrow and letting it hook in to the pocket). I am using a fingertip grip, and I think that gradually I am improving the amount of hook that I can get on a ball.

The balls that I have currently are:

Storm - Fired Up (been using as a spare ball because it is my least reactive and I have had it polished up to take away a little more of the reactivity)

Brunswick - Scorching Inferno (Using as my strike ball because it is slightly more reactive and I've got my first 200 using this ball)

AMF - Hook Monster (only just got this ball today but not really had a chance to use it yet, but apparently it is supposed to be more reactive than the Scorching Inferno)

All of these balls were second hand and I haven't had to pay a thing. Do you think these balls being second hand will have a huge effect on my game? and will a brand new ball give me better results? baring in mind that I have only recently started bowling.

I've been looking at the DV8 hell raiser brand new but is quite pricey.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated :)

[DaveAyotte]

Welcome to the site!

Don't let anyone knock second hand equipment, it's a great thing. My first 7-8 balls were all second hand, and they did the job just fine. If you're just starting out, use your money on practice and a coach if you can. It'll be money better spent than new balls that you don't need yet. If you're already learning how to throw a curve effectively, take your time and build that muscle memory. Check out this site for some great drills and exercises that will help you along.

After you take the time to do that, or if you feel your at this level now - then I would say go ahead and get your new ball. I wouldn't recommend jumping right into the hardest hooking ball to ever hit the market though. But maybe that's just me.

[IlsonBowler24]

That's great thanks, I was kind of hoping someone would say something like that, I tend to throw money at new hobbies when its not needed because I think that it will help me and it hardly every gives the desired results. I am quite fortunate with bowling because I know the manager in my local centre so I can get games for cheaper, also my brother used to be a decent bowler his average was about 220 and he's been giving me tips which has been useful.

I can easily get 150 in a game (I realise this isn't a great score), so I'm aiming to make 180 a score which I can achieve easily.

Then maybe I should look into new equipment

THANKS FOR THE HELP :D

[MFein]

A new ball isn't the answer. A ball drilled for your hand is. I shot my first 200 with a 2nd hand ball. I bowled my first 600 with a 2nd hand ball. My first 800 / 300 with a 4 year old ball. It's all about technique. Like Dave said, a coach is something to save your money for. That way when you start developing a form and style, you can start drilling up new equipment. If you have the money, by all means, but I find learning the game first was a much better thing for me. I started getting lessons when I was throwing a plastic ball. I just did the fundamentals. Nothing more because I just wanted to keep it on the lane.

[IlsonBowler24]

I have had my hand measured and things and I have had the balls drilled properly so that they are comfortable, I think that maybe I need a slightly tighter finger insert on my ring finger. I've been trying to go to the bowling alley 3 times a week, I usually have 3 games a time, I'm trying not to over-do it because the more games I have in one session the worse my scores become and I feel like I'm getting nowhere, I'm trying to learn steadily.

Thanks for your comment!

[DaveAyotte]

Good idea - because you start bowling 10 games at a time without direction, you can develop bad habits. If you haven't heard of low-ball, that's a drill worth looking up when you can squeeze out another game, but need a break from trying to achieve higher scores. It's designed specifically to help you with your spares, because I'm sure you know, but you don't need any strikes to hit 180.

[IlsonBowler24]

That's my main problem, I can now consistently hit the 1st pin and my first ball nearly always gives me 8-9 pins, but I often leave the 10 pin, my sparing has slightly improved, but I am very hit and miss with spares, some games I can hit all of them, others I struggle badly, I think a little bit of it is to do with lane conditions and my lack of understanding of them. The 205 game that I achieved I had two open frames in it so I could have had a higher score had I been able to spare better. I will take a look at that drill though!

[J Anderson]

Don't worry about scores in practice. Focus on one or more goals for each session. For example if your primary concern is making 10 pins you could try a variation of low ball. Shoot for the ten pin on the first ball and then throw your strike ball. Your goal would be a not very impressive 110, but you would be judging yourself by; "did I hit the ten cleanly?", and " was my second ball in the pocket?" You can focus on any part of your game, being on balance at the line, follow through, etc.
The only worthwhile thing I learned in statistics was that I can define success and failure. So can you!

[DaveAyotte]

Unless you have a washout or a split, you should try going straight at all your spares. Use your spare, or however you go for you 10 pins and what-ever... and use that same ball for your non-split spares. This cuts down on margin for error, and takes the lane condition factor out of the equation entirely.

[IlsonBowler24]

I'll have to have a try at low ball sounds like a good way to practice, I'll also have to see if I can get hold of somebodies old spare ball or a cheap second hand one so that I can bowl it straighter for spares :D

[DaveAyotte]

If not you can always learn how to flatten your wrist. (thumb at 12 o'clock through the release: maximize roll, minimizes hook.) We have a guy on our team that uses his virtual gravity nano to make the 10 pin, and has a pick up rate of about 95%... so it can be done.

[IlsonBowler24]

Sorry to be asking so many questions but, does a bowler generally leave less pins the more revs they put on the ball? Obviously presuming that they hit the head pin. Because I think lots of revs looks really spectacular and eventually I would like to be able to bowl like that. I think the style I mean is called Cranker? Unsure though!

Again sorry for the questions!

[striker12]

well ilsonbowler24 it depends you can shoot anyway and leave up pin but when u got more revs u will end up with more pin action soo u might get those single last pin standing and sometimes u wont but if its to hard of a shot with high revs the pins willgo up and u will leave alot but its not called a cracker a cracker is a bowling style revs is jsut howu do it u cna be any type of bowler and have eather high or low revs depends on how the ball is drilled to move hope this helps you out abit i have jsut recently learned this my self about the revs

[IlsonBowler24]

I think I'm going to try and practice getting more revs on the ball, I have had two games tonight which were terrible I threw a 147 and a 136, the lanes seemed to be incredibly oily and no matter what line I used I couldnt seem to get the ball to hook in at all. The AMF hook monster that I have was meant to be far more reactive than my Storm fired up, but the Fired up seemed to be more reactive, I dont know if it was the conditions/ the way I was bowling/ or the fact that the hook monster is about 11 years old lol. I think I'll stick with my scorchin inferno as my strike ball!

Ahh well I'll stick at it!

[bowl1820]

I think I'm going to try and practice getting more revs on the ball, I have had two games tonight which were terrible I threw a 147 and a 136, the lanes seemed to be incredibly oily and no matter what line I used I couldnt seem to get the ball to hook in at all. The AMF hook monster that I have was meant to be far more reactive than my Storm fired up, but the Fired up seemed to be more reactive, I dont know if it was the conditions/ the way I was bowling/ or the fact that the hook monster is about 11 years old lol. I think I'll stick with my scorchin inferno as my strike ball!

Ahh well I'll stick at it!

A lot times when you have a weaker ball that out performs a strong ball. It could be a sign that the lanes are drier than you think.

The AMF Hook Monster is a Particle Ball with a asymmetrical core, that came with a O.O.B. of 1500 wet sand surface. So it would need some oil to work right.

The Storm Fired Up is a symmetrical core pearl, so would be better for drier conditions.

That to me say's it was too dry for the AMF ball, if the Fired Up worked.

That's why particle ball's have gone to the way side, they were too condition specific. Reactives are more versatile.

[striker12]

bowl1820 thats a good point i like that one i will keep that in mind for myself.

ilsonbowler it dose take practice to get your games up my avg is just increasing slowly but i got till next year to set it high at the start of the next year but this year im just mainly practicing and having fun at the same time thats the point to have fun and not get stressed

[IlsonBowler24]

Ahh I see! I have so much to learn lol!

[striker12]

yeah everyone has alot of learn you cna learn about bowling in about a year there will always be other things that come up that u did not know and that could help you im only my 4th year of bowling and still learning alot more from here this site can help you out the best theres alot of nice people on here that can tell you some things that u might of never knew about or knew alittle about but info is the best thing to have then u can make adjustments on your own with no help and know what to do

[striker12]

srry i messed up at the start i went to say u cant learn it in a year

[IlsonBowler24]

This site has been really helpful so far and people have been friendly, its all I can ask really, I might keep updating this thread as a kind of diary see how I am getting on.

[striker12]

thats a great idea show how u are doing then other people can see it and help you out abit if they see any thing that u might be doing wrong and also upload a video of you bowling and see how you are doing and people will comment on what u are doing wrong and what u are doing right soo then when u go to bowl again u got info that will help u fix a problem or make it better

[IlsonBowler24]

Woop got myself a new high score this morning, 218! lanes seemed really easy, my second game was a 181 but its better than my normal average!

[striker12]

thats pretty good thats some nice games i wish the lanes i bowl on where ever good there eather dead dry or way to much oil that u can see a fish tail come off my ball

[IlsonBowler24]

I have a slight advantage because my brother is the head mechanic and he dresses the lanes so he has a fair idea when the best time to bowl is for me, the only thing is that it is not as much of a challenge for me when the lanes are perfect.

I love my Scorchin' Inferno in those conditions though £30 for a second hand ball - BARGAIN! LOL

[kev3inp]

My fingers notoriously shrink as the night goes on and when I need to make my grips tighter I use little pieces of business card between the grip and the ball.

In the UK you bowl on tougher conditions than we do here. The guy is probably putting out the US house pattern for you. ;)

We have bowling friends from the UK that we see when they come here on vacation. They load up on bowling equipment when they're here. They miscalculated a bit and had to saw off the handle of a new roller bag to get it into the car.

[striker12]

lol ilsonbowler thats pritty good how your bothers the head machenic this head machenic are my bowling allie ik pretty well so im always at the bowling allie 1hr befor leauge and i get a test game in there to test the lanes and he tells me how there oiled and where u should play at soo it somes in handy being friends with the head mechanic.

but soon im going to get a new ball but not sure whcih one yet but its going to be a solid then later on in the future of a couple months i will be getting a polished one to help out when the lanes start to burn down

[IlsonBowler24]

I wish I could come to the US to get bowling equipment, it's so much cheaper over there, it would probably cost a fair bit to return with though :(

Yeah my brother does the same lol he just says bowl it here pretty much and it usually works, but to my credit he wasn't there on saturday when I bowled 218 :D

I'm gonna wait till I get a new ball, I'm going to try and learn a few styles of bowling so it gives me options in different conditions, then when I feel I can consistently get scores of 180 for example I will purchase a new one, I'm really interested in the DV8 hell raiser (yellow/ black/ red) the ball looks awesome

[IlsonBowler24]

Bowled 3 games tonight and my first score was 187, the second game was a 190, and my third game was a 227, and I didn't miss a pin I was so proud of myself!. On the 227 game I only used my Storm Fired Up ball because my Scorchin Inferno was leaving the 10 pin a lot! I spent the earlier part of today learning how to get more revs on the ball and this definitely contributed to my score.

Maybe I don't need a brand new ball at all!

[Timmytomma]

You really dont, I'm still a relatively new bowler (not in terms of length but in terms of actually trying to be good) and I bought a new ball just because the old 1995 norm duke hammer I got as a hand me down from my dad was getting too old. I never even redrilled it because it was about as close as you can get to my hand as you can be without drilling it just for me. But before that I bowled my highest game and learned to throw a finger tip with that ball. But 17 years was getting pretty old and it was 16 lbs. If it was 15 and not completely ancient I would have kept throwing it, I loved that thing.

[IlsonBowler24]

What ball did you buy to replace the old ball Timmytomma?

[Timmytomma]

An ebonite lanebreaker