16 15 or 14

[MICHAEL]

If you feel comfortable with any of the weights above, should a person go with the 16lb ball. I thought I would see a LOT more revs with the 14lb ball! To my amazement,,, not the case.... about the same! So did I give up something going 14lb with the new Vivid?

[chrono00]

your not supposed to have a HUGE effect from 16 to 15, or 15 to 14, so I'd say go with the heaviest your comfortable with. sometimes the lighter weight helps a little

my virtual energy is 16lbs. I probably throw that around 12.5-13mph on average.

frantic is 15lbs. and i probably average around 14-14.5mph with it

[bowl1820]

How does ball weight affect rev rate?

Quote from CMG
What can we take away from this? One thing that stands out is that the difference is not very significant – dropping from 16 to 15 gave, at most, a 4% gain, which is not a great deal. Another thing that stands out is that if the RG of the ball goes up as the weight goes down, the gain is much smaller. When the RG dropped, the gain in rev rate was magnified. Analyzing the equations, we can see that when the RG remains constant, the percentage difference in rev rate will be the percentage difference in the square root of the weight of the ball. If the core changes in dynamics, that difference can be exaggerated or reduced. My conclusion? A higher rev rate is not a great reason to drop in weight.


You can read the math here:
Click here for The-science-of-bowling-how-does-ball-weight-affect-rev-rate/ (http://cmgbb.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/the-science-of-bowling-how-does-ball-weight-affect-rev-rate/)

Also read this from Ron Clifton:
Click for Tip #14--WHAT WEIGHT BALL? COULD 14 LBS BE YOUR "SWEET WEIGHT"? (http://www.bowl4fun.com/ron/tip14.htm)


Now I dropped from 16# to a 15# with my Nomad Dagger. This gave me about a 2 mph increase in speed, also a noticeable increase in rev's as compared to my Nomad solid. But I also made a small change in layout, which gave it a little more backend to go with the increased length I got.

[Etrain]

i heard your more likely to get 10 pins wih a 16lbs ball

[J Anderson]

It seems that when reactive resin balls came out, a lot of pros switched form 16# down to 15#. The new technology was making the balls drive straight through the 5 pin leaving stone nines on flush pocket hits.

[bowl1820]

i heard your more likely to get 10 pins wih a 16lbs ball

There's not much difference between the 14, 15 and 16-pound balls and leaving ten pins. It's more to do with entry angles and the offset.

So worrying about leaving ten pins when considering ball weight is basically a waste of time.

[bowl1820]

It seems that when reactive resin balls came out, a lot of pros switched form 16# down to 15#. The new technology was making the balls drive straight through the 5 pin leaving stone nines on flush pocket hits.

Yeah they were so strong compared to urethane and they didn't have the deflection needed.

[jaydee]

Seems like a lot of pros went from 16 to 15, now some of them went back to 16. I know this was the case for Jack Jurek, I forget who else.

Some people use the higher weight to help control their ball speed. Some people go to a lower weight to hold off fatigue.

[eugene02]

Seems like a lot of pros went from 16 to 15, now some of them went back to 16. I know this was the case for Jack Jurek, I forget who else.

Some people use the higher weight to help control their ball speed. Some people go to a lower weight to hold off fatigue.

lower weight to play more games since they cannot handle the ball which seems super heavy after a couple of games..

[JerseyJim]

I've always preferred 16lb balls to 15lbs. I find that I have more consistency in ball speed with the heavier equipment. The one year that I did throw 15 lbs, I found that I had an increase in 10 pin leaves. I felt at the time that it was due to the increased speed with which I was throwing the lighter equipment. On the other hand, I worked for the Forest Service that summer, and my legs were probably stronger than at any other point in my life. That would have been an additional factor in ball speed.

[MICHAEL]

(Could 14 be your sweet weight) Great article!! thanks!