Maine Man

Trimming Down My Arsenal......Somehow

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Well, here I am at the cornerstone of another league season, pondering what to do about bowling equipment. I remember the days when you could just keep the same 2-3 balls in your bag for a couple of seasons, and once a year give them a quick re-surface job and go bowling. Nowadays, with specialized balls for different lane conditions, and coverstocks that need constant cleaning and attention, it actually takes a re-tooling of my entire arsenal each season. So, I am going to list what I have by manufacturer, and see if I can brainstorm ideas on how to trim down what I have to save on the "confusion" factor later on down the road.

Brunswick
Swarm
Twisted Fury Solid
Ultra Zone (not drilled yet)

Columbia
Perfect Rival

Ebonite
The One (re-release)
Big One

Hammer
No Mercy

Lane #1
Chainsaw Massacre

MoRich
Awesome Revs

Storm
Virtual Gravity
Secret Agent

O.k., so I think I am going to sit the Awesome Revs in favor of the Secret Agent. Both are a particle pearl blend, but the Secret Agent has a smooth pin-axis drilling on it, which gives me a completely different look than anything else in my bag.

Next, I am going to take the Big One out. This ball has an identical drill pattern to the One and the Swarm, so it will not see much play since it has more games on it anyway.

That brings me to a tough choice, the No Mercy. This is a tough one for me since I have shot some VERY good scores with this ball, but it is very cleaning sensitive and pretty aggressive, so I will leave it in the tournament rotation only.

The Ultra Zone is a non-factor as of right now since it has yet to be drilled, but I will have it waiting in the wings in case I need it.

Here is what the rotation looks like right now:

Swarm
Twisted Fury Solid
Perfect Rival
The One (re-release)
Chainsaw Massacre
Virtual Gravity
Secret Agent

Well, I have been able to trim it down from 11 to 7, which is pretty good. These will be the balls in my league lineup, and next time I will discuss what I will do for a good all around tournament lineup of bowling equipment. Thanks for reading, and any comments are welcome!!

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Comments

  1. Hogsharley's Avatar
    You have a bunch of pretty strong equipment there. I assume the Swarm is your weakest ball. Good choice keeping the Secret Agent over the Awesome Revs.
  2. Maine Man's Avatar
    Yeah, I do have some pretty strong stuff. The reason for this is two fold:

    1) I am a lefty, so my side of the lane gets less play, and holds up better as the night wears on than the right side does. This means I can carry more aggressive equipment than some righties can on any given night. You have to match up to what you see on the lanes.

    2) A few of the balls in this lineup are drilled fairly weak (like the Swarm, good call on that being my weakest piece). I like drilling aggressive balls weaker rather than maxing out a weak ball, it is just my personal preference I suppose.

    I will get in depth with the layouts and surface prep for each ball when I make my tournament arsenal blog next week. Thanks for the comment!