Rev rate and ball speed -- I think this goes here...

[Monte]

I'm considering buying some new equipment, as a few of you may know.

The issue I'm having is that I'm not familiar with a wide variety of brands, and there are a BUNCH of them. Up until last year, I had an old, black Hammer. Then I purchased an Elite Traitor, because it was on sale.

I did a little chat session with someone from a bowling equipment website, and they were telling me that I should have my ball speed (in MPH) and rev rate (they sent some links about how to determine both).

Anyway, is that true? I'm looking for an asymmetric core, and I'm thinking of dropping from 16# to 15# equipment.

The problem is, there are all these different brands, and they all claim they're the BEST EVER!!

Thoughts?

[Amyers]

#1. Find a good pro shop. Definition of good pro shop. They should watch you bowl, they should ask what you are looking for the ball to do, They should measure your ball speed and PAP at the very least. If they aren't doing those things run

#2. Have them recommend a few different balls from different brands and do some research. Look at the Rg and differential. If you can watch someone who has a somewhat similar style bowl with the ball if possible. Compare that to the RG and differentials of your other balls.

#3. Decide whether you think the new ball will provide a different look for you versus what you have. Put ideas out of your head like I need something that hooks more. Consider the lane conditions you bowl on. If your open bowling you are most likely never going to see the amount of oil needed to throw heavy oil ball or even a lot of the med/heavy balls. If your league bowing you still most likely will not see the oil needed for the real heavy oil balls. If your bowling tournaments you may need that may not depending on patterns and where you want to play.

#4 Consider the surface that comes oob and how that will effect what the ball does in line with the RG of the ball and compare again with your existing balls and the conditions bowled on. How comfortable are you with changing the surface and are you willing to maintain it. Balls with more surface lose their surface more quickly than balls 3k to 4k surfaces.

The biggest thing is make sure you use your head and buy something that fits your style, fits the conditions you bowl on, and gives you a different look than what you have. Try to avoid making obvious mistakes like if you play outside the second arrow on low oil with medium to low ball speed buying a Hammer Bad Intentions or if want to play inside the 3rd arrow buying a Colombia Scout unless you've got ridiculous revs. try not to have multiples of the same ball with just different colors as in buying a Storm Marvel Pearl and a Storm Optimus that have almost the same numbers. Almost every ball on the market is at least ok anymore real stinkers are pretty rare just make sure what you get fits how you bowl, the condition, and where on the lane you play.

[Monte]

#1. Find a good pro shop. Definition of good pro shop. They should watch you bowl, they should ask what you are looking for the ball to do, They should measure your ball speed and PAP at the very least. If they aren't doing those things run

I'll do that. There's a pro shop at my local bowling center, but the guy that runs it also owns the bowling center. I'm not sure if he'd do those things, so I may need to check elsewhere. Basically, when I had my Elite Traitor drilled, he took my measurements, and just drilled it. Of course, that's a symmetric core ball (at least that's what I was told).

#2. Have them recommend a few different balls from different brands and do some research. Look at the Rg and differential. If you can watch someone who has a somewhat similar style bowl with the ball if possible. Compare that to the RG and differentials of your other balls.

I could do this, especially the Rg and differential stuff.

#3. Decide whether you think the new ball will provide a different look for you versus what you have. Put ideas out of your head like I need something that hooks more. Consider the lane conditions you bowl on. If your open bowling you are most likely never going to see the amount of oil needed to throw heavy oil ball or even a lot of the med/heavy balls. If your league bowing you still most likely will not see the oil needed for the real heavy oil balls. If your bowling tournaments you may need that may not depending on patterns and where you want to play.

Here's where I have a little trouble. I'm not averse to changing my line -- at all. I'm left handed, so I count boards and arrows from the left. I usually only play house shots (sometimes freshly-oiled house shots). Usually I target the 10th board/2nd arrow, or just outside that. Sometimes, though, I have to target about 11 or 12 and float the ball out to 7 or 8 at the break point.

#4 Consider the surface that comes oob and how that will effect what the ball does in line with the RG of the ball and compare again with your existing balls and the conditions bowled on. How comfortable are you with changing the surface and are you willing to maintain it. Balls with more surface lose their surface more quickly than balls 3k to 4k surfaces.

I think my Traitor is a 2K surface.

The biggest thing is make sure you use your head and buy something that fits your style, fits the conditions you bowl on, and gives you a different look than what you have.

Can you explain the "different look" thing? I don't quite follow.

Try to avoid making obvious mistakes like if you play outside the second arrow on low oil with medium to low ball speed buying a Hammer Bad Intentions or if want to play inside the 3rd arrow buying a Colombia Scout unless you've got ridiculous revs. try not to have multiples of the same ball with just different colors as in buying a Storm Marvel Pearl and a Storm Optimus that have almost the same numbers. Almost every ball on the market is at least ok anymore real stinkers are pretty rare just make sure what you get fits how you bowl, the condition, and where on the lane you play.

Gotcha. What about weight, though? I've never really had a problem throwing a 16#, but I'm wondering if dropping to 15 would increase revs/ball speed, and maybe control and pin carry?

[Amyers]

Different Look = If you have more of an arc shape to your shot you might add something that is more skid flip or vise vs. it's hard to say for me with your existing ball as I'm not familiar with it or your style but your Existing ball is an RG of 2.513 (lower Rg) and a differential of .036 (Medium low) and a pearl surface at 2k.

The difference on weight have been debated on here endlessly let's not get that started again you can look the 15 vs. 16 lbs. debates up but in general it's not going to make much difference one way or the other as long as your comfortable. Knowing your ball speed might help with that decision if you are sub 14 you might want to switch if not I wouldn't worry about it.

What are you looking for the new ball to do for you?

[Monte]

Different Look = If you have more of an arc shape to your shot you might add something that is more skid flip or vise vs. it's hard to say for me with your existing ball as I'm not familiar with it or your style but your Existing ball is an RG of 2.513 (lower Rg) and a differential of .036 (Medium low) and a pearl surface at 2k.

I'm kinda looking for something a little more aggressive. Possibly a skid-flip. I'm gonna be bowling on a house pattern most of the time, and likely won't be doing any tournament bowling.

[Amyers]

I might suggest checking out the hyroad Pearl and the Gold rhino pro both will offer that skid flip without the asymmetrical core and might be a little easier to handle.

If your going asymmetrical I think the Brunswick mastermind scholar and the Hammer red legend are two of the better ones without going crazy and getting something so strong you can't use it on a regular basis.

Like I said earlier have your proshop guy give you some ideas too do a little research and it makes the decisions easier

[Aslan]

Get whatever looks or smells the best.

Unless you're averaging in the 180s or above and thinking of taking lessons and eventually bowling tournaments or taking your game to the next level....the ball doesn't really matter that much.

I'm not familiar with your game nor have I seen recent videos of you bowling...but if you're throwing one ball...and a spare ball...it really doesn't matter what ball you pick. Your pro shop operator will be the best option to help you simply because he/she can look at you throw a few shots and at least make an educated guess based on that house's conditions and your game...but at the end of the day they're "guess" is just that.

Think of it like this....anything you're doing badly (approach, timing, release, speed control, etc...)...the ball will not help you fix. On the flip side...everything you do well...the ball will end up mattering less and less.

So when DOES the ball matter?

1) Arsenal bowling: Buying a bunch of bowling balls that are all about the same and then having them drilled about the same way...well, you just spent 4-6x as much money to essentially have ONE ball reaction. So when building an arsenal, yeah, ball selection matters so you can have the highest probability of finding something that works well.

But...BUT....when is arsenal bowling recommended? When you're bowling competitively and bowling in different centers.

2) The ball matters to elite bowlers because at that level, the difference in skill level from bowler to bowler is rather small and any little 'edge' can be the difference between a $15,000 payday and a $640 payday.

And unfortunately, you'll rarely find an unbiased person to ask this question to. You friends like what they like and hate what they hate...so they'll just tell you to get whatever ball they like. The pro shop operator will want to sell you the most expensive ball...if he can...and may also be influenced by what manufacturer offers the best sales bonus program. The ball reps and pros are paid by the ball manufacturers...to tell you their bowling balls are unique and special and practically (although not literally) guaranteed to get you bowling 300-games.