Evermore aggressive bowling balls and the bowling industry...

[The German Shepherd]

With the release of the newest DV8 balls (specifically the Nightmare), I find myself increasingly astounded by new technology in bowling. I figured that the DV8 HRR would be the apex in bowling ball aggressiveness for some time, but wrong I was.

This leads me to some questions, though. With the current state of lane-oiling practice, I find that my Vivid, Nexxus and Defiant are about as aggressive of a ball as I can handle. Now, I understand that there are a gazillion bowlers out there and no two bowlers are exactly alike in their style/shot, and there are tons out there better than I am, but why make bowling balls that are more and more aggressive? Where does it end? I mean, I have seen some righty "crankers" throw over the left channel and loft the ball over the arrows on freshly oiled lanes in order to keep the ball in the 1-3 pocket! ON FRESH OIL!

The answer, it seems to me, has to be one of the below:
- The Bowling ball industry is trying to give more and more average bowlers the ability to "hook it like a pro;"
- The bowling ball industry is trying to push the envelope as far as possible;
- OR the bowling ball industry has their eye on the lane oiling technology and sees that the lane oil of the future will have more and more solids/higher viscosity in the future, so they are making more and more aggressive bowling balls in order to combat that.

It is either that or the bowling ball techies are all ego-driven maniacs.

I will go for the previous three ides. What say you???

Jay

Jay

[AngeloPD]

My guess would be the first and two answers that you listed

[J Anderson]

With the release of the newest DV8 balls (specifically the Nightmare), I find myself increasingly astounded by new technology in bowling. I figured that the DV8 HRR would be the apex in bowling ball aggressiveness for some time, but wrong I was.

This leads me to some questions, though. With the current state of lane-oiling practice, I find that my Vivid, Nexxus and Defiant are about as aggressive of a ball as I can handle. Now, I understand that there are a gazillion bowlers out there and no two bowlers are exactly alike in their style/shot, and there are tons out there better than I am, but why make bowling balls that are more and more aggressive? Where does it end? I mean, I have seen some righty "crankers" throw over the left channel and loft the ball over the arrows on freshly oiled lanes in order to keep the ball in the 1-3 pocket! ON FRESH OIL!

The answer, it seems to me, has to be one of the below:
- The Bowling ball industry is trying to give more and more average bowlers the ability to "hook it like a pro;"
- The bowling ball industry is trying to push the envelope as far as possible;
- OR the bowling ball industry has their eye on the lane oiling technology and sees that the lane oil of the future will have more and more solids/higher viscosity in the future, so they are making more and more aggressive bowling balls in order to combat that.

It is either that or the bowling ball techies are all ego-driven maniacs.

I will go for the previous three ides. What say you???

Jay

Jay

I think the first two are definitely on the mark. You see Pete Weber or Wes Mallot make it look so easy that you want to be able to do it too. The other is that in any competitive industry, no one wants to be #2. Look at US cars in the 50s and 60s. Chrysler came out with a 389 hp 389cu in motor so Ford and Chevy come out with 400+ cu in motors. Ford launches the Mustang, then Chevy and Plymouth answer with the Camaro and the Barracuda.

The lane conditioners and machines tend to react to the changes in ball technology

[Zothen]

All 3 are correct as well as the hardcore bowler who is looking for that 1 ball that will make him feel like he can be a pro bowler. It is no accident that the major bowling campanies spend millions of dollars trying to perfect core & coverstock technology to make a ball hook more then their aggressive ball currently on market. Sometimes they even go as far as taking balls from the past and combing the 2 different coverstocks and cores into a new ball.

I think the only ego is the bowler who wants to feel like a pro and their desire for perfection!

Zothen

[striker12]

i think the first and 2nd once's are the ones to look at that i agree with.
also with the bowling balls getting more agressive it would probly help the bowlers that are new and the younger bowlers that are want to learn to control the hook witch is good for younger people.
as for me the HRR is agressive enoph im already almost al the way left the DV8 nightmare would probly put me in the other lane lol.

[jimlc2001]

It's all about sales. A company doesn't want their newest release weaker than the previous year. And you can always add more oil to the lanes.

[billf]

I pick all four. It's gotten to the point where I can just aim for the ten pin, not try to hook it and still hit the pocket. It's crazy and I'm sure DV8 will lead to way to complete bedlam.

[Ball99999]

I am a little irritated, I would like to see medium oil and light oil balls that have monster cores in them so they don't hook early but when they do they create a lot of revs.

[J Anderson]

I am a little irritated, I would like to see medium oil and light oil balls that have monster cores in them so they don't hook early but when they do they create a lot of revs.

The core by itself doesn't create a lot of revs. A low RG ball will rev up faster, like when a figure skater pulls their arms in to spin faster.
Monster cores have high differentials creating more flare.

[bowl1820]

My thought is:
Companies want to make money, so they make what people want and People want balls that hook.

As for "The apex in bowling ball aggressiveness", that was reached a while back. They were called particle balls.

Particle balls had reached a point where they were so aggressive, they became unusable except in very limited situations.

The players stopped using them and that's why they have all but disappeared off the market.