Everyone Seems to Use a Different Ball

[AZBowla]

IMHO there's nothing wrong with wanting a new ball, I felt the same way - sure my average isn't all that (I'm guessing maybe 160 or so- not sure since all I do is open bowling and I keep forgetting to have them print out the score sheet for me) but I also felt that throwing a 10 year old ball was still holding me back. They have made a ton of advancements in the last 10 years and if I want to seriously improve my game, doesn't it help to have newer, better equipment? Of course it does.

Next on my list is a new pair of bowling shoes - those are also ten+ years old. But only after I've gotten my lovely GF all set up with her new gear of course.

[75lockwood]

IMHO there's nothing wrong with wanting a new ball, I felt the same way - sure my average isn't all that (I'm guessing maybe 160 or so- not sure since all I do is open bowling and I keep forgetting to have them print out the score sheet for me) but I also felt that throwing a 10 year old ball was still holding me back. They have made a ton of advancements in the last 10 years and if I want to seriously improve my game, doesn't it help to have newer, better equipment? Of course it does.

Next on my list is a new pair of bowling shoes - those are also ten+ years old. But only after I've gotten my lovely GF all set up with her new gear of course.

new PURPLE gear! lol

[MisterSinister]

It's a matter of how into bowling you get, and how much you realize what is actually going on. When I started a few years ago, for my second ball I wanted a high end, big hook ball. I had a Freeze already, and I wanted something for my league, with fresh oil. I bought a Virtual Gravity. I bowled for almot two years with that ball before I realized my mistake. I am a high rev player, and on most lane conditions, the Virtual Gravity is too much ball. I thought it was fine, it hooked a lot, but it didn't over hook. It hit the pocket, so it must be ok. The fact it left the 10 pin, or the 7 pin a lot, it's just luck right? Nope. Too Much ball doesn't always mean it hooks too much. It was hitting the pocket, but hitting soft. I moved down to a RotoGrip Outlaw, and all of a sudden my average went up 10 pins real quick, and I stopped leaving so many corner pins. It looks the same going down lane as the VG, to the average person, they can't tell the difference. I get it all the time, "why do you need 4 balls?" The more you get into it, the more you learn about ball reaction, lane conditions, and yourown game, the more you will realize why you need different balls.

[HughScot]

Fair enough, if you have the money available there is nothing wrong with building your arsenal and trying new balls.

don't mind me, i'm a little bitter on the subject, i've used the same ball for 4 years and am just getting around to replacing it now due to realizing I've literally out grown it lol

I guess i'll see how much my average changes after i get the marauder

No problem, money is not an issue re bowling balls. I had the same set of irons for ten years once and knew there was nothing better so I kept them. But balls are relatively cheap and this ball has so much yellow in it, it feels a little foolish.