NEED a new ball syndrome?

[JPbowl]

Have you been effected by it ?

I think most of us have, who can resist the urge try the latest and greatest ball on the market with the hopes of them being able to bowl 20+ pins higher with this new magical sphere.

How much has balling ball technology changed the past 6 years? How much does it help your typical league bowler?
How much of it is just marketing?

New colors,smells, cores, coverstocks.
The important parts (core and coverstock) don't really seem to have changed much. The marketing on the other hand, full blown.

While i do enjoy watching ball reaction videos, i believe there is a lot of fluff with all the tech jargin 'we've incresead the RG .08 this year and added 5 gamma molecules to our patentent hyper resin 2.0 forumla and expereinced the best reaction we've ever seen !'

I've been somewhat dissaponted with the past couple balls of gotten, while they are 'good' i don't see what makes them beter than my 7yr old columbia hyde that i just rolled a 831 with. It's been resurfaced once.

I got a track 811 about year and a half ago , had my hyde refinished and had some finger grips put in at the same time.
No spectacular games with that ball, My Hyde became the go-to ball once again.

Janurary this year i got the dv8 nightmare 'most hookingest ball ever on the market'
Eh not so much if playing a inside line a little bit more but outside not even close, my Hyde still hooks more and still remains the goto.

When i first started out a older lady helped me and a friend with a little advice here and there.
She was always into buying new bowling balls. Sometimes 3-5 a year. Took some lessons here and there but hasn't really improved.

She has the syndrome... BAD

We even bowled on a league with her one summer. ONE.
Such a negative attitude ' oh i'm horrible' 'i can't bowl'

In closing, how important is having the latest greatest bowling ball to you ?

[Faithacabra]

I am so glad to see a post like this. I see this syndrome ALL the time!

I have to agree with a lot that you have said. I think there definitely comes a time when you need to replace your bowling ball. However, I see a lot of people buying new bowling balls in order to improve their game. 9 times out of 10 you're just spending money with no change in your game. There is no "magical bowling ball" that will suddenly start you bowling strikes.

Picking a ball that fits your bowling style is important, but more than that, working with a coach or someone who is able to help you with your bowling technique is much more helpful. I have watched my father buy new bowling ball after new bowling ball and get mad because he's still not bowling "as good as he used to." His biggest issue is that he doesn't do enough research to see if the new ball is even a good fit for him and he doesn't stick with a ball long enough to become consistent. He doesn't want to hear it through.

He went out and bought the DV8 Hell Raiser Revenge last year, thinking it would react just like in the video's. When it didn't he complained non stop about it. He didn't want to hear that he was using it on wood lanes that are not what I would consider heavy oil, and unfortunately, that is a ball that requires heavier oil patterns to perform properly. He stopped bowling with it after 6 games! And moved on to his next ball that he thought would save his game. I believe most people would do well to make sure that they have at least 1 bowling ball that they continually practice and bowl with that gives them consistent results.

I by no means am a terrific bowler. And I do love to try new equipment with all the new technologies that all the manufacturer's keep boasting about. It does seem that they retire new bowling balls faster and faster to release the new version or updated version. It's seems a little unnecessary at times. But that is the nature of owning a business like that I suppose.

[vdubtx]

I have purchased one new ball in the last 6 years. Only reason I did buy a new one was to use it at my first time at Nationals and it is an aggressive ball. The other balls I have are still fine for my needs. I constantly hear from other bowlers in the league that have issues with their form or what not about the new ball they just tried and it would do this or that. I just don't get into the new ball every couple month syndrome.

Recently a pretty good bowler was just coming back from injury got a new Urethane ball. He was trying to not hook so much, but what he doesn't understand is it's not the ball that is hooking so much as it is his form. He chicken wings the heck out of hit and put a ton of revs on the ball with speed. When he is on he is on, but man when he is off he will gutter every few frames just trying to chuck it out there.

The last 4 years have been the best bowling I have done in my career with 2 balls, plus my spare ball. I attribute my increase in average more to my spare pick ups than I do to my strike balls.

[JDHamm85]

I picked up a new Aura Paranormal a couple of weeks ago to replace the Roto Grip Cell I had been using for about 5 years. Before the Cell, I had been using an old Brunswick Yellow Dot Zone that was pretty much my first real fingertip reactive ball, and I still use it as a spare ball. I will still use my Cell too I think, just not as often. I liked it, but not as much as I do the Paranormal. I've already broken my high game with the Paranormal only after having it for a couple of weeks. I won't be replacing it anytime soon, with my own funds anyway.

The allure of a new ball is probably the most enticing to the average knowledgable bowler, who doesn't pay attention much to lane oil, hand position, speed, all the little things. But whose to say that if everybody here could afford a new ball every couple of months, we wouldn't take that chance and build the ultimate ball army?

[TCJ]

Nobody needs any more than two bowling balls. That would be a spare ball and a strike ball. If you're the type who can throw a regular ball straight, then great, you have room for two strike balls in your bag. On a typical house shot, that equipment will be more than enough to get the job done if the bowler knows how to change release and all that other stuff. Now, another bowling ball could quite possibly work better for certain conditions (thus I don't know those who have more) but it's not 100% necessary, especially if the person is just a once a week bowler.

That said...

I love owning bowling balls. There's just something fun about getting a new one (or a new used one) and playing around with it. That doesn't mean I buy new ones all the time because I don't... but I do understand those who purchase a new one every three months. I'll bring four or five of them to the lanes on any given night. One reason is that I enjoy knowing that I can find a use for every bowling ball in my arsenal and the other is that I bowl with different styles so I have different balls for each of those. Lately for my practice sessions I bring one left-handed ball, my spare ball (I use for right or left), my dedicated two-handed ball, and my standard righty ball. Bowling is for fun, so why not have fun trying a bunch of things with various equipment if you have the chance?

[Bendial]

I'm pretty sure I have a bad case of this lol. Just started in January and I already have 5 balls haha. For me though it's not because I think they will improve my game, I'm just really enthusiastic about the sport and sometimes a specific ball just gets boring and you want something new.

[billf]

I have given away 15 balls so far this year. I haven't paid for a ball for myself in about 18 months. I do enjoy trying out the new balls though but you're right, they do about the same thing as the past balls.
For a once a week league bowler, yes only two balls are required. If you bowl in multiple houses on different surfaces however, you may want to increase that. Tournament bowlers, money is on the line so don't lose due to inferior equipment.

I have balls with different spans. Why? Well with the arthriitis in my joints and my propensity for breaking my wrist at work, I don't know how much flexibility my hand and wrist will have that night.

Another reason the average league bowler buys the latest and greatest hooking balls: they think fresh oil means heavy oil. So they spend $200+ on say, a Brutal Nightmare, then wonder why it doesn't hook like it should or leaves pins on seemingly great pocket shots. They don't know or realize heavy oil balls HAVE to skid to retain energy at the breakpoint. Fresh oil last night I used the Misfit and Natural Pearl for an 825 series. The Revenge and Terror didn't even make the trip. Old wood lanes that aren't heavily oiled and transition quickly, no need for them. Plus I was tired already and knew I wouldn't be in the mood to loft the gutter.

[Greenday]

For me it's a matter of finding the widest arsenal.

I have an arcing heavy oil ball with my Invasion, a skid/snap heavy with the Sync, an arcing medium-heavy with the IQ Pearl, a skid/snap medium with the Frantic, and a skid/snap with the Tropical Breeze. Still need a medium-light oil ball, then eventually fill in the other needs.

[Gunz1911]

I have given away 15 balls so far this year. I haven't paid for a ball for myself in about 18 months. I do enjoy trying out the new balls though but you're right, they do about the same thing as the past balls.
For a once a week league bowler, yes only two balls are required. If you bowl in multiple houses on different surfaces however, you may want to increase that. Tournament bowlers, money is on the line so don't lose due to inferior equipment.

I have balls with different spans. Why? Well with the arthriitis in my joints and my propensity for breaking my wrist at work, I don't know how much flexibility my hand and wrist will have that night.

Another reason the average league bowler buys the latest and greatest hooking balls: they think fresh oil means heavy oil. So they spend $200+ on say, a Brutal Nightmare, then wonder why it doesn't hook like it should or leaves pins on seemingly great pocket shots. They don't know or realize heavy oil balls HAVE to skid to retain energy at the breakpoint. Fresh oil last night I used the Misfit and Natural Pearl for an 825 series. The Revenge and Terror didn't even make the trip. Old wood lanes that aren't heavily oiled and transition quickly, no need for them. Plus I was tired already and knew I wouldn't be in the mood to loft the gutter.

Geez bill, You didn't have to call me out that bad!!!

[DLP]

I have the syndrome as well. But since I'm new to the game I usually can talk myself out of any of the pretties simply by telling myself I'm not worthy =)

It's worked so far :P