Unless they "over-think" it????Originally Posted by RobLV1
Not even close. The ball matters far more than most people believe, just not for the reasons that they believe. It's not how much hook that matters, it's finding a ball that retains the right amount of energy. I'll go out on a limb here and predict that even Mike will agree here.
The ball is in my opinion is of great importance at an equal degree to all levels of bowlers except people just beginning. At higher levels you can absolutely hit a wall progressing or executing without the right equipment on a given shot. At lower levels you make it very tough on yourself to get better and even worse a lot of those people don't even realize it is part of the problem.
I hear some cracking on that limb.
One ball doesn't retain or lose energy more than another.
Due to friction, the type of energy is converted from linear to angular (ball slows down and increases rev rate)
I think the "secret" to great carry is getting the core of the ball in it's most stable state (following the RG curve) as it impacts the pins.
The ball is drilled in an unstable state to achieve track flare.
As the ball flares the core is turning along a changing axis (ever changing stability), and the increase of rev rate increases stability of the core.
A ball with no rev rate will deflect significantly. The trick is what happens the instant after the impact with the head pin.
With no rev rate, there is no angular momentum to try and drive the ball in the same direction as before the impact.
Higher Rev rate means more drive after impact, more stable core means the drive will maintain the same direction as before impact.
The ball will bounce to the right off the head pin (right handed, pocket shot) but before it contacts the 3 pin, it can alter it's course to the left enough to hit the 3 pin into the 6-10.
The easiest way to demonstrate this "drive" is on the pool table.
Place a ball on the foot spot then place the cue ball behind the head string.
Now try to drive the object ball into the left corner with no english on the ball.
The natural result is for the cue ball to deflect into the other corner pocket.
Now try again, but this time hit the cue ball with high right english.
The cue ball should strike the back cushion rather than deflect into the corner pocket.
In bowling it's the little bit of "english" that reduces the likelihood of both the flat, and ringing 10 pin.
I put in a great deal of practice games studying what impacted carry back in the 70's, and I finally discovered that reducing deflection was the key.
To train my hand to get the release required, I would roll 9 lb house balls, using only my middle finger (had to put it in the thumb hole, only place it would fit)
Once I was able to reduce the deflection with the 9 lb ball, I worked on getting the same roll on a 15 lb ball.
Since the friction levels between balls and lane surface was much lower back then, the increase in rev rate had to come from the hand.
Drilling axis weighted balls made them the most stable when using a pancake weight block because the result was the HIGH RG being on the axis.
Before reactive resin, I didn't think in terms of the RG, just the gyroscopic properties and reducing lope.
The fact that the ball crossed a more boards than other bowlers was a necessary "evil", not the goal.
Last edited by Mike White; 02-01-2015 at 11:41 PM.
I'd agree with that...but if you look at the list I made and the examples I've given...what you're saying is that because a professional has already master #1-#4...the ball becomes more important. Okay, I'll give you that...but thats like saying the most important aspect of horse racing is what size shoe the jockey is wearing....AFTER you remove the horse, jockey size, and track conditions from the equation.
Yes...a pro bowler with a pro release, and consistent speed, on lane conditions they've mastered, with a truck full of new bowling balls and multiple surfaces...yes...I suppose then they'd struggle throwing a Tropical Breeze or Cyclone versus their professional competition throwing Hyper Cells or Cruxs.
But...in the REAL world...in house leagues...generally the bowlers chasing 300 games each night are just as likely to be throwing a Storm Crux as they are Virtual Gravity or Mastermind or even some lower hook DV8 Diva or Dude or even some ball from 20 years ago. Of matter of fact...I'd say at the THS house level...I see far more amateur bowlers struggle with new equipment than benefit from it. I watched one of our top 15 bowlers (in out Tuesday league) and he struggled like mad trying to throw his brand new Storm Crux...meanwhile his teammate has a higher average and almost bowled a 300-game throwing some old Storm Secret Agent or something like that. It was so old and beat up I could hardly make out the brand/name.
I'd ask a Professional to chime in on this issue...but in addition to not having any in here chatting regularly...there's the minor issue that very few sponsored PBA pros are going to rush in to a forum to admit the ball doesn't matter as much as people think...that would tend to make their sponsors at the least "slightly annoyed".
In Bag: (: .) Zen Master Solid; (: .) Perfect Mindset; (: .) Brunswick Endeavor; (: .) Outer Limits Pearl; (: .) Ebonite Maxim
USBC#: 8259-59071; USBC Sanctioned Average = 192; Lifetime Average = 172;
Ball Speed: 14.7mph; Rev. Rate: 240rpm || High Game (sanc.) = 300 (268); High Series (sanc.) = 725 (720); Clean Games: 198
Smokey this is not 'Nam', this is bowling. There are rules. Proud two-time winner of a bowlingboards.com weekly ball give-away!
You wouldn't catch me in that room for 16 minutes, much less 16 hours. I'd have more success beating my head against a brick wall!
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