The Elegant Solution

[RobLV1]

In my ongoing effort to help bowlers to understand modern bowling balls, I have written a new article entitled, "The Elegant Solution." It is intended as a basic introduction to modern balls for those bowlers new to the game, or returning after many years. It is posted on my website, http://modern-bowling.com/Bowling-Co...-Vegas-NV.html.

Comments and discussion are welcome.

[djp1080]

Rob, I read your articles with interest. BTW my daughter writes code for engineering use at a high level and I'm a retired electronics engineer.
Enjoyed your review of basic ball concepts. I tend to stay with Storm gear, but recently bought a Hammer Dark Legend. Was hoping to be able to move further left and still have the ball come back for me with that option. So far I've seen that I have more miss room to the right, but I'm not able to move left with my feet much more than usual with let's say my Hy-Road original.
Been playing with surface changes on other balls and when I went to a 2000 grit pad on my Byte, it made a big difference on back end movement and picked up quite a bit earlier on the lane. I like it!
Thanks for your continued education series...

[panbanger]

In my ongoing effort to help bowlers to understand modern bowling balls, I have written a new article entitled, "The Elegant Solution." It is intended as a basic introduction to modern balls for those bowlers new to the game, or returning after many years. It is posted on my website, http://modern-bowling.com/Bowling-Co...-Vegas-NV.html.

Comments and discussion are welcome.

Great article, it's nice to have all this info on one page! I bookmarked it

[billf]

Rob, am I understanding you correctly that you suggest the same layout for both core types?

There were some things I disagreed with but I took a step back and looked at it. I tend to coach high end competition bowlers more than typical league bowlers so their understanding has to be higher or they will fail. I also get why some of the ball info has to be "dumbed down" otherwise beginner to lower intermediate bowlers would only get confused and give up, generally speaking.

[Amyers]

A lot of this depends on the how educated the bowler is about balls, where to play on the lane, how to adjust, and bowling in general. I think for joe six pack bowler who throws once a week something like this could help them as long as they desire to have an improved ball reaction and not throw what hooks the most or what I seen the guy throwing in last weeks PBA event. Unfortunately I see a lot of that among this type of bowler.

I really like your comments about changing the balls surface and how to at least do a basic evaluation of your arsenal that's good stuff and something way to many bowlers don't do. I'm not sure that the bowler who is searching out websites about bowling and who truly want to learn are served by dumbing down the process to this extent as far as ball purchases go. I think maybe just a little more fleshing out the differences in selecting and drilling asymmetrical equipment vs. symmetrical and the different layouts with both could go along way to making the article more informative with out getting too far over a newbies head.

Attempting to simplify a process is a good goal to have but you have to be careful with simplification. Anytime you remove information and reduce choice you risk getting inferior results. The message has to be tailored to the intended recipient. For a beginner or once a week bowler I think you've hit a good starting point. For a more intermediate to higher end bowler I think this is overly simplistic and with this statement I'm not just talking average I know lots of guys that average 210+ that know nothing about balls, layouts, or how to adjust properly I know a few who average sub 200 that have a good understanding of those item bowling knowledge isn't the same thing as ability.

[billf]

bowling knowledge isn't the same thing as ability.

My new hero. This statement is one people just can't grasp.

[1VegasBowler]

A lot of this depends on the how educated the bowler is about balls, where to play on the lane, how to adjust, and bowling in general. I think for joe six pack bowler who throws once a week something like this could help them as long as they desire to have an improved ball reaction and not throw what hooks the most or what I seen the guy throwing in last weeks PBA event. Unfortunately I see a lot of that among this type of bowler.

I really like your comments about changing the balls surface and how to at least do a basic evaluation of your arsenal that's good stuff and something way to many bowlers don't do. I'm not sure that the bowler who is searching out websites about bowling and who truly want to learn are served by dumbing down the process to this extent as far as ball purchases go. I think maybe just a little more fleshing out the differences in selecting and drilling asymmetrical equipment vs. symmetrical and the different layouts with both could go along way to making the article more informative with out getting too far over a newbies head.

Attempting to simplify a process is a good goal to have but you have to be careful with simplification. Anytime you remove information and reduce choice you risk getting inferior results. The message has to be tailored to the intended recipient. For a beginner or once a week bowler I think you've hit a good starting point. For a more intermediate to higher end bowler I think this is overly simplistic and with this statement I'm not just talking average I know lots of guys that average 210+ that know nothing about balls, layouts, or how to adjust properly I know a few who average sub 200 that have a good understanding of those item bowling knowledge isn't the same thing as ability.

While I do think the article is pretty darn good, I couldn't have said the above better.

But we also have to remember something with surface changing.

While this is something everybody can do before competition, it is strictly prohibited during competition, and this is where different balls come in to play.

While we know, that, in the larger cities like Las Vegas, we have different lengths in the THS and every once in a while the oiling machines can make things different than what is supposed to be out there and it gets very squirrelly out there.

As a low speed, low rev bowler, I can start with an Ultimate Nirvana, but, I may have to change because it over reacts to the conditions. Since I can't change the surface, I have to go to another ball and I have 3 (soon to be 4) different choices. Either the Vandal, Thug Unruly or the Vintage Danger Zone. 3 different layouts with 3 different coverstocks. (Hoping to add the Fanatic BTU in the near future)

Some react with continuation, some react by being angular. And getting the right one isn't always easy due to how they react. Pin up or pin down has an effect as well.

Our PSO's have the biggest effects on the balls and how they will handle the lanes. They need to see their customer bowl so that they can help a bowler choose what is going to best fit their game, not the product line they lean heavy to. Because even though a bowler wants the Storm equipment, but the PSO is heavy to 900 Global, the better option might very well be Motiv.

[RobLV1]

Rob, am I understanding you correctly that you suggest the same layout for both core types?

There were some things I disagreed with but I took a step back and looked at it. I tend to coach high end competition bowlers more than typical league bowlers so their understanding has to be higher or they will fail. I also get why some of the ball info has to be "dumbed down" otherwise beginner to lower intermediate bowlers would only get confused and give up, generally speaking.

As to one layout for both symmetrical and asymmetrical cores, I would say yes in most cases. As most bowlers tend to avoid very strong pin to PAP distances anyway, most longer distances that weaken symmetrical cores don't really affect the flare potential of asymmetrical cores, so the difference in the reaction is pretty much what they expected anyway from the asymmetrical core. The article was written as an introduction for bowlers who know very little about modern bowling balls. Hopefully, once their interest is peaked they can pursue less generic information.