Dry-Medium Balls

[Coorslghtman1025]

What are the best balls to use for House Oil?

[J Anderson]

What are the best balls to use for House Oil?

I know we all tend to talk about the ‘typical house shot’, to the point that we either say “THS” or house shot, but there is no precise standar for a house shot. Even a big chain like Bowlmor doesn’t use the same pattern in every center. What is going to be the best ball for a given bowling center will depend on the type of oil used, the specific pattern and the person throwing the ball. Clearly there is no way to give you a useful answer without a lot more information.

[RobLV1]

The only thing "typical" about a house shot is that there is more oil in the middle than there is on the outside. Other than than, volumes vary and lengths vary, and types of oil vary... what John said.

[ChuckR]

I bowl in Las Vegas at 2 casinos. Red Rock likes the Tyrant and Gold Coast likes my Tenacity. Based on the weather here Red Rock dries out quicker than Gold Coast and I drop to an UpRoar. There is NO Typical house shot as RobLV1 pointed out. You just have to learn to adjust which can be a pain when you just want to have fun.

[ALazySavage]

The only advice I can really provide to this question is hopefully there is a good pro shop near you that can watch you bowl and knows the house/condition that you are bowling on. Just a few major considerations about the house that will have to be taken into consideration: what "oil pattern" is their house shot (specifically the volume and length), what surface are your lanes, do they strip and oil or put down a fill shot. If you are convinced that the shot is the dry/medium condition you could look at that section on bowlingball.com and see if that does anything for you (just be wary that those are very general suggestions). A better discussion would be your arsenal, if you don't have any bowling balls yet you would want something in the mid-range performance staying away from the extremes.

[TTREX]

Having no clue about your game meaning how you bowl, your release, axis tilt, pap, rev rate, ball speed....All I can recommend would be a Urethane bowling ball such as the Roto Grip Hot Cell, or a Storm Pitch Black, or a Hammer black widow urethane. On medium to dry these should all work well as long as you know how to adjust as needed to get the reaction you are looking for. Don't be afraid to adjust the surface of the ball with an abralon pad or scotch brite pad....meaning try the ball with out of box surface first. Then if the ball does not hook enough dull the surface down with a grey or burgundy scotch brite pad a little at a time until the ball gives you the motion you are looking for. Or if out of box surface the ball hooks too much or too soon then try some extender polish on it. You must not only adjust your feet/target/revs/hand position/ball speed... but you must also adjust the cover of the ball to match up with the lane condition. This means that even if you take the urethane ball all the way down to 360 grit dull if it still does not hook enough then you must use a reactive ball and do the same thing no matter if it is a solid, or hybrid, or pearl....you must adjust the surface of the ball to match how you release the ball and to match the lane condition/conditions. So if you are building an arsenal for example you need balls for heavy/medium/light, and dry lanes with surfaces that allow you to use each ball under the condition it was designed for. Once you get use to doing this then you will find what works for you and what does not on any lane condition. Some conditions will dictate you need a shiny pearl, or maybe a dull solid...etc.. Never be afraid to experiment to find what works best for you. Some times the oil pattern will require you to use a plastic ball.

[ALazySavage]

Not to be a pain but I would pretty much put urethane as the last ball I would ever recommend in this situation. There are so many factors that could take urethane out of play and since we don't know much, if anything, about this bowler's game I just don't see it. Essentially with urethane if this bowler doesn't have significant ball speed or encounter low volume heads they are going to get bad ball reaction since the tendency is for these balls to roll early and blend (not ideal for house shot conditions and high flaring cores are just going to accentuate this).

[mc_runner]

Not to be a pain but I would pretty much put urethane as the last ball I would ever recommend in this situation. There are so many factors that could take urethane out of play and since we don't know much, if anything, about this bowler's game I just don't see it. Essentially with urethane if this bowler doesn't have significant ball speed or encounter low volume heads they are going to get bad ball reaction since the tendency is for these balls to roll early and blend (not ideal for house shot conditions and high flaring cores are just going to accentuate this).

I agree, rolling up early isn't an ideal situation for dry-ish lanes. There's a misconception that urethane is good for dry lanes, really it just doesn't overreact - but it's a recipe for poor carry. Everyone's right about needing more info though!

[RobLV1]

Urethane is only a good suggestion when the bowler has lots of ball speed. For slower speeds, it's a total bust!

[Coorslghtman1025]

Thanks for the info. I do not hook the ball and my average is only 130. I was looking at Brunswick or DV8 balls. Any suggestions?