Gold Coach and Bowler Development Lead at Bowlersmart Richard Shockley and Silver Level Coach Dan Triske explain how to apply different grit abralon pads to a bowling ball and demonstrate how it affects the bowling ball on the lane.

Abralon pads, Mirka pads and TruCut sanding pads are used to adjust the bowling ball’s surface. The lower-grit sanding pad, the earlier the ball hooks down lane. Conversely, the higher the number sanding pad the later the bowling ball hooks down lane.

Polish
We took a bowling ball with a shiny finish and threw it down lane. It hit the 13 at the arrows and 7 board down lane at the breakpoint and the result was a strike.

1000-Grit Sanding Pad
Using the same bowling ball, we applied a 1000 grit abralon pad to the surface of the bowling ball. The result was a 4-9 split. That’s ok. The purpose of this demonstration is to show that the bowling ball hits the same place at the arrows, 13, and that the breakpoint changes from the 7 board to 9 board.
You’ll also notice that the bowling ball begins hooking earlier down lane than the polish. This demonstration shows that by changing the surface of the bowling ball, you can change ball reaction to better match up to the lane condition you are competing on.