Bowling, the quest to becoming a better bowler

One of the things that has helped my game is having the right bowling ball for the right lane condition. I carry with me six bowling balls. You need balls for heavy oil, medium to light oi;, and dry conditions. I use matte finish balls for heavy oil to medium oil. Matte finish gives you traction so the ball will hook and drive through the pocket. When the lanes start to break down then a ball with some kind of polish on it is in order. when the lanes go dry then I love to use a ball with a pearlized cover stock. The balls in my arsenal are:

Storms Reign of fire for heavy oil
storms Anarchy for medium to light oil
global 900 bank pearl For light to dry conditions
storm Ice For spare shots
Roto grip Mutant cell medium to light oil
Storm Tropical Storm for dry conditions

The first three are my favorites. The reign of fire is great in heavy oil conditions but as soon as the lanes start to breakdown it gets too jumpy. So I will then switch to the anarchy. Great ball with teriffic carry, but watch as the lanes continue to break down the ball will then flip too much in the backend leaving splits on pocket hits. Thats when I swith to the global 900 pearl. This ball loves the drier conditions!

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The way your ball is drilled effects the way it will roll down the lane. Most beginning bowlers use whats called a conventional grip. This is when your ring and middle fingers are inserted down to the second knuckle. With this grip it is difficult to impart a hook or a curve. That is because the fingers are not spread very far apart from the thumb so you can't come round the ball to impart the hook. The ball tends to go straight which is good for spares but doesn't provide much punch for carrying strikes.

More advanced bowlers use the finger tip pattern. The fingers are inserted to the first knuckle. Because the fingers are further away from the thumb you come around the ball more giving the ball more rotation causing a hook. A hook ball goes into the pocket at more of an angle giving you more carry for strikes. If you are currently using conventional grip I would strongly encourage you to go to the fingertip. Younwill deffinetly see a big improvement in your scores.

If your an older person who has pain in your fingers you can use the sarge easter grip. They drill an extra hole in the ball for your pinky. This helps to distribute the weight of your ball across more of your hand. Some people also use this grip if they want to reduce the revolutions on the ball.

There are more ways to drill a bay but these are the most common. Talk to your pro shop operator as to which grip is best for you.

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Improve your game by using targets on the lane. It is a lot easier to hit a target that is 15 feet away versus 60 feet. For your strike ball most people use th 2nd arrow from the right (right handed bowler) also known as the track. Stand on the center dot on the approach you through at the second target to hit the 1-3 pocket. Depending on conditions you may have to stand in a different place and through at the same target to get the ball to to pocket. Generally if the lane are oily you move right and dry you move left while maintaining the same mark. A rule of thumb would be to move in the same direction that you missed.

Lets face it, you spent a lot of money on bowling balls. You need to maintain them to get maximum life out of them. Bowling balls absorb oil from the lanes. matte finish balls soak up the most. As time goes by the ball is loaded with oil, it now looks shiny and has lost most of its hook. Over time the ball can actually weigh more because of it.

To help prevent this or at least slow the process down is to clean your ball after every session. There are many cleaners available on the market today. I use spray on cleaners that dont alter the surface just remove oil. Spray the ball well and then wipe it down with a micro fiber towell to get as much oil out as possible. On my dull balls I use a Dull cleaner which I wipe on with a towell and then wipe down with a micro fiber towell again.

Have your pro shop clean your ball every 20 games to help prolong the life of it. You should also have your proshop re-surface the ball after every 60 games.

If your ball is oil; soaked you may have to take more drastic measures. Some pro shops have special ovens to extract the oil from your ball. Check it out with your pro shop.

I will update this every week with tips and resources to help improve your game. This lens will be more geared toward beginner to intermediate bowlers looking to improve their game.