How to Properly Clean Your High Performance Bowling Ball

After throwing a few games with your bowling ball, you may notice it starts to react inconsistently, or maybe does not hook as much as the day you purchased your new bowling ball. The reason is that in order to maintain the most performance out of your high performance bowling ball, you must take care of it.

The first step in maintaining a high performance bowling ball is to know what type of bowling ball you have. Most high performance bowling balls today have an aggressive coverstock. It could be a hard plastic ball, a reactive resin ball, or a pearl coverstock. Each of these different types of coverstocks (outer core of the ball) have different characteristics that you will need to consider when cleaning your bowling ball. To maintain the highest performance of your bowling ball, you should clean the ball after every 6 - 9 games you have bowled with it (much less for a plastic spare ball).

When a bowling ball is thrown down the lane, the coverstock of the bowling ball actually absorb oil from the lane. Typically, a reactive resin coverstock will absorb oil faster than a pearl coverstock, and a plastic absorbs little or no oil as it is thrown down the lane. You can see this after throwing the ball by looking at the oil track that is left on your bowling ball. For the purpose of this article, I am going to focus on high performance bowling balls with pearl or reactive resin coverstocks. This oil is absorbed into the coverstock of the ball, which can actually affect the hook potential of the ball and could cause an inconsistent reaction. Properly cleaning your bowling ball will extend the life and help the ball maintain its highest performance potential.

To properly clean a bowling ball you will need either an oil-free terrycloth towel, or a 100% plush cotton towel. You will also need a good bowling ball cleaner. To clean the ball, you simply spray the ball with the cleaner and wipe in small circles, pressing down firmly, until the cleaner has dried. Repeat until you have cleaned the entire surface of the bowling ball.

After cleaning the ball, this will bring the ball much closer to the original state of the ball and possibly restore hook to the ball that you feel you have lost. Also, you can try different polishes and factory finishes which can alter the surface of the bowling ball, possibly giving you the better reaction you are looking for.

In closing, taking care of your bowling ball is as similar to taking care of your car. Your car has a maintenance schedule which the manufacturer recommends ensuring your vehicle lasts and runs at its optimal capabilities. This is no different in the sport of bowling. If you take care of your bowling balls, you will find they will last longer, and maintain that pin-destroying capability that it had the day you purchased it.

Why Do I Need So Many Bowling Balls In My Arsenal?

Probably the most common question I have been asked when talking about my bowling ball arsenal is why I need so many different bowling balls. The easiest way to answer this question is by firing a question back. Why do you need so many golf clubs? Why do you need different gears in your car? I could make quite an extensive list of questions that I consider relative, but for now let’s discuss the golf clubs. Obviously, you need different golf clubs to hit different distances and trajectories to give yourself the best opportunity to achieve a good score. With the gears in your car, you need multiple gears so you can safely drive at high speeds without your engine over-revving, and you save gasoline. For the same reason, I need multiple bowling balls. For one thing, when I am throwing at a spare, I do not want my bowling ball to hook, so I have a plastic bowling ball. Also, depending on what lane condition I am bowling on, I may need a bowling ball made for a high oil volume, a low oil volume, a long pattern, or a short pattern. Therefore, I have multiple bowling balls to tackle all these different “conditions”. The next time someone asks you why you have so many bowling balls, you have two options. The first would be to explain to them how the lane conditions can change. The second would be to give them a smart a** response and ask them why they need different golf clubs!

Bowling’s Official Website Has Changed

Bowling’s Official Website Has Changed

And Boy, has it changed dramatically! At first, I was a little skeptical, as most people fear change. But after cruising around the site for a while, I must say it grew on me. The new layout is awesome, not too mention the ease of looking up my bowling league recap sheet is a few less steps. And there is a really cool forum that you can sign up for and find out all about bowling tournaments domestic and international. You can even post to the forum yourself anything that they deem appropriate. I must say despite my usual fear of change, this was change for the better. If you have not seen Bowling’s new official website, you must check it out:

Bowl.com

Feel free to disagree with me and leave comments of what yo do not like about the site. I love constructive criticism.

Why Has Renting Bowling Shoes Gotten So Expensive?

I was in my home bowling alley the other day, and I took a glimpse up at the pricing board and I was shocked. I tried to pretend I was a normal, non league bowler, and I wanted to bowl a few games of open bowling. Would I be willing to spend 20 dollars just to rent a pair of shoes, bowl 2 or 3 games, and maybe drink a beer? Aboslutely not. Bowling has gotten very expensive. I saw that it was now 4 dollars to rent a pair of bowling shoes. You can buy a pair of bowling shoes for 20 bucks. If you do not believe me, click on the banner above and take a look. If you can get a pair of bowling shoes for 20 bucks, they have paid for themselves in 5 trips to the bowling alley! If promoting the sport and increasing league participation is the goal of the bowling world, they are not showing it by charging you so much money just to rent a pair of dirty, uncomfortable bowling shoes. Let's all ban together and buy your own shoes and making renting bowling shoes a thing of the past!

Product Registration for the PBA: Don't Wear Dynaroo Bowling Shoes!

Before you go into your first PBA tournament, keep one thing in mind. The PBA has a Product Registration Program now in effect that may or may not make your bowling shoes, bowling balls, or other bowling accessories illegal for use in competition. If you plan on bowling in your first PBA tournament, you better check out this webpage before you show up to bowl:

Product Registration for the PBA

Now before you start your panicking, most everything that you have is probably ok. If you have an older bowling ball you may want to use that was made before 1982, it can be used whether or not it is specifically listed on this page if the bowling manufacturer is currently product registered. One of the biggest issues I have seen in PBA tournaments is people trying to wear DynaRoo bowling shoes. These bowling shoes are not product registered for use in PBA competition. Also, you cannot tape over the logo and think this makes them ok to wear. If the tournament director finds out you are using no registered equipment, you will be asked to leave without a reimbursement of your entry fee, so make sure you check this site out and everything you want to use is ok.