Help! Ball recommendations requested.

[Jeeter]

Hi, thanks for taking the time to read (an reply; if worthy).Please bear with me I am new to this bowling language and am need of help.

I am looking for ball recommendations. I have been looking at ball specifications and reading ball reviews and posts to others and I am getting more confused than ever!

I am a left handed moderate speed(?)(15-16mph)low rev stroker that starts at the 23-25 and aims at the 8 to the 12 board (depending on the house ball and lane condition) and still frequently hitting on the Brooklyn side. The ball behaves more in a steady curve as opposed to an abrupt hook. I have been told that my approach is very consistent.

I am looking to purchase my first ball. It will be my only ball for awhile so I want it to cover as much lane variation as reasonably possible. I bowl in a "fun" recreational league and have been invited to play in a work league as well. As best as I can tell the lanes start (at worst)medium to medium heavy and breaks down from there (never to a bone dry {torched or toasted?} as I read here... there is always an oil track left on the ball... even at the end of league).

I am not concerned with cost. I would rather spend more on one good single ball that will cover the majority of my situations than have multiple balls for different conditions (I have $150+- for one good ball; as opposed to $250 for a couple of Mediocre balls). Nor do I have any brand preferences. I want to buy the best ball that will fit my style and give me a little growing room. I am currently averaging a 134 but will throw better than 170 30 to 40 percent of the time. If I can have my own ball and eliminate that variable of which house ball I am using; I think I can improve my average.

Talking to the pro at one of the local lanes (the only serious pro shop here in town) he is recommending Storm's HotWire. But looking at Storm's statistics I am concerned with the apparent oil demand. Is this going to be too much when the lanes start to dry up? A friend of mine just bought a Storm power Charge and its stats seem to cover a little broader cross section.

Can anybody help clear the air? If you could only buy one ball for all your bowling needs; what would it be?

Thank you so much for any light you can shed.

(I am not sure this is the appropriate forum for this post so I am duplicating it in the General Bowling forum. If you respond here please don't waste your time responding a second time there. Thank you again so much!)

[billy brown]

i'd get a good pearlized ball. An Ebonite Savage Pearl, a Hammer Blade Pearl or Storm Power Charge Pearl should work as good all around balls. They tend to allow you to play the same line to the pocket longer as they inherrantly react later. That said if it is too oily for the ball you would either see no reaction or the ball would hit the pocket and leave a corner pin. Starting out I think it can be better to work with equipment that is weaker than the paarticles, and solids. A  little stronger ball that may not handle a bit dryer than light oil lanes would be the Roto Grip Silver Streak Solid. Good luck.

[agroves]

I agree....
--------------------
FUFU
HIT 'EM WEAK AND WATCH 'EM FREAK

[Jeeter]

Thanks to each of you who took the time to respond. I really appreciate your input and I will examine these options more closely. For those of you who suggested the possibility of purchasing a couple of used balls here first to see what might work better for me; I have another stupid question if you will tolerate it. Can a ball be redrilled to fit my hand? And, assuming the answer is yes, how do they do it? Does it affect the performance of the ball?

Thanks again! Your help is greatly appreciated.

Jeeter