My ball broke and I need help picking a new one.

[JamesCube]

Last year, my mom bought an old  16lb. Columbia 300 at the local Salvation Army for me to try instead of the house balls I'd always used before. (This was before I was serious about bowling.)  

The ball cost me $3 and I really liked using it, but it was just plastic making it very hard to hook and it recently started getting very brittle around the finger holes, chipping away a little.  I took it to a local alley and had them plug and drill it for me and put in new grips.  The day after I got it back, I tried it out and the thumb hole got a huge chip under it!  Plus the guy put in full fingertip grips when I am used to (and want to keep using) partial tips.

All these factors led me to this site where I wanted to look into what balls were good before visiting my local pro shop but the site has a TON of reviews(not a bad thing) and it's kind of hard to narrow down the search.  So I'm looking for help from anyone around here...

I want a 15 or 16 pound reactive ball since where I bowl in a league uses medium -heavy oil and the lanes aren't synthetic.  I have an average in the 160s but am starting to commonly get 200s and series' in the mid 500s.  Suggestions?

[brimar]

why dont you try the entry level reactives? all the companies make them and if you read the reviews  on alot of them they will hook.
Brunswick makes the groove series
storm the hit and big hits
ebonite i think makes stingers or tornadoes
columbia makes scouts

the price is nice and you can you use it ill your ready to move up
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Thanks for reading my post.

Brian

[Soonermike]

The only suggestion that I have is to not go with a "top of the line reactive/particle ball."  There are great medium priced balls out there. For example the Flash series from Storm or the Blade balls from Hammer.  These are good balls for a decent price and not too expert oriented.

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SoonerMike

[1fife]

blades are good-as would any lower end mid priced ball would be

but

original spirit is a great ball for the price. Maybe(pro shop) they still has  one

[omegabowler]

get yourself a plastic ball for spares and a tornado and for 150.00 and some practice you can easily ave 180.
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"deserves got nothing to do with it."
-- William Munny

[LuckyLefty]

I am much more inclined to say go with some medium low rg ball in Solid.

This means about 2.55 or lower.

These balls will start earlier in the lane than the Tornado's(which I love buy the way for short oil patterns!).

Balls available right now which are great!!! And also moderately cheap.
AMF Ti Hawk, Time Zone by Brunswick, Monster Smash/r (very controllable),  Messenger Ti Traction, Silver Streak from Roto Grip, Super Charge from Storm.  

All these balls are in general earlier than the Tornadoes and thus good for heavier oiled wood.  

They will cover a lot of conditions.

From medium light to medium heavy oil.

A bowler can actually bowl with one of these medium condition balls only and if bowling on mostly mediums average over 200 if a good sparemaker and have nothing else.

I've know guys who have done it!   And then some(the guy used a Ti Messenger only for about 3 years.  I think he composited near 220.

REgards,

Luckylefty

[jimensminger]

I suggest either a Black Vendetta of the Vendetta Particle,by DynoThane....best bang for the buck on the market...good bowling
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jimensminger D/T BallStaff

[no1bucsfan]

The groove series is really good. A friend of mine is trying to learn to throw a hook and the ball works great for him whether he hooks it or throws it straight. Great hit and decent carry. Plus one of the most affordable ball lines out there.
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You can always hit em hard when you've got the balls

Lefties are the only people in their right minds.

no1bucsfan

[Doug Sterner]

I deal a lot with entry level bowlers and here's what I have seen the most success with:

Storm Eraser, Hot Wire, Ultra Hot
Track VooDoo, Mojo
Columbia Ti Messenger
Brunswick Danger Zone, Monster Frenzy Bruiser
Ebonite Stinger, V-2, Savage
Visionary Green Gargoyle, Executioner

If you are not opposed to trying a used ball, check out my used page and see if anything there is of interest to you. I have a lot of stuff right now in nice condition pretty cheap.

www.dougsproshop.net/usedballs.html

Drop me a mess or email and let me know if you find anything!
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Doug Sterner
Doug's Pro Shop
Owego, NY
http://dougsproshop@aol.com
www.dougsproshop.net
The Cherry is the Bomb
but the Nugget is Golden!!!
Now accepting VISA/MC and Discover for your purchases

[JamesCube]

Thanks for all the suggestions everybody, I visited my local pro shop last week and they watched me bowl and asked me all kinds of questions and I ended up getting a Hammer Sling Blade.  

So far I like the ball, but haven't had a chance to use it much.  I was a bit inconsistent in my first league with it (scores ranging from a 189 all the way down to a 121....awful, I know) so I'm looking to get in some more practice with it.