As far as my personal experience goes:
For symmetric cores,
the more speed dominant you are, the less difference it will make in the ball reaction.
The more rev dominant you are, the more difference it will make, maybe to the point where it will just barely be observable.

For asymmetric cored balls,
The same is true, except for rev dominant bowlers, side/top weights seem to make even less difference, even for rev dominant bowlers.

Food for thought.....what will be the actual affects if the weight is flipped every half rotation? If you have 2ozs top weight or bottom as soon as it leaves your hand it has already changed. For some before touching the lane for others just after touching the lane.


Would it matter either or

It's not about the offset weight "flipping" every half turn and becoming "bottom weight", but more about the fact that the weight block of the ball is more offset towards the cover of the ball, thus creating instability as it spins. It's similar to the difference of something being high Rg or low Rg.

Hey Outlaw, USBC allows up to 3 oz. top or bottom weight.

Balance. For balls weighing more than 10.00 pounds (all measurements are to be taken with respect to the center of grip):
a. No more than 3 ounces of top/bottom weight
b. No more than 1 ounce of left/right side weight
c. No more than 1 ounce finger/thumb weight
d. A ball used without any holes or indentations may not have more than one ounce
difference between any two halves of the ball.

I just got a ball from ebay and got a decent deal, but didnt see what the top weight was on it before i bid, my bad. but here's the situation. It is a blem but also saw on the tag had 5.39top. I only thought it was a color blem but then saw the tag. With a ball with that much top weight, am i subject to a certain drilling to take out enough top weight to make legal. Any info will help.

I was just going to do label or stack below ring since its a 2-2.5 pin. So if need be, where would i drill the extra hole, in the CG or middle of my span. Ive seen that done before.

The offset is what Kid posted...for every 1oz top or 1" pin 'out its roughly 1/32" shift from true center of the mass

I just got a ball from ebay and got a decent deal, but didnt see what the top weight was on it before i bid, my bad. but here's the situation. It is a blem but also saw on the tag had 5.39top. I only thought it was a color blem but then saw the tag. With a ball with that much top weight, am i subject to a certain drilling to take out enough top weight to make legal. Any info will help.

The first thing to do is to check the cg location and top weight on a dodo scale.  If these are correct and you don't want to use a balance hole, you're going to have to keep the cg fairly close to grip center, say within 1/2", and drill the gripping holes extra deep.  Using a balance hole will give you a little more flexibility but you'll still have to stay within about 1" of grip center.  After the layout is set be sure the driller checks the static weights before drilling and uses them to determine hole depths, balance hole location, etc.  --  JohnP