Hello all, new to the forum, but visit the site whenever I try to purchase a new ball to see how the balls are shaping up...
I am thinking of rebuilding my arsenal, and unfortunately, I have never really been able to read the various ball specs (RG etc) and get a general idea of what a ball is supposed to do. I was hoping to get an insight into the current product line to see what I should look into purchasing. I apologize for the length of the post, but I figured more information about my game/history will make up for my lack of ball physics knowledge (I still have intentions of taking a workshop on this...just have to find one).
I don't know my exact layouts, such as where my PAP is, but I can say that I am what some people have called a power-tweener/stroker type player with medium-high speed and revs. I typically average between 210-220, but of course have ups and downs. I typically start out standing around 25-30 and playing 16-14 out to about 6-8, and migrating left and opening up the lane from there. My travel schedule with work has unfortunately limited my bowling to the Friday night "fun" league for the last couple years, which most of the times isn't very fun for me because there is no money and not much competition in the league. I truly believe this has caused my average to drop 5-10 pins, as I just sometimes can't get "into it" some weeks.
I currently have a Mission, NVD, Evolve, and a Tornado. The NVD is my go-to ball these days, as the house I mainly bowl at has apparently taken the middle of the lane out of play this year; playing in leads to early hook, but squaring up and moving right is not the correct line for my Mission (I run into some psuedo-wet/dry for some reason). The Mission just doesn't seem to be able to push through the lighter amount of oil they are laying down in the middle this year... Switching back to the NVD has seemed to be the correct choice as it plays this line much better. My Evolve seems to be dead for some reason, as I have a hard time getting it to turn over anymore, and if it does, it's weak-10 all night. I do manage my own surfaces with my personal ball spinner, so maybe I screwed this one up somehow, though I don't have this problem with the rest of my equipment. I haven't thrown it in about a year, so maybe I should take it out once to see what it does.
So, now to the arsenal rebuilding. Unfortunately, during last week's league session, something in the pit/ball return put 3 sizable gashes in my NVD, one of which is in the middle of the ball's track. I have left it with the pro-shop to see if it can be recovered, but I am afraid that the cuts are so deep that enough surface of the ball will have to be taken off that the label/serial number not be there anymore. If this is the case, I am thinking of buying a ball or two to replace the NVD/Evolve/Tornado portion of my arsenal. I don't opportunities to bowl on any PBA/Sport patterns, so I think my Mission will be adequate for my most aggressive ball at this point. I've been trying to decide between the Game On/Game Plan/Curve Ball/Hard Ball combinations. I would probably want to purchase two balls, one layed out to hopefully replace the NVD as my go-to/medium strength ball and another layed out for dryer lanes. I can provide more detail about my current layouts if that will help any of you suggest proper options, but I am currently travelling and won't be able to provide more info until middle/end of the week.
I greatly appreciate any of you that have read this far and thank you in advance for any advice you can provide!
Best regards,
Charles M.
West Palm Beach, FL.
