BallReviews
General Category => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: trash heap on April 01, 2013, 01:31:41 PM
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There is a bowler today with talent to compete at the pro ranks. How many bowling balls are required by that person to purchase in order for he/she to compete and be successful on the pro tour? 8, 9, 10, 15, or 20 plus?
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Really hard number to estimate. I've heard that the guys on tour carry around 25-30 balls apiece. But you'll also see some guys throwing the same balls on different shots on tv. I'd say 10-15 would be a good place to start to give yourself the absolute best shot to compete, but I'd think you could work with 5-10
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Much depends on what one views as their definition of "compete" and "be successful." At that level, I would put those terms in the context of making more money in the way of income than is being spent on expenses...and the relationship one has with their equipment becomes far more critical.
I had regional events where I was in the building with a total of eight balls and I had national events where I travelled with close to 20...and in each instance, I could tell you the relationship between each piece of equipment so that a change in the middle of a game didn't cost me multiple frames trying to get dialed in.
However, the more you have at an event, the more critical the practice blocks became, as did the winnowing-out process so you knew what to take back to the car/truck compared to what was able to be kept in the paddock (since there was often a limit on what could be in the building outside of the practice block).
There are also going to be those who are in a position to drill up new stuff every week. Not everyone can afford that since many were going out of their own pockets. Which brings it back to knowing your equipment...if you don't know your equipment and you cannot pull any ball out and be lined up on the first-shot, it doesn't matter if you only had three balls or if you had 20 to choose from. But when your livelihood depends on the equipment, you want to be in a position to maximize the prospects of success, and with bowling, that can mean more is better even if only a few actually see action in a given tournament...
And FWIW, I still own most of what I ever acquired, even going back to the late 80's when I first started competing in tournaments...and I have some of my Roto gear that STILL has fewer than 20 games on it even though I carried it for a few years of regional and national competition.
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I think to be successful on the regional level they will need at least 12. If they want to take it really serious they will need at least 18 with 20+ being completely reasonable.
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6 at the most. Surface being one of the biggest factors. You know the patterns for the tournament in advance so making sure you have a good arsenal for that condition shouldn't be too hard. Many bowling balls can be used on several different conditions with the adjustments being to ball surface.
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Trying to bowl and be competitive on the PBA Tour with 6 balls would be like someone getting their PGA Tour card and thinking they could compete with Tiger with 6 clubs.
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Trying to bowl and be competitive on the PBA Tour with 6 balls would be like someone getting their PGA Tour card and thinking they could compete with Tiger with 6 clubs.
+1
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michelle nailed it. Having a good knowledge of your equipment and its relationship between each ball is most important. But walking in with access to 20+ bowling balls still does not guarantee success. Each ball must have a purpose and that purpose must be known in detail for it to even be considered an option for play. And this is where the practice session comes in to play. Gaining confidence in your ball progression for that tournament along with any possible deviations that may occur.
For me, I will always go to tournaments knowing I may have to get one or two new pieces if I want to be successful. Don't always need to, but I also don't try to force a square peg through a round hole.
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Others have said it, but I will reiterate it, the actual # isn't the answer, it's knowing how they fit into your game and the differences between those balls. You need a progression of equipment and drillings from a piece designed to hook early to ones with more midlane, to ones with extreme length skid/flip. You should know how each ball relates to the others no matter what the surface. When bowling professionally, 2-3 pins can mean the difference between cashing and not cashing, between making match play or not, between making the TV show or not, so you can't take a couple or even 1 frame to get lined up after a ball change.
Taking that into account, and thinkign about the different patterns in the PBA today (not including the new animal patterns for the Summer Series, which I don't think are released yet), I would think you would need probably 10-15 balls to cover everything, making surface changes as needed.
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Maybe I wasn't clear enough.
My initial statement
"There is a bowler today with talent to compete at the pro ranks".
I guess I left it open ended. By using the word "talent", I meant the person has everything in check. He/She has excellent knowledge in equipment, layouts, can score very well on the PBA Patterns, Handles the transition well. Of course there is always a learning curve, but I was trying to state this person is at the pro level. Basically a highly talented nationally unkown bowler ready to play pro.
So someone competing at the pro level needs to have 20 some bowling balls. That is a lot of money. That's alot weight in a vehicle, and I am sure shipping them across the country isn't cheap either.
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There aren't too many guys with tour level talent that pay for equipment.
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Trying to bowl and be competitive on the PBA Tour with 6 balls would be like someone getting their PGA Tour card and thinking they could compete with Tiger with 6 clubs.
How many bowling balls do you need to compete on the Cheetah pattern?
How many for the Viper pattern?
Ect ect.
No doubt bowlers that go and compete like many on here have a ton of bowling balls acquired through the year(s) but how many do they actually use during a given event? At any number the answer is literally a guess, but if you ask many bowlers during the course of an event how many bowling balls they use the number is likely lower then you expect. You can have 20, but you can only throw one at a time.
If you know your going to bowl on a Viper pattern you can eliminate several bowling balls before ever stepping into the center. You can still take them just in case but your odds of needing them are not likely. If you plan 6, 8, or 10, balls per tournament based on the tournament shot, then adjust surface for the next tournament as needed how many bowling balls are you going to really need? Not that many.
Bowlers and bowling companies make you think you got to have a ball for every move you make on the lane, but it isn't the case. Bowling balls are very adaptable to many conditions, bowlers brains aren't so much.
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If you travel with 20 you can probably narrow it down to 8 or so to practice with. Once practice is over you're probably down to less than 3 or 4 that will actually be usable. Then you're probably headed to the truck to drill a couple more. That's just the reality of how it works. Then there's the guys that want a fresh cover every chance they get.
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I do understand where you are coming from kidlost, but I think at "successful" the pro level, you can't assume 6-10 balls drilled/adjusted for Cheetah will automatically work on Shark with a simple surface change.
Just to point out, Jeff Carter lists 50 bowling balls on his website as his "arsenal" (a little outdated since he is retired). I'm sure he didn't take all 50 to each tournament. But I'm pretty sure he didn't use only 10 of them for ALL tournaments.
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Surface is one of the biggest factors in what the bowling ball will do. I've seen and used to be one that was hung up on a drilling that will work magic on this condition or that when used with the right bowling ball.
It isn't that nearly as much as it is the bowling ball and the bowling ball coverstock. Todays bowling balls our literally idiot drill proof.(almost lol) Demo days is a great example, granted normally on a THS, have you ever noticed how great a bowling ball rolls for so many bowlers when tested at a demo day event where the ball is not specifially drilled for one specific person?
Simple question just for fun. Do you think the reaction difference in a bowling ball for a given bowler with a pin 3" from the pap versus 5" from their pap will have a big difference on the lane?
What about moving the MB instead, say near the thumb versus near the players track?
(All bowling balls above would use the same layout specs, only with a different pin to pap in the first example, or a different mb angle in the second, all other information would remain the same.)
Many people do when laying out a bowling ball, or having multiple bowling balls for a given condition.
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You can't compare a demo day to somebody that can repeat shots like the guys on tour. For the guys on tour there is a HUGE difference from a 3 to 5 inch pin. For most at a demo day, not so much.
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Depends on the bowler.
There are bowlers who are versatile enough with their physical games that they could probably do well with a handful of balls.
There are bowlers who are not and would need a much larger arsenal.
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Ok so lets see what happens when we use a pros ability to repeat shots option with the blue print software.
The first picture is a overlap of a 3" 4" 5" and 6" pin ball. The ball is drill 30x 3, 4, 5, 6, x70 in the example.
The second picture is the same bowler abilities but with the MB near the thumb and then away from the thumb. 30 x 5 x 75 and 70 x 5 x 75.
Doesn't show much of a difference. The biggest difference on the lane in ball reaction comes when you change the bowling balls surface.
After recently testing the Reax I can safely say at box finish the ball is that of a super hooking beast that needs a lot of oil. It started reading the lanes early, and kept hooking. By simply burning some polish into the ball I got a ball that was much much longer and much sharper down lane. No drill pattern can duplicate that because the surface will not allow it. The ball polished versus the non polished version could easily be marketed as two different balls because of the difference in reactions. One is a super soaker, the other now a skid/flip monster.
When using the blue print software you can play with different surfaces including polished to get the biggest difference in reactions.
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You need to up the rev rate. Not too many play that straight on tour anymore.
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The rev rate is 325, or 350 I cant remember which at 16.5 mph. It can be 500, it wont change the difference from one ball to the next when graphed.
They overlap that much for a reason. The difference is minimal.
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The difference is minimal in overall reaction, but not in getting the 10 out. The key on tour is how your ball goes through the pins.
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Yeap. Adjustments is the key.