Had started a thread where the original post described why I was going to add grips to all my equipment (after having removed them 5-6 years ago), and then relatively quickly grew tired of the increased mistakes that came along with the higher scores, and switched back to no-grips, and posted about that. Since them, I have left a few balls with grips, but most do not have them. And every time I bowl, I am comparing the balls with grips t those without. ---  I even isolated that with very aggresive balls, the grips are a detriment, but in the shinier or weaker surfaced balls, they can still be a plus.

 

But it seems like each night I test the results of the gripped vs the non-gripped balls against each other,  I get different results.

 

So...  is there any place or article or web site or something with an objective comparison of the gripped and un-gripped equipment?  I am driving myself nutz, here, trying to establish once and for all whether I'm better off one way or the other.

 

I value the opinions of posters to this forum, but so far the responses to my other posting (including even my own!) seemed to be more proclamations of peoples current preferences than an analytical explanation of what to expect from either style.  What type of bowler would benefit more from using or not using the grips, etc. etc..

 

 

 

 

I agree that part of the difference between grips and not will always involve personal preference, but even that  would be the result of some scientific or tangible difference between the two styles. You even eluded to it in explaining the slightly different way the fingers would be placed in the holes depending on whether grips were included or not.

 

Tonight I used both (grips and no grip balls, and think I MIGHT have gotten a little closer to determining why I have success in certain situations with the grips, and then on another night, am more comfortable without them.  It seems that when I have the inserts/grips, that I am able to keep my fingers in the ball a tad longer, which produces a bit more lift and rotation. 

 

That would be a good thing (at least for someone like myself who is more speed than rotation dominant) in MOST conditions, but I discovered that when the lanes are drier, or have stronger backends, that this causes me to be more erratic.  2 or 3 ---or 4--- beautiful shots to the pocket and lots of pin action and carry. And then, the next shot is held for a second too long, or thrown a shade slower, or ....or something, and ends up WAY off target.  With the inserts/grips, I tend to be more consistent, with the main problem being that the ball sometimes leaves my hand before I have had a chance to put some rotation and lift on it.

 

Tonight, I had some success AND failure with both gripped and un-gripped balls, but what I finally think I have found is that I just need to wait a second or so longer before starting to lift/rotate the ball when not using grips. As long as I force myself to wait, I deliver a nice consistent, predictable and reliable shot to the pocket. If I start turning or lifting too soon, the ball either hits the pocket but hits flat, or just  goes off target, cause I didn't hang onto it long enough. With the grips? I get better pin action and apparent carry, and can frequently string together a bunch of strikes without having to be that precise in my deliveries, but can also easily roll a completely awful shot at anytime ----just by hanging on to the ball a second too long.

 

Anyway... tomorrow, am going to stay with no-grips and try to force myself to delay the turn/lift part of my delivery for a second or so, and see if I can get something going.

 

In short...  I seem to be able to string strikes together more often with the grips, but without them, I seem to have an easier time keeping a string of strikes going once started.