While open bowling with fellow league friends tonight, I cleaned my ball with some Storm Reacta-Clean (an ABC approved cleaner) between the 1st and 2nd games.  One of my friends mentioned that if we were bowling in a league match or in a tournament, that it would be illegal to clean my ball, because by doing so I was altering the surface.  I thought that cleaning was okay since I was using an approved cleaner, and using it between games and not during, and did not really think this was altering the surface, like scuffing or polishing would be.  I compared it to wiping the oil off your ball after each shot with a towel, but my friend seemed pretty confident and has bowled for quite a while.  Anyway, since I'm not really sure who's right, and I need to know before it potentially causes me a problem sometime, I thought I'd check with the resident experts here at Ball Reviews.  What do the rules say?

Your friend is way off-base.  There are a lot of people who think the rule says you can't touch the surface of the ball in any way during competition, but they're all wrong.

If you look at the list of products that are acceptable for use during competition, it's pretty clear that you are allowed to remove dirt and oil, and you are also allowed to polish the ball (with one of the approved polishes, of course).  What you are not allowed to do is sand or scuff the ball in any way.

Less surface is okay, more surface is not okay.

This makes no sense, of course, which is one of the reasons the ABC loses more and more respect each year.  Perhaps the new USBC will do something different, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
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seadrive
Cogito ergo bowl