my view on this subject had always been that the position of the cg made little difference since the surface of the ball makes the majority of the difference when it comes to ball reaction. the placement of the pin would make the biggest difference as far as the drilling pattern goes.
on 2/12/05 i had my biggest night of bowling----a monster 847 series with games of 289-289-269. my choice of weapon that night was a brunswick zone classic. this ball was appx. 7 months old and had been resurfaced with a haus machine and run through the rejuvenator the day before. the coverstock was finished off with a 2,000 grit abralon pad and a coat of brunswicks high gloss polish. this ball was drilled with the pin butted right up against the ring finger, the cg was swung ever so slighly towards the grip center, and the psa locater pin was just below the middle of the thumbhole. no balance hole.
i knew during shadow balls i was throwing the ball well and i could tell that this ball gave me a great reaction. i was able to use my bread-and-butter style of a down and in shot straight down 6-7, appx. 18mph, and appx. 20-25 degrees axis rotation.
game #1....i had the first 10 and 7 of them were high flush, the other three were a messenger 10, a rip the rack, and a very quick tripped 4. the 11th shot was a ringing 10, probably the best shot all night. the 6 pin went around the bottom of the 10 pin, not around the top of the 10. probably a bad rack or bad luck.
game #2....i had the first 10 and 6 of these were high flush, the others were 2 swishing 7's that fell late, one solid 9 that got tripped out by another pin, and a messenger 10. the 11th shot was another ringing 10, this time where the 6 pin flew around the top of the 10 pin.
game #3....i left a flat 10 in the first frame....probably threw it a little too hard. had the next 6 as they were all high flush. had another flat 10 in the 8th....again, maybe a hair too much speed. then struck out, all high flush
well, that was some night for me. 847 was and is a great night for anybody. everything was in perfect sync that night----me physically and the ball i was using was the perfect choice as well.
would the position of the cg and the addition of a balance hole made enough difference to carry those four 10 pins ? i doubt it very much. i've asked several learned people this question as well. one is a man who bowled at wichita state in the mid 1990's and has coached the national team of a middle eastern country. another man bowled at nebraska and is now the head of r&d for a bowling ball company. both of these men say it wouldn't have made any difference. i tended to agree with their opinions then and i still agree with them now more than ever.
Edited on 4/20/2007 7:24 PM
