How does one get any good information about getting the best ball for your exact style?  Word of mouth and pro shop recommendations are all good sources, but they're approximations at best.  Every house's version of the PBA patterns can play very different from each other, so you really can't even say "I want a strong ball for the Scorpion pattern".

I got a little money for Christmas and thought about buying a new ball.  I'd like something for med/heavy oil that has some recovery down lane.  I have a solid arc ball, but want something a little flippier for when you need to move inside and need to create enough angle to carry on heavier or longer patterns.

By chance, one of the guys in our scratch league had two very new balls I was interested in - a Cell Pearl and a Virtual Gravity.  The span and pitches were very close, I just needed a wad of tape in the thumb to achieve a very good fit.  It's a second shift house shot, but it stays in good shape.  The head oil holds up and there isn't too much carry down.

I basically stayed in the same place for both balls as I did when I threw my aging Nighthawk M2 in league.  Now I know a THS tends to make balls seem similar, but I never would have guessed how much.  An old pearl at 1000 grit polished with 1500+ games, a strong pearl at 1500 grit polished, and a really strong solid at 4000 grit were with a board or two of each other.  The Virtual Gravity was probably the hardest off the dry if I missed outside, but that was about all I could tell.

This isn't so much about a ball recommendation (although I will take them as well), but again, how do we make good choices for our exact style when buying a ball?  Demo days are cool, but with the average house shot, do we get real results, or talk ourselves into seeing things that really aren't there?  My last purchase (Black Widow Bite, intended for the same condition) didn't work out as I planned.  It's a good ball, but didn't do what I wanted.  Everyone makes good equipment now, so I'm not worried about buying a dud, but I don't want to waste money on a ball that doesn't fit where I want.
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Penn State Proud

Ron Clifton''s Bowling Tip Archive

Good info Mike.  In my mind, I already made judgments based on a similar train of thought.  I don't want a very high RG with my rev rate and the condition I'm targeting, I don't want a lot of lope.  Medium to med/low will work depending on the cover strength.  Early revs are OK, but don't want early hook.  My arc ball is a MoRich Weapon of Mass Bias.  I think there is an international pearlized version of the ball, but doubt it's worth looking for.  I don't need anything super flippy since I'm looking at med/heavy oil, but something with a much harder arc down lane than the WMB.  The two balls I mentioned earlier seem like good candidates, but without being able to throw one more or less drilled for me on something like Scorpion, I can never really know how either will act.
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Penn State Proud

Ron Clifton's Bowling Tip Archive

Geoff,

What I like about my Cell Pearl is that it really is a solid in disguise. What I mean with that is that you don't get the jumpy, flippy, over/under ball that you expect that a pearl brings.  The Nucleus Core gets the ball rolling early but not too early and the shine helps with that also.  That was what sold me on this ball and it has really shined on the PBA shots where predictability is such a main concern.

Another ball that might be something you are looking at...again with a low RG 2.45...higher diff..... .51 and is really a sweet looking ball is the Ebonite Playmaker.  Again has a strong core...VII, and a ball that will get down the lane but will not be over/under and such but a very consistent ball for a pearl.

Just my 2 cents...:-)

Mike


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“Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and then drive like a b@$tard from Hollywood to Las Vegas ... with the music at top volume and at least a pint of ether.”

Horrible thing about bowling is that you know what you get once it is punched up. There is IMHO no true insuranec up front that a ball will 100% work the way you want to.
You might gather secondary information (from reviews, forums, local players who use a certain ball, your pro shop, magazines, etc.), but that's just as far as it gets you.
From experience, you might also know what works for you, and what not - e.g. certain coverstock families, RG numbers, drillings.
Trying other players' balls out is also a good thing - even though I found that an inproper fit and drilling cahnges due to different PAPs tend to "cloud" a lot of information you might get from such a test.
And even if you sort this out, the ball might not perform well for you, because you just do not match up...

Had this happen with my Smash Zone - I wanted a rolly medium condition ball, and that's just what I got. The ball was right with the specs, had settled on a drilling that would define a reaction shape that I was looking for... but the ball simply does not work for me. It is the overall core/coverstock combo that does not go well with my style, and I have big control trouble with the ball at the breakpoint and in the back end, much over/under. The ball is not a dud, it just does not suit me. It even moves the way I wanted it to, but it is rather ineffective for me (*sigh*). First time that this happened to me so drastically. You learn with every ball, in many ways...
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DizzyFugu - Reporting from Germany

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One of the biggest ways of thinking about equipment that helps me and what I teach my higher level customers is to forego with the "heavy", "medium" and "light" oil designations.

Better than average bowlers should have the skill set to be able to increase or decrease speed, move left and right and have more than one wrist position.  With this tool box we create all we should be looking for is a shape of hook that we want to achieve on the lanes.  Not a "heavy-medium oil ball with the emphasis on heavier with a skosh of carrydown."  Too much going in that description.  I would ask the question, "what shape of hook are you looking for on the lanes?"  Arc, snap, midlane, backend?

I've seen too many threads of "My Vibe out hooks everything I own!" Well, on clean backends with the right volume, it SHOULD!

If you start to think about your equipment in terms of hook potential and hook shape, not in oil designations it makes it much easier to narrow down your ball choices.  Combine those choices with Abralon pads and you can manipulate your hook shape and breakpoint response much more effectively than pigeon-holeing all your equipment into specific categories.


*backswing


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*...Got the 5 out clean!

To prove I'm real 270-2931 http://members.bowl.com/FindAMember/memberView.aspx?mp=270&ms=2931&s=2005-2006