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Author Topic: Great Article on How to select the right bowling ball  (Read 10480 times)

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Great Article on How to select the right bowling ball
« on: October 13, 2013, 01:11:02 PM »
I came across this article and found it very informative and interesting, i thought maybe it could help a lot of you out before you buy new bowling balls. Check it out and tell me what you think How to Select The Right Bowling Ball
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Snakster

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Re: Great Article on How to select the right bowling ball
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2013, 01:38:46 PM »
Good read, I've bookmarked the site now.

One think I found lacking, or rather would have like for him to discuss, was specs and how to eliminate or zero in on possible good options based on your style vs ball specs.

That is, if you're style is X, the look for a ball with low RG and high diff. If it is Y consider moderate RG low diff.

Not saying that all permutations could have been covered, and I believe the advice of finding good operator to help is spot on, but a lot of times we find ourselves checking out balls online. It would be helpful to be able to at least know how the specs match up to certain styles and thus allow to self eliminate certain types of balls from the jump and can focus your later discussions with said pro shop guy.

What I'm saying is, it could use more detail.  Maybe it's coming in follow up articles.
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JOE FALCO

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Re: Great Article on How to select the right bowling ball
« Reply #2 on: October 13, 2013, 03:16:57 PM »
Wonder how many recognize this article was written by GIZMO823? Good job!
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Snakster

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Re: Great Article on How to select the right bowling ball
« Reply #3 on: October 13, 2013, 05:39:20 PM »
Have now read the follow-up part 1 on reading ball reaction. Good stuff, look forward to reading more. If it is gizmo, them I enjoy it so far, very informative. Better than the stuff that is written in bowling university or whatever it's called on bowling ball.com. I find these articles have actual educational value.
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Motiv Forza GT
Hammer Black Widow Gold
DV8 Vandal
DV8 Creed Rebellion

Steven

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Re: Great Article on How to select the right bowling ball
« Reply #4 on: October 13, 2013, 05:41:27 PM »
Gizmo has show himself to be very knowledgable, so it's not surprising he wrote the article. It appears the target audience is the newer bowler, although there are some good points most bowlers can learn from. I especially like his discussion of hook, which is misunderstood by too many.


While his points regarding the importance of surface are spot on, for drilling it's also very important to understand the effects of different vertical pin positions, and the pin-to-PAP distances that work best for your individual game. Get outside your optimal respective ranges, and no amount of surface prep is going to provide a fix for the reaction you want to achieve. I think in his own way he was referencing this, but it could have been a bit more clear.


Regardless, nice article.
« Last Edit: October 13, 2013, 11:05:38 PM by Steven »

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Re: Great Article on How to select the right bowling ball
« Reply #5 on: October 13, 2013, 10:48:42 PM »
yeah luke is a great writer. Thought you would like it
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Gizmo823

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Re: Great Article on How to select the right bowling ball
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2013, 08:06:00 AM »
Thanks for the comments guys!  Haha, I've got several more articles coming, and I'm trying to focus on one thing at a time, so all the things that several of you have said you would have liked to hear about will actually get covered in its own specific article later, AND I'm also taking suggestions, so message me here or there, or put something in the post.  If you want to know about it, I can write about it.  I've got some really fantastic resources too, so it doesn't matter what you ask, if I don't know about it, I can find out and we'll all learn something. 

The angle I'm taking on these articles at the moment is conceptual.  If I can successfully impart some concepts, it's easier to understand more complicated and technical information if the reader "gets" what's going on in the first place.  So far most of this is kind of aimed at an entry level bowler, or at least I'm trying to take more difficult concepts and explain them at a beginner level. Eventually I hope to be able to explain more complicated things in a way that everyone can understand better.  I've never liked the people that puff out their chests and bury you with a bunch of technical terms to impress you or to make you think they know what they're doing.  If people don't understand something, they're always going to be slightly uncomfortable no matter how much they trust you. 
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Snakster

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Re: Great Article on How to select the right bowling ball
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2013, 09:27:21 AM »
I think you are succeeding at your stated goal. I plan on using these articles, especially concerning hook, to educate my son. He has really gotten into it, but he still equates hook to backend move as you describe and I'm still trying to shake him of the notion that stronger is always better. Great resource. Of course his coach also backs it up. He is getting better at opening up to possibility that "weaker" balls are actually strong balls in the appropriate condition.

And these articles will also help me answer questions like "why isn't it hooking as much?"  Look forward to reading more.
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Brickguy221

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Re: Great Article on How to select the right bowling ball
« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2013, 11:04:46 AM »
Gizmo has show himself to be very knowledgable, so it's not surprising he wrote the article. It appears the target audience is the newer bowler, although there are some good points most bowlers can learn from. I especially like his discussion of hook, which is misunderstood by too many.


While his points regarding the importance of surface are spot on, for drilling it's also very important to understand the effects of different vertical pin positions, and the pin-to-PAP distances that work best for your individual game. Get outside your optimal respective ranges, and no amount of surface prep is going to provide a fix for the reaction you want to achieve. I think in his own way he was referencing this, but it could have been a bit more clear.


Regardless, nice article.

Steven, I am thinking that Gizmo used to be the "Hampster" here on BR, but then again I could be mistaken.
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Gizmo823

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Re: Great Article on How to select the right bowling ball
« Reply #9 on: October 14, 2013, 12:56:55 PM »
Yes, Gizmo used to be the Hampster, but the Hampster is hopefully dead and gone . . what a little bastard. 
What would you be if you were attached to another object by an inclined plane, wrapped helically around an axis?

JOE FALCO

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Re: Great Article on How to select the right bowling ball
« Reply #10 on: October 14, 2013, 01:30:55 PM »
BRICKGUY .. good catch .. never put the two together .. don't know how you did that!
RIP Thongprincess/Sawbones!

Steven

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Re: Great Article on How to select the right bowling ball
« Reply #11 on: October 14, 2013, 02:27:23 PM »

Steven, I am thinking that Gizmo used to be the "Hampster" here on BR, but then again I could be mistaken.


Brick, I don't know how you made that connection. But apparently, you're right.  :) 

bradl

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Re: Great Article on How to select the right bowling ball
« Reply #12 on: October 14, 2013, 02:42:48 PM »
This is a very good article. Deals with the confusion a bowler will have, simple requests that a bowler has, and deals with the unknowns that a pro shop operator will have.

the only drawback I see with the article (and I honestly can't blame the author for) is if said pro shop operator has a 'bias' (lack of a better word) towards a given brand. I say that because I guess I hearken back to days when a pro shop had nearly every manufacturer's product in their shop. Then, a bowler would have true choice as to what he/she wants, and could compare company to company and ball to ball.

Nowadays, it's much tougher, because you may have pro shops in which the proprietor of that shop is a ball rep for a given company, and (whether due to lack of space in their shop, contractual obligations, etc.) loads up their entire shop with gear from their sponsored company, and pushes that first.

You can't blame the proprietor; they are a rep for that company. But on the other side of that coin, how can one comfortably be able to compare and select the ball that is right for them, if they can't directly see it in that given pro shop? Go to another shop, which the proprietors there know nothing about your game?

I guess I may be adding a bit more to this, as the author puts it, "an increasingly frustrating and worrisome process". Perhaps another article sometime after this that addresses rapport with a pro shop proprietor?

BL.

Gizmo823

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Re: Great Article on How to select the right bowling ball
« Reply #13 on: October 14, 2013, 03:18:27 PM »
Good points.  I'm typically extremely long winded, so it's been a challenge to keep articles to a reasonable length, and unfortunately that means not identifying each and every situation possible.  However, I should have included this, because increasingly it's become that way.  Seems like almost every shop has an operator that's on someone's staff, or that's at least being sponsored by someone, or has a good connection.  Obviously if you've got an operator that's on staff with somebody, he's going to push that equipment even if he is still fulfilling his responsibility to the customer to sell them what they need.  One small caveat is that for quite a few guys, it's not necessarily to represent that brand, it's because it looks really good on your resume, and because it appeals to a group of bowlers.  Some bowlers look at a pro shop guy just as a business guy and are more apt to listen to a fellow bowler, even if that bowler isn't very good.  But hey, if the pro shop guy is out bowling and are good enough to be on somebody's staff, that makes them appear like a bowler that just happens to work in a shop, which a lot of people are more comfortable with.  I don't know why the correlation, but a very high percentage of people associate a high level of skill with a high level of technical knowledge.  Yeah you'd expect people that are good at something to know what they're doing, but we have several high average staffers we drill for that don't know a THING about layouts or ball specs or anything, they just bring new balls in and let us take care of it.  Lol they're just extremely good at throwing them . .  However, on the flip side, it makes several people cautious because they don't know if they're getting talked into something just because the pro shop guy is on that company's staff. 

I DO want to start writing thought process articles like this though, taking a situation and presenting the logic for it and against it.  Too much information out there is just dry technical stuff, and while I do want to conceptualize that, most of the biggest decisions out there are things like this.  If my pro shop guy is on staff with somebody, can I really trust him to sell me the right ball?  I've asked myself this and several questions like it, and keep coming to the conclusion that you have to educate yourself and really understand as much as you can.  Another big one is that people like to throw around terminology to make themselves sound smart even though they don't know what it means, and that can make a lot of people feel dumb or ignorant, when in fact there's nothing wrong with what they do.  A big beef I have is college kids and talking about adjustments.  "Well, it hooked early so I moved 2 and 1 left."  Ok . . 2 with your feet, 1 with your target, I get that . . but was it the right adjustment in the first place?  Maybe you got slow, overhit it, missed your angle of rotation, missed your target in the first place, etc.  But people will hear that and it will get their heads going in the wrong direction, so next time they throw a ball and it overhooks, "well I guess I need to move 2 and 1 left . ." you know?  Bowling has gotten complicated, yeah, but it's also been severely overcomplicated by things like this. 

Lol see?  Rambling . . but stuff like this is where I think I "fit" in the bowling world, or where I can help.  I have a blue collar mentality about bowling, I loved watching back several years ago when it was just a guy, a ball, and his intuition.  Now it's too mathematical and mechanical . . but at the same time, it's still the same game, it's just been complicated.  The technical stuff definitely has a place, but a LOT of people still feel like I do, most of my customer base still has the "I don't care about all those numbers and that crap, I just want a ball that's not going to roll out if I have to get deep," attitude.  So instead of trying to convert them or make them feel bad about being behind the times, I interpret and "translate" the technical stuff for them, while still being able to talk technical with the guys that are into that.  Ironically enough though, some of the technical guys have just learned a lot of terminology that they really don't understand . .

This is a very good article. Deals with the confusion a bowler will have, simple requests that a bowler has, and deals with the unknowns that a pro shop operator will have.

the only drawback I see with the article (and I honestly can't blame the author for) is if said pro shop operator has a 'bias' (lack of a better word) towards a given brand. I say that because I guess I hearken back to days when a pro shop had nearly every manufacturer's product in their shop. Then, a bowler would have true choice as to what he/she wants, and could compare company to company and ball to ball.

Nowadays, it's much tougher, because you may have pro shops in which the proprietor of that shop is a ball rep for a given company, and (whether due to lack of space in their shop, contractual obligations, etc.) loads up their entire shop with gear from their sponsored company, and pushes that first.

You can't blame the proprietor; they are a rep for that company. But on the other side of that coin, how can one comfortably be able to compare and select the ball that is right for them, if they can't directly see it in that given pro shop? Go to another shop, which the proprietors there know nothing about your game?

I guess I may be adding a bit more to this, as the author puts it, "an increasingly frustrating and worrisome process". Perhaps another article sometime after this that addresses rapport with a pro shop proprietor?

BL.
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Brickguy221

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Re: Great Article on How to select the right bowling ball
« Reply #14 on: October 14, 2013, 03:32:35 PM »
Yes, Gizmo used to be the Hampster, but the Hampster is hopefully dead and gone . . what a little bastard. 

LMAO .... Gizmo, I was born, raised, and schooled in Kansas and worked there until I was 28 (1965) at which time I moved from Kansas. I remember the Hampster being in Topeka, so I pay attention to people that live where I used to live. When you began posting as Gizmo, and said you were from Topeka plus some things you said now and then, I put 2 & 2 together and came up with Gizmo/Hampster...  ;D
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