what is the highest hook rating a bowling ball can get? according to this site, my ball has a hook rating of 125. is that good?

You can't really go by the hook rating a company gives you.  You can only really use it to compare it to balls within that company, but not cross different companies because every company uses a different scale to rate the hook on.

It is really a relative thing. As o_0191 mentions, most manufacturers have their own "hook rating", which you can hardly compare, and actually noone explains what it should mean, except that it is a very abstract thing.

So many factors influence a ball's reaction shape - but IMHO, a ball hooks "more"...
- the lower its cores RG (promotes early roll and breakpoint)
- the bigger its RG differential (= flare potential = amount of hook to tap from)
- the coarser the surface (promotes earlier grip on the lane = potential of boards covered)
- particle also enhances traction

That in mind, you can max the ball's potential with a leverage drilling.

BUT: IMHO you will hardly find conditiosn where such a piece works effectively. On the lane, you do not need boards covered, but a ball that goes thorugh skid/hook/roll transition and just enters the pins after it stopped hooking. This can have a pretty small hook shape, but the ball reaction makes the difference, not the promoted "amount of hook", whatever this means...
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DizzyFugu - Reporting from Germany

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