Today, I practiced on the WTBA Atlanta Pattern and I guess I just didn't have it. On the fresh, I was in the hole and threw the ball beautifully aged about 215 for 3 games. After that, I noticed my mechanics went all to pieces for the next 3 games. After getting home, I realized that my wrist is killing me and my body was worn out. Those who've seen my vid know I don't do anything special to the ball and have a medium-low speed. I think it is officially about that time to drop down to 14lbs to help improve my speed, increase my ability on THS by keeping me closer to the friction longer, and take less of a toll on my body.

My purpose of this post is to find out guys mindset as they dropped to 14lbs. What were some of your pitfalls and how did you adjust your equipment and layouts to accommodate? I thought about getting a couple used pieces and trying out some used stuff.

the bad part about this is I just took lessons to help get the ball in the swing earlier. my swing has improved incredibly and this has been something I've been thinking about to help free the swing even more. I've just had bad knees and dislocated fingers so I'm just figuring I'll try it this summer and see if it works out.

I don't mean to be rude, BUT, How old are you guys?

I hit the big 60 last month

James, I went to 14 lb in '11-12 in my last year of league bowling after a broken ring finger and noticed no difference in carry.  Go for it.

I don't mean to be rude, BUT, How old are you guys?

I'll be 28 this year, but, I've been bowling for 20 yrs now, always been a pear shaped kinda fellow. Lost a lot of weight, put a lot of it back on with some muscle but mostly just fat through industrial construction work, LOL! I've always had strong biceps and grip but weak wrists. I notice that I throw my Motion Hole'd Roto Grip Shatter soooooooo much better than anything else in my bag because I guess I drilled so much weight out of it, it's probably a good 7 ounces lighter than everything else in my bag. It started at 15lbs 1oz; I'm pretty sure it's now in the mid 14's or lower after the fingers were buried to china, the Motion Hole is 1 1/8" 4" deep.

I have a 14 lb Storm Core Power HRG someone gave me. I made it fit my hand and while practicing reeled out 11 in a row after the first 2 shots, so I see what people were saying about carry not going away. I don't know, this just seems like something to try this summer and see if I like it and can effectively score, but mostly just to keep my mechanics together game 5 and beyond. I plan on doing a lot more tournament bowling this upcoming winter season, including the Masters next year so this is way to keep my unatheletic behind in the later portion of blocks.   

If you want to be competitive at tournaments like the Masters, going to 14 lb bowling balls isn't the answer.  Being worn out after 3 games isn't because the ball is a pound too heavy.

Did any of you have to adjust your layouts or did you just go with more surface?

I'm using 14s due to a genetic hip disorder that has flared up the last year or so. (I'm really hoping to be able to get back to my 15s.)

Anyway, because of their lighter weight and because the cores of 14s can be very different from the cores of 15s, in most cases, I have found I need to go with both shorter pin-PAP distances AND more surfaces. My ball speed is faster and I have to struggle to keep my rev rate down; even with 15s I tend to be rev dominant. 15 years ago when I went from 16s to 15s I found much the same situation.