There was a time...back in 1999 about when the particles came out like the Columbia Chaos which I said "that's it, nothing will ever be stronger then that". I also said that about the Storm El Nino, Ebonite Tombstone, Brunswick Danger Zone when they came out. Those were just the solids. The pearls to me didn't get much stronger to me until the early 00's when I first used a Storm Eraser and said "that's it, this is the strongest pearl ever...any more length and backend would be overkill". Then many other manufactures came out with strong pearls. Then the particle pearls came out and I thought that was it, then the particles got better and then liquefied traction balls came in like the Bully and Inferno.
Has balls gotten that much stronger since the late 90's or has every bowling center in the United States really changed the amount and type of oil along with centers using different types of synthetic lanes (since hardly any center replaces lanes with wood anymore). If balls are getting stronger, what are the chances of lanes becoming wider and longer with bigger pins? None, because unlike Golf, you cannot change much of the lanes...it's just not possible. You can do things like change the feel angles of the kickbacks, deepen the gutters, change the material of the pindeck and most of all, change the shape, material and density of the pins. Then the oil technology is always a factor.
But since most of these are not changing all that much....has bowling balls finally peaked? Sure you can make some minor coverstock changes, make them stronger, make them last more and make the core designs more dynamic but there has to get a point when too much ball is too much ball. Are we all going to buy balls in 5 years what in order to get a controllable reaction we are going to have to drill it not less then 6" from the pin to pap? Throw some of the latest balls on some of the houses that still uses oil patterns and lane materials from the 80's and see how well your normal shot works there. Then your 200 dollar ball you get to work on a straight game where you hardly do anything to the ball and it literally hooks for you.
10 years ago every ball that came out I was dying to see what it did on the lanes. Now I don't go into pro shops much anymore because new balls are boring to me. They don't do anything I haven't seen or I don't have. Do you really get excited when a new ball comes out anymore?
