How/where is the ball speed being measured?  Doesn't a ball that crosses more boards with a big hook to get to the pin deck lose more speed because it has to cover more ground (so to speak)?  So if the speed is being measured at the pins or being timed from the point of leaving the hand to hitting the pins, it will read slower if crossing more boards?

As MI 2 AZ said most speeds are recorded through a speed sensing trap area near the pin deck. If the ball is hooking a lot at that point it will record a slower speed as it actually travels a longer distance through that trap area.

That is one of the reasons why plastic will give you a more realistic ball speed off your hand.

What are your friends ball speeds?

I strain anymore getting into the low 14's on ball speed but many are throwing 16+.

When your ball speed is that much faster then you need a more aggressive ball to slow the ball down with friction, get it into a roll, and have a chance to hook.

If you have slower ball speed then you are going to have to play with mid range equipment in order for the ball to read the lane correctly and not hook too early.

No matter what I do my ball speed reads around 13.5 to 14.5 it's seems my ball is moving faster than that.

If your using the speed that's shown on the typical monitors, that's the speed at the pins. The rule of thumb is to add 3 mph to that for your approx. off hand speed.

That gives you about 16.5-17.5 mph at release.


if you want to double check and if you have a iOS device like a iphone , theres a app called bowling ball speed free thats pretty accurate.

My favorite ball is an pin-up over the middle finger Strike King sometimes I use an Blur solid if the Strike King is not carrying weak 10 other than those two it's Tropical Breeze or Screams.