Due to the porous nature of modern coverstocks, all bowling balls will have a permanent loss of "some" reaction. It may vary in the amount of games from bowler to bowler and the amount of boards in hook lost, but around 150 games is usually where I see this occur. I just have never bought into "my ball is completely dead and won't hook 2 boards" nonsense.
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"I don't want to be remembered, I want to be forgotten"

While balls DO decrease in their performance characteristics over time, proper maintenance can extend their useful lives far beyond the 150-200 game range.

  They may NOT fill the same place in your bag as when new, but many balls retain a good reaction profile after they begin to mellow out, and some become even MORE useful due to conditions we face at times, especially on the lighter side.

  And, some balls CAN be brought back to life through techniques I have used that would be considered "outside" the accepted practices and only used as a last resort when there was nothing left to lose.  I brought back a Track MUTANT from a point that I had never seen a ball reach.  It was SO bad that my whitedot played the same line as it did.

 IF a ball can reach the 200-225 game level, it could be good for one league for two years, or two leageus for one year ( 36weeks X 3games =108----108 X 2 =216 games ), just use something else for practice, maybe your old ball from last year.


 Now, on the other hand, older technology balls last much longer.  I've still got an old Track Coral Triton from 1997 that works great and has well over 1000 games on it, probably 2000 or more.
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Good transactions list in my profile

"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits."
Albert Einstein

I tend to agree with the original bolded statement.  But, with maintenance you can get much more than 150 out of a ball.  Also, just because the performance has decreased from brand new, does not mean that the current performance of the ball does not have a place in your bag.  My Purple Thunderstruck, just keeps on going!!!  Love that ball, think I need to Revivor it, but I still love it.

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Lane #1

I have seen this with a Brunswick ball that after about 100 games it was worthless.  You can look at it a couple of ways.  150 games is a season to many bowlers.  150 divided by 3 is 50 weeks.  Figure they will practice a little and the ball is good for a year.  After that year they may or may not notice a difference.  To an advanced bowler figure about 1/2 to 1/3 the expectancy. But here is the catch.  Most advanced bowlers carry and arsenal so they are not throwing the ball as much.  The ball may last the same amount of time because of usage patterns.  If you practice 10 games a day for a week you will burn up a ball in 3 weeks.  Bowling ball companies make bowling balls and want to sell them.  If you buy a new ball every 5 years the ball companies can not stay in business.  Declining number of bowlers etc. etc.  The average bowler in the United States bowls less than 6 games a week.    I would also say the large majority of bowlers buy less than 1 ball a year in some parts of the country. I would also like to do some research on quality concerns.  When I moved to where I am at now I was shocked at the amount of Bonanza, X outs and blems the bowlers were using here.  Many people still use Rhinos as the first line ball.  As for cleaning their equipment many still think a lustre king cleans their bowling balls and alcohol works wonders.  The majority have never cleaned their bowling balls at all, do not know why and or do not care.  

So if the ball companies are making balls to last 150 games that is probably alright.  Most of their customers wouldn't notice the difference, wouldn't care and do not take care of their equipment properly.  When the ball starts to go away then they would most likely look somewhere else other than the ball as the problem.  IE  Lanes are bad, etc etc.  

It goes back to the old thinking.  If you are serious bowler a ball should make you back the money you spent on it in 30 days.  If it doesn't there is a problem.  If you are a recreational bowler you probably won't notice anything at least for a year if at all.

Smash49
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Smash49

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