Has anyone found that having too many bowling balls has been more confusing or hindering than helpful? I have around 13 bowling balls and have a hard time deciding which balls I want to take to league, tournaments, etc. Not only that, but I have a hard time choosing which ball to start with. Can anyone see it more beneficial to have around 6 balls for all conditions, including PBAX? Maybe I'm the only one that is indecisive.

I tend to agree with the former reply.  Many times, I find that a simple two or three ball arsenal is plenty for my leagues, and having more equipment tends to muddle things up.

 Right now, I have a two ball arsenal. It does have its limits, but those are so far apart that I rarely encounter anything they won't cover. One reasonably aggressive for the fresh shot, and one mild to play the track after transition occurs.


 If you just like trying new stuff, make sure you know what they are designed to do, and where they fit with what you already have. That way, you're not so confused about what to use and when to use it. I, personally, used to have so many balls I had to keep a notepad with info on each one to help sort out which ball did what and on what condition is worked best on.

  Got tired of lugging 8 balls to league and 15 (or more) to tournaments and not bowling that much better than I am now, even with my "limited" selection.
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 ILLEGITIMI, NON-CARBORUNDUM!

I currently own 23 balls, and although only a few are used on a regular basis, almost all of them are exercised at least some of the time thruout the year.

Usually I will bring 2 with me, and if it''s one of the houses I normally bowl in, where I have a locker, that puts 4-5 balls at my disposal. But I encounter the same problem as "strikestriketapped" in that even if I believe I have chosen the perfect assortment of equipment for a particular league night, I am often debating with myself which ball to start with and which to use second, etc...

I might have it all worked out for a few weeks in a row that I''ll start with my most aggressive piece, then go to the next ball under it, etc. and have awesome and sustained success. Then.... one week ----this actually happened just last week----will encounter extremely dry conditions (there''s a mixed league ahead of us), and my whole applecart is upset.  

I started with my Urethane (Natural) which actually was working ok for most of the 1st game. Then it started leaving splits and 10 pins and just wasn''t doing much mixing, and I didn''t think plastic was the answer (I''m very rev challenged), so I switched to my more aggressive balls and tried to overcome the conditions. Needless to say I was confused and this threw me into a whole other debate with myself as to which equipment to bring next week, and what order to use them in.

And although I don''t converse well in the technical aspects of my drillings and ball surfaces, I DO know what each one of my pieces does for me, and when I SHOULD be using each.  I''m just kind of stubborn and often my weapon of choice is based more on a gut feeling that it''s "the one" for that night. I''ll try to force it to work, rather than basing my decision on how the lanes are actually reacting.

Each time I add another ball to my arsenal, it helps at first (cause it''s new and usually fills some hole in my game ----or so I think), but then sometimes it becomes a case of diminishing returns, as I struggle to figure out exactly where in my arsenal (or lineup for league night) the new addition belongs.

Yes... I know I am a bit sick [mentally]. Is there a help line I can call???

 

Edited on 3/15/2010 5:11 PM

From 1 ball whore to another......


The answer is yes and no.

Like bhsbigcountry said, if you know what those 13 balls do, how they are different, and when to use them then it isn't a problem.

You can have a pass on the problem about what to take to tournaments.  Conditions can be a challenge.  Leagues are little different.  Most leagues will put out a consistent enough shot from week to week, that it shouldn't be that hard to decide which balls to take.

The simple fact that you aren't sure which ball to start with is probably your biggest problem.

Somewhere in those 13 balls you should have a benchmark ball.  One ball that will tell you how the lanes are playing, and from there you should be able to figure out how your other balls will play.

I don't practice much, and I don't drill a lot of balls anymore, but when I did, I had one ball I knew how it would react.  I would always take that ball with me to practice when using a new ball.  That ball would be the first thing I would throw, just to get a feel for the lanes.  After that I would use the other balls to see how they were different (or similar) to my existing "benchmark" or "go to" ball.  That way I would know if they were stronger, weaker, longer, shorter, more skid/snap, more rolly, etc.

Then, you always use that ball as your first ball.  Based on what you see you should be able to know exactly which ball to move to based on what you are seeing.

I think a problem is when you have too many balls to choose from and start making ball changes instead of small adjustments.....I know that was a favorite tactic of mine!  Sometimes it's easier to grab a different ball than to throw a little harder, take off some revs, etc, but it's not always the best for your scoring or to help learn to read the lanes.

I can't count the number of nights I've sat there and said "damn, I didn't bring the right ball!"

If you bowl a PBA or Sport league, yea more than 1 ball is needed.  A house shot league, not so much.  You look like a fool if you roll up with 4 bowling balls to a house shot league.  Just saying.
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