I've been off regular league bowling for 2 years but back this season. Last couple seasons average dropped below 200 . 100% due to bad performance. This year unless the lanes change radically or my ball dies or cracks in half I plan on using the same ball all year every game. An old low game AMF TNT I think, it has the blem Bonanza logo. The ball is very smooth and reacts predictable on over/under house shot.  I want to focus on adjusting and making good shots than constantly switch balls. It's a trio league, the lanes don't transition much and the house shot is fresh every week. Sometimes I think constantly trying different balls when I'm not bowling well compounds the problem.  Not counting spare ball for 10 pins.

Gems can be so good on house shot.  In very similar boat (triples league also) but league shot on light side so just picked up a Morich Mojave to basically do the same thing.

Well, if it's a trio league and the lanes aren't getting blown apart by guys with 400+ rev rates, it's only a THS.

Ball companies and pro shops need to sell balls, so we have all this marketing as if people are bowling on a variety of changing conditions, when that is not the case.

Good for you, I throw a Track Tundra with my plastic for spares, have other balls rarely see enough oil to throw them with the exception of PBA league this summer.

I think it's a neat idea to try just going with one ball in order to work on your game more. However, there are a couple of things you have to keep in mind:

1) Team impact. If this were a singles match-play league or something, you'd have nothing to worry about here. However, since you have teammates, it's probably good form to tell them of your plans and see how they feel about it since your approach could impact the team standings, which = money, bragging rights, etc. Hopefully they're all for it, but it's probably best to at least ask them first.

2) League complaints - If you start off doing this, are unhappy and then switch back to using other balls, some in the league may look at what you're doing as sandbagging. I wanted to do something similar years back, so I started using plastic as my only ball. Obviously, that made me have to be very accurate and creative in order to get the ball to hit. Some people were furious because of the impact of plastic on the pattern, and others thought it was an attempt at bagging even though I averaged over 200 while doing it. In any event, again, you may have to commit to doing this for the entire season in order to avoid such talk/accusations.

In the end, you're the bowler, so as long as you're not doing this with some ulterior motive, you should be free to use whatever ball or balls you want in order to work on improving your game. I applaud you for doing so, but I wanted to throw those things out there as food for thought. Good luck no matter how you decide to proceed!

I am an old geezer, but I totally understand and have embraced the necessity of having an arsenal of balls for multiple patterns in a tournament environment.  Having said that. I cant remember the last time I derived any benefit from having more than one ball on a house shot .   

Someone should form a league where bowlers declare which ball (and a spare ball, to help for the corner pins) and agree that only those two can be used every game all season long.  I'd sign up in a heartbeat for the fun and challenge.

The end result would be bowlers becoming more versatile with releases and speed etc, which would help us all.  On our Tuesday night league there are so many bags everywhere you can't walk anywhere without feeling like you're an on an obstacle course. 

I've said it before, but I hope my opponent brings 6 balls with him and uses every one of them.  It usually guarantees that I will get my share of points.

There's been a 16 game tournament ran twice in Vegas so far that's 1 ball + spare ball. They've done two 8 game blocks with 2 different patterns. Decide in practice which ball you'll use for the 8 games. I've wanted to bowl the event but the timing didn't work out for me.

I think it'd be tough to say you have to stick with 1 ball for an entire season. I think 1 ball after practice would work the best. I'd do a summer league if it was plastic only or have-a-ball league that everyone had to use the same ball

Someone should form a league where bowlers declare which ball (and a spare ball, to help for the corner pins) and agree that only those two can be used every game all season long.  I'd sign up in a heartbeat for the fun and challenge.

The end result would be bowlers becoming more versatile with releases and speed etc, which would help us all.  On our Tuesday night league there are so many bags everywhere you can't walk anywhere without feeling like you're an on an obstacle course. 

I've said it before, but I hope my opponent brings 6 balls with him and uses every one of them.  It usually guarantees that I will get my share of points.

EA Bowl in Dublin CA has a same ball league in the summer. Everyone uses the same ball and it's provided by the league for a reduced price. Usually it's some discontinued or about to be discontinued Brunswick(Including Radical, DV8) ball. One ball, no plastic for spares either.