I say learning to adjust with 1 ball.  Switching around with different balls would have to involve some adjusting. So if you took a bowler who is used to throwing one ball and gave him a series of bowling balls, wouldnt it be easier for him to adjust once he has made a change.  Thats just my thinking though.  I

Learning is ALWAYS a continuing process. What stage you think you are at is the lingering question. How you want to learn and what your coach thinks is PROPER for you is another pair of essential questions. While talking, like on this forum, can help with snippets of information, true learning has to be done on the lanes.

At some point, we all learn with one or two balls; the second being aplastic spare ball in today's environment. Once we "graduate" to 2+ strike balls, we are on another or the next plateau. Learning releases and speed control is a good thing, UP TO A POINT. Then we need to learn to go back and forth between balls, and, please believe me, this is an essential step and a VERY SERIOUS step in the learning process.

So, bottom line, is that it's not as simple as you think it may be.

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"We get old too fast, and too late, smart."

While 175-180 is good, you may be "fooling" around with balls before you are ready to. It's hard to say. SOme people, learning, should stay with one ball, say a medium solid resin, and then learn thru ball speed, revs, rotation adjustments, learn to play both medium-light oil and medium-heavy oil patterns.

BUUUTTT, it's very hard to say that via typing you are ready for this; that is why a coach, seeing you bowl and execute is so important.

You may be averaging 175 because you're not making as many spares as you can OR you may not be throwing as many strikes as you can.  

On the other side of the coin, many modern bowlers never change their release; they just move back and forth between balls. What is best for you or possibly which mix of both balls and releases may work best for you, both mentally and emotionally, is very hard to say, via typing. Don't mean to be redundant, but that's the truth.


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"We get old too fast, and too late, smart."

BowlingKid,

It sounds like you are hearing a consistent message but since I help out with YABA leagues and I've seen newer bowlers sometimes struggle with this question I thought I'd chime in.

I like MSC2471's answer as a basis for my answer.  If you find yourself hitting the pocket over a certain percentage of the time (70% is as good as any metric as any) then varying equipment may be of value to you.  I've seen kids who are stuck in the 140-160 average range add new or different equipment and jump 15 pins or more.  Covering that darn 10 or 7 pin will do that...

I've also seen the opposite happen when someone does not have all the fundamentals of the game down (primarily a consistent release) and they go purchase crazy.  Most of those bowlers do not improve at all and they pretty much decide that it all the equipment's fault.

The best approach is to learn with one ball and adjust.  Once you've gotten consistent that way then start expanding your arsenal.  The best of both worlds.