TUNING UP YOUR TOURNEY ARSENAL
Yes, You Do Have Room For All The Bowling Balls You Need For Tournament Play.
by Kelly Bednar

The tournament season is upon us, and it's time to set up your equipment so it can be competitively useful on more than the one or two lane conditions you see every week.

Regretfully, you may have to add a bowling ball or two to that tournament arsenal, especially on today's cornucopia of lane conditions. But I also suggest taking a closer look at some of those "dinosaurs" in your closet or dusty bowling bag(s), which offer some potential utility on the current variety of tournament conditions.

Dollar-wise bowlers should break down the contributing factors that determine ball reaction and realize they probably already own at least a portion of their needed arsenal. If the ball reaction fits one of your expected needs, by all means consider it for your tournament collection, even if it's an "oldie but a goodie."

The two factors you take into consideration as to whether a ball has use for you under tournament conditions should be simply how much hook is needed, and how "soon" you need that hook to materialize. Be careful here, because what you want and want you need could be conflicting interests. Have you ever heard the phrase, "Be careful what you wish for - you just might get it?"


FROM EXPLOSIVENESS TO DEAD STRAIGHT

Many topflight bowlers might be looking for what has been dubbed by one of my fellow columnists as "super bungee jumpers (SBJ)." Yes, everyone should have a ball in their arsenal that just hooks as early as possible - a.k.a., "hooks out of the bag" - and flares a goodly amount as well. You might only get to use it a few times a year, but if you're a tournament bowler, you have to have one.

After all, having a "super bungee jumper" in your bowling repertoire is the equivalent of having a driver in your golf bag. The better you get, theless often you'll have to use it, but the more important it becomes. 
Of course, if we have a driver, we have to have a putter. The bowling equivalent of the putter? Yes, it's the spare ball. A hard plastic,non-flaring, no-friction bowling ball that is guaranteed to go straight atany bowling pins which have the audacity to stand after your first try with one of the super bungee jumpers.


THE VAST MIDDLE TERRITORY

With the bookends now covered, you just have to fill in the middle. Andthat's where you can get into a lot of individual interpretation and innovation. You see, technology has not stood still in bowling balls for over a decade. All you have to do is put together a schematic, outlining where and how much you want the balls to hook.

Keep in mind that older-technology balls typically don't flare as much, and that they have a lesser aggressive shell on the outside. But the shell is still good - or is at least "renewable" - and should give you the predicted reaction you are expecting. However, the big difference is that what used to be your "super bungee jumper" five years ago now could be your "length hockey stick" ball.

Again, that "old" ball is good to go as long as it was born in the Rective Resin era, at the very least. Sorry, no LT-48s need apply here.

The thing to remember about those old balls is that they aren't obsolete; they just have a different role. Talk with your Certified Pro Shop technician (certified, of course, by the International Bowling Pro Shop & Instructors Association, or IBPSIA), and have him or her help you figure out in your competitive arsenal grid just where your old ball fits. Then get it resurfaced and you'll be as good as new.

Here's where you have to do a little homework. Read some of the printed material the manufacturers put out, along with Mike Riggins' reviews here in Bowlers Journal International (Ed. Note: thanks for the plug, Kelly, but I'm sorry to report that your unabashed plea for a bigger check fell on deaf ears). I also suggest going to the manufacturer Web sites for a full product explanation.

Categorize some choices into two groups: Early Hook and Late Hook. Then sub-categorize those into specific types of hook patterns: Sharp Hook (Hockey Stick) and Arc Hook (Banana).

Outside of the SBJ and the Spare Ball, you want an early-hook banana, a late-hook banana, plus an early-hook and a late-hook hockey stick. Anyone who has more than these six balls is attempting to have a ball to do something more specific for a certain lane condition that he or she expects to see on a given occasion, and is willing to dedicate an extra spot in the arsenal to hit only that condition. Carrying more bowling balls allows a player to use a ball that is more specifically designed for one particular condition, but you sacrifice a more intimate knowledge of your equipment. In other words, any time you can get the same ball reaction, but with more or less surface on it. If you alter the surfaces of the ball you own, you can have a 12-ball arsenal with only six balls.

The bowler needs to have the skill and knowledge to recognize the condition. The bowler also needs to have a better idea of which ball does what, because the more bowling balls you have, the greater chance there is of picking the wrong one on any given day. Does this mean you might not have the right ball or right surface at the right time? Sure. But that happens to everyone, whether you have three or 20 bowling balls.