NEW RULES OF BALL MAINTENANCE
When it comes to TLC for bowling balls, the rules have evolved with the price tag.
by Kelly Bednar

Ever heard the phrase, "Don't buy a Porsche unless you can afford to have it fixed"? As we expect more performance, we should also expect to perform more maintenance. Typically, the more expensive something is, the more maintenance and related costs are involved.

Maybe a better comparison would be a pair of denim blue jeans vs. a wool suit. The blue jeans may only cost you $30 or so, but a good wool suit could cost 30 times that. You may never wear out the denim, yet you'll only wear a wool suit a handful of times before it doesn't look as good anymore. In order to keep the wool suit looking good, it must be dry cleaned; i.e., "maintenance" comes at a significantly higher price than cleaning a pair of blue jeans.

What does that have to do with bowling? Well, in the past 20 years, bowling balls have gone from plastic to urethane to reactive and finally to particle technology. We've had major increases in the hook ability along with the price.

A plastic and/or urethane ball still costs the same today or less than it did 20 years ago. We even clean and care for them the same; dull with sandpaper, shine with a wax, and clean with alcohol. Low cost, low hook, low maintenance.

To create more hook, the manufacturers are creating bigger "footprints" with the lane by loading more particles into the coverstocks to better contact the lane. The pores have to be clean for the resins to take hold, or for the particles to grab.

The more hook that is created, the more potential there is for the loss of that hook. Twenty years ago, a high-end ball might have hooked 10 boards; usage reduces its hook to its "neutral" or natural state that hooks only five boards (a 50 percent loss of hook). In today's game, a ball that now hooks 20 boards need only lose 25 percent of its hook to get that same 5-board loss. And the loss of hook will happen twice as fast.

Accordingly, there are three key points to creating the best maintenance program for your bowling balls:


Rate the bowling center - How good is the surface on which I'm bowling?
If the primary bowling center features an old wooden lane surface that is overdue for a resurfacing, then a ball will need to be resurfaced more often than one bowled on freshly resurfaced lanes. By the end of the season, all the labels will be sanded from a high-end ball on the old surface. Conversely, if you're bowling on a new, well-maintained synthetic surface, a ball might still look new halfway into the bowling season.


Rate the ball - What type of ball surface is it?

The more modern the ball and the more hook the surface will allow, the more often a cleaning and maintenance will be necessary. Cleaning either by hand or professionally: A particle technology ball would need cleaning twice as often as a reactive ball, a reactive ball twice that of a urethane, and a urethane would need cleaning twice as often as a plastic ball.


Rate your surface preparation - How far from the ball's own natural state is it?

Finally, if the ball does not have a "neutral' finish as its surface preparation, it will migrate back to that state. The further it is from "neutral", the faster it will migrate. On a plastic ball, neutral is approximately 800-1000 grit; on urethane it's around 600 grit, and reactive and particle neutral it's somewhere between 600-800. Shiny balls need to be reshined; sanded balls need to be re-sanded. Note: do not confuse neutral finish for the box finish. Box finish is what someone in marketing thought would look good. Quite often, the box finish is not the optimum surface for that bowler on that lane surface, and therefore it would need to be altered. Shiny balls from the box can be dulled, even if they are pearlized.


A CONCENSUS CAVEAT

There are more ways to clean, polish, sand and resurface a ball than this little article will allow. However, as far as caveats are concerned, there is one thing that is almost a consensus in the industry: heat is bad! Bad heat sources would include that from the trunk of your car in the summertime, or that of the 135 degrees-plus of the dishwasher, and of course that of any oven. I will concede that a good heating will give a good temporary result; however, the long-term effects of the polymers' being heated and removed shortens the overall performance life of the ball. The dirt is what needs to be removed, not the polymers.

There are several options for cleaning a ball, from personal care to professional care, and from shining/polishing to dulling. You need to adjust the surface of your ball(s) probably a lot more often than you think. There are also several cleaning chemicals designed specifically for bowling. More and more bowlers are "touching up" their surfaces every 3-6 games. Consult with your local Certified Pro Shop Technician (IBPSIA) for your specific needs.