There are a few questions in bowling that are hard to answer and some that are easy, when bowling is it better to have more length or better to have less length. The answer is not an easy one, it’s a long road to find out what’s better but I have a few easy steps to help you find out what’s better for your game. Let’s start by asking what kind of lanes you bowl on wood, synthetic, or something in between. Next is do you bowl league, sport league or tournaments. Last is are the lanes dry, oily, long, short, or flat. Let’s start by saying when bowling remember that some balls are made to go long and some aren’t like pearls go longer then solids. Why do ball go long and some don’t, well solids are designed to create friction so they can still hook on oily lanes, where pearls are designed to have less friction and to store energy  so when the ball hits the dry to have a nice reaction off that dry. So if your bowling with solid ball that is drilled to hook early you might get it trouble by leaving taps (pins left when hitting the pocket). The reason this happens is cause when a ball is drilled to hook early on dryer lanes its cause the ball will hook early and after that the ball is done hooking and goes into a roll or a roll out phase, so when hitting the pocket you might leave a ten pin (for righties) that’s cause the ball will deflect having the 6 pin lay in the channel or go around the ten. So if your ball rolls out early that makes your carry worse, why when a ball rolls out it means it’s done hooking and making the ball defect instead of hooking threw the pocked.  So you might want to change ball to something drilled to go longer. This is where pearls come in. when using pearls they will go longer and hit harder on dryer lanes, so instead of leaving ten pins you will have better Carrie. Why dose pearl Carrie better on dry lanes, it’s cause when solids hook earlier then pearls they use their energy up before getting to the pocket, where pearls will go past the front part of the lane before hooking, cause pearls go long they don’t tend to roll out, which makes your carry better cause all of the energy that pearls save.

            Now if you bowling on oily lanes that are long (like 40-44ft long) with a solid ball drilled to hook early you might see your ball arch as the ball goes down the lane and when the ball hits the pocket it’s still rolling. Why is this, well its cause when there is more oil a ball like a solid will have more energy when it hits that pocket cause oil makes the balls go down the lane without hooking but the reason is oil making a higher friction ball like a solid go longer before hooking. So if you would throw a pearl down the lane on the same oily shot you might see wash outs, buckets, or weak tens. Why is this, its cause unlike dryer lanes the pearls will go longer so if you have a 42” shot your pearl might blow past that with a ton of energy left but there won’t be enough lane for the ball to hook then, making the ball go to long and not hook.

            Maybe you bowl on a shot that’s not oily and that’s not dry, then what do you do. Well if your bowling and your using a pearl and you are leaving pocket seven pins or maybe pocket 7-10s, this means your ball is going too far down the lane before hitting the pocket, how does that happen, well when your ball goes to long and hits the pocket it might look good but when your ball hits the pocket at the angle it has a lot of energy left so it will roll threw the pocket, but when the ball rolls threw the 1-3(for righties) it will not deflect as much causing the six pin to go around the ten and the five to go behind or in front of the seven pin. So if you would change to a solid your ball would hook early, and hit the pocket at the right angle. Maybe it’s the other way around, your using a solid and your leaving a lot of four pins and haven a hard time keeping the ball in the pocket cause your ball is hooking too much, if you would go to a pearl your ball would go farther down the lane making it easier to hit the pocket.

Trying to master hooking the ball is hard under normal conditions, but when the lanes are dry it’s a hole new story. When throwing the ball fast and hard with a high rev rate, or if you hook the ball it takes a lot accuracy.

Step one: When throwing a fast hook ball watch for any oil spots or dry areas on the lane, the thing is when the lanes are dry, finding a oily spot could save your life. When the lanes are a tad touchy in the back end, finding a dry spot will increase back end reaction.

Step two: When bowling, know your limitations.

Bowling ball weights, the weight of your ball does matter. The max weight is 16lbs and the min is 6lbs. With a 16 pound ball you wont get as much hook as you would get with a 14lbs ball. A 16lbs ball will drive harder into the pins getting better carry, but if you have a high rev rate like me then you wouldn’t really want to throw a heavy ball; instead i throw a 15lbs ball. The lightest reactive ball is only 10 pounds and that ball will hook but it wont even get you half of the carry that a heavy ball will have.