Which Bowling Ball Do I Need?

The, literally, hundreds of available bowling balls demand that the inexperienced ball buyer (often the experienced buyer) wade through multiple choices. Will you choose surface, Radius of Gyration (sometimes just listed as: RG), coverstock type (reactive resin, particle, standard urethane, polyester), or a vague listing of performance or high performance as your key buying factor? What about Differential RG (sometimes just DIFF, then the sub category of Intermediate Diff), Or Coefficient of Restitution? How about the Mass Bias and Asymmetric vs. Symmetric weight blocks? Bowling balls have gotten complicated!

Unfortunately, online ball sellers almost depend on your lack of knowledge. The commodity offered online is just that, a commodity (the cheapest tomato). Don’t buy a tomato if you need an apple. But what if you don’t know what you need?

You will need to get the ball drilled, if purchased online. So, start now and check out your local bowling store, for their recommendation. What does the local store charge to drill a ball? The service will effect your over all cost for this new bowling tool. If the center where you bowl has a store, the operator will know about the lane conditions and more likely a basic idea of your needs. Don't be afraid to ask the operator to watch you bowl. Ask how they determine what is best?

Getting a ball that doesn't work, no matter how cheap it was, is a waste of money and very frustrating for the end user. Because the commodity nature of the online ball sellers, you don’t want to JUST buy price. A brand new Mercedes, with no tires, no transmission, and no engine is still a new Mercedes. It is an expensive paperweight! It won’t go any where, but it still is a new Mercedes! If you buy a cheap new Mercedes and find out it can’t move, you didn’t get what you wanted/needed, but IT WAS CHEAP.

more - what works for what styles.