Smithfield Foods To Sponsor PWBA Tour Championships

Smithfield Foods will sponsor the final event of the Professional Women’s Bowling Association season, the

PWBA Tour Championship, set to take place in September with the finals on national television.

The Smithfield PWBA Tour Championship promoted by GoBowling.com will bring together the top 16 bowlers from the 2015 PWBA Tour season, including the winner of each tour stop, for the season-ending event starting Sept. 10 in Arlington, Texas. The stepladder finals will be televised live on the CBS Sports Network on Sept. 13 at 1 p.m. Eastern, with the winner presented with the Smithfield Cup.

“This is a tremendous opportunity to partner with the PWBA during its comeback season,” Bob Weber, Vice President of Corporate Marketing for Smithfield Foods, said. “The early tour events have drawn a good deal of interest and the PWBA Tour will be a great avenue for our brands to reach bowling fans.”

Smithfield Foods was founded in Smithfield, Virginia, in 1936 and has become the world’s largest producer of pork products. In addition to its Smithfield flagship brand, other notable brands produced by Smithfield Foods include Eckrich, Farmland, Armour, Cook’s Gwaltney, John Morrell and Nathan’s Famous.

The two-year partnership also makes Smithfield the Official Elite Title sponsor of the PWBA Tour.

The PWBA Tour re-launched earlier this year with a three-year funding commitment from the BPAA and the United States Bowling Congress. The season kicked off with the USBC Queens in May and has seen sold-out fields for its first three standard events.

“It’s always great to see when a company such as Smithfield Foods sees the value of marketing through our sport,” said Kelly Kulick, the spokesperson for the PWBA who could be featured in PWBA-themed ads for Smithfield. “The opportunity for women to compete as professional bowlers on a regular basis is possible because of the PWBA Tour and because of companies like Smithfield.”

The PWBA Tour has two more tour stops this season before the PWBA Tour Championship takes place at the International Training and Research Center.

Stefanie Johnson of Grand Prairie, Texas, who won the PWBA Wichita Open for her first career PWBA title, currently leads the points list followed by Diana Zavjalova of Latvia, and Kelly Kulick of Union, New Jersey.

Visit PWBA.com to learn more about the PWBA, including the season schedule, player information, points list and more.

Brunswick Introduces Nirvana

Brunswick is excited to announce a new premium performance bowling ball –Nirvana.   

With the launch of the Nirvana, Brunswick is introducing a new performance line of balls featuring the newly developed Enhanced Composite Segmentation (ECS) coverstock technology.  The innovative ECS technology expands the soft segments of the polymer chain in order to produce improved friction and a larger sweet spot.  The result is better ball motion on a wider variety of lane conditions and fewer adjustments on the lane.  In addition, ECS technology provides longer performance life and a faster refresh rate for improved consistency.

The red/blue/violet Nirvana features the ECS solid coverstock matched with the new Ultra Low RG Nirvana Core to produce exceptional traction and impressive backend reaction on medium to heavy oil lane conditions.  The Nirvana cover is finished with Siaair Micro Pads to 500 then 1500 grit. Bowlers are going to see something very special with the Nirvana especially on heavy oil lane conditions.

The URD for the Nirvana is September 22, 2015.

New Cover, New Core and HyperSHOCK Technology in Columbia 300's New Swerve HP Ball

Columbia 300 introduces the Swerve September 15. The Swerve features a new core, coverstock and HyperSHOCK Technology. 

The New Reflex Solid Coverstock, in Black / Scarlet / Navy is a high traction coverstock. The finished factory surface is created using 500/1000/2000 grit AbralonⓇ pads. The Reflex cover is designed to transfer greater amounts of energy directly to the core through its enhanced crosslink dense polymer formulation.

For the Swerve core, Columbia 300 lowered the strength of the Mass Bias to make it more driller friendly and allow the core to perform well for the masses. This core yields a slightly stronger mid-lane read than the typical symmetrical shape, while maintaining the predictability symmetrical balls provide. 

HyperSHOCK Technology is an energy enhancement material added to the outer core to help power the ball through the pins. This viscoelastic material works to control the influence pins have on the ball's motion through the pin deck. 

"The Columbia 300 Swerve, with HyperSHOCK Technology, not only gets you to the pocket, but drives through the pins like no other bowling ball on the planet," reports Columbia 300 Marketing Manager Rich Hanson. 

Storm Leaks Info on Two New Balls

We all have our own styles, our own games. And the ‘keys’ to better bowling are different for each of us. Some have all the speed in the world but lack the rev rate to match. Others have a great handle on their equipment but don’t understand which ball to use and where to play on the lane.

To help create that perfect breakpoint, Storm engineered a new weight block shape and surrounded it with a nearly-lethal coverstock. Remember that the weight block is considered to be the engine of the bowling ball. This new asymmetrical RAD-X™ Core is built on the same platform which powered other RAD™ (Radial Accelerating Disk) designs throughout Storm’s rich history. Its dynamic design with super-dense materials produces superior hook and ball motion. You can really see it rev up!

And when surrounded by the grippy new GI-15™ hybrid reactive coverstock, the new Lock is sure to produce all the performance you need when battling heavy oil. It’s textured game improvement technology in 2015, hence the name GI-15, that’s sure to elevate you to the top.

We, as bowlers, have figured out that we don’t always need to use the most hooking ball in our bag. It’s true. We know it’s a lot of fun to hook the ball coast to coast, but if we can’t consistently hit the pocket then our scores may suffer. And many of us, too, have games based not on speed and power but on accuracy and finesse.

 

If this rings true with you, then you might consider adding the new Storm Joy Ride to your arsenal. Similar to the original Ride, the new Joy Ride is also designed for drier lanes. So what’s the difference? The coverstock.

The Joy Ride features a lower friction, highly polished pearl Reactor™ material which limits traction between the ball and the lane, perfect for those looking to conquer even the most hooking conditions. And the new Cruiser™ core produces a modest amount of flare potential to help control your ball path as well. They work hand in hand to help ensure that the Joy Ride gives you the smoothest ride possible down the lane.  

There is no information on when they will be available yet, but speculation is October.