Blog - Bowling Education — Products

Effective August 1st, 2019, you are only allowed to use a dry towel during competition. This includes any league or tournament that is USBC sanctioned. You should wipe your bowling ball off every shot to get keep your ball reaction consistent. Here is a quick video showing why it's important to wipe your bowling ball off every shot. So what happens if you get something on your bowling ball that a dry towel won't remove?  The most common situation is a black scuff mark like what you see on this all gold ball.  You aren't getting that off with a dry...

Bowl Expo is a industry trade show event. Even though consumers are not allowed, it is an opportunity for us, as a pro shop, to bring back valuable information to you. This week allowed us to throw or watch people throw the new balls from Brunswick, Radical, DV8, 900 Global, Storm, Roto Grip, Ebonite, Hammer, Columbia and Track. After watching different styles of bowlers and reviewing videos of the balls, here is what we saw and what we think about the new products. You’ll first note that each ball is labeled by its ball motion; either Straight, Traction, Continuous or...

Today, let’s talk about interchangeable thumb systems. It is almost universally agreed that having interchangeable thumbs is yet another way to improve your game through consistency. They offer the ability to have the same feel in every ball, and the ability to have multiple sizes of thumb holes eliminating most tape use. There are three major brands available today: Turbo Switch Grip, Ultimate and Vise. Let’s take a closer look at these options. Turbo Switch Grip General Switch Grips are a 3-piece assembly (outer sleeve, inner sleeve, and slug/insert). They only allow the use of a 1-1/4” or 1-3/8” slug/insert....

Tuesday was the annual Industry Showcase.  We were able to throw almost all new and upcoming releases from Brunswick, Radical, DV8, Storm, Rotogrip, 900 Global, Hammer, Track, Columbia 300 and Ebonite.  These were the only companies allowed at the showcase.  During the showcase, we had the same tester throw all of the balls.  Here are the specs on our tester: Right-handed Ball Speed: 18.5 Rev Rate: 400 Axis Rotation: 45 degrees Axis Tilt: 10 degrees We used his feedback, the information released by the manufacturers, as well as what we saw on the lanes from other bowlers to come up...

Urethane was the popular coverstock choice in the 80’s.  It hooked earlier than polyester coverstocks and was more durable. That technology began to fade once Reactive Resin bowling balls became popular in the 90’s.  Reactive Resin was longer and more angular, it wasn’t as durable, but that was the price you paid for the added performance.  The truth is, reactive resin balls are actually urethane based with a liquid additive called plasticizer.  This additive gives the ball the ability to absorb and it changes the texture of the coverstock.  Reactive Resin technology hasn’t changed much in the last 20 years...