Building Your Bowling Ball Toolshed

Without doubt, one of the most common topics that bowlers ask me about is how to select a bowling ball. Whether it is advice about what to drill next, or which balls to bring to a tournament, it remains a sticking point for league and tournament bowlers alike. I believe there are essentially two reasons for this:

1. Bowling balls are a bit of a mystery.
2. There is an overabundance of bowling balls to choose from.

Over my next couple of articles, I’ll try to help take some of the mystery out of picking bowling balls to add to your arsenal, and then go through the process of choosing which balls to bring to tournaments.

First, let’s get rid of the word “arsenal.” The most common analogy for bowling equipment is to compare them to golf clubs, with strong balls being equated to the driver, weaker balls being equated to irons, etc. While that’s a visually-appealing analogy, I think comparing bowling balls to tools is more accurate.

As bowlers, our bowling balls are used not just to knock down pins, but also to help us “see” the oil that’s out there, and even to manipulate it. A truly elite bowler is like a master craftsman who uses the same tools as a DIYer, but somehow creates beauty and art, while the rest of us mortals just kind of get the job done.

So, think of bowling balls as tools. Your arsenal is your toolshed. The balls you choose to bring to a specific tournament represent your toolbox.

The first step is to build your toolshed. The more serious you are about your craft, the more likely you are to accumulate many tools, from which you’ll have to pick to bring to a specific job (tournament). But let’s start at ...