Trimming Down a Bowling Ball Arsenal……A Lefties Approach

Trimming Down a Bowling Ball Arsenal………..A Lefties Approach

by James Goulding III

 

Well, here I am at the cornerstone of another league season, pondering what to do about bowling equipment. I remember the days when you could just keep the same 2-3 balls in your bag for a couple of seasons, and once a year give them a quick re-surface job and go bowling. Nowadays, with specialized balls for different lane conditions, and cover stocks that need constant cleaning and attention, it actually takes a re-tooling of my entire arsenal each season.

So, I am going to list what I have by manufacturer, and see if I can brainstorm ideas on how to trim down what I have to save on the “confusion” factor later on down the road.  I am sure there are many of you out there in a similar boat that I am in right now, so hopefully my selection process can be a help to some of you out there who are struggling with which equipment to keep in the bag, and which to leave at home.  Here is my current active ball list broken down by manufacturer:

Brunswick
Swarm
Twisted Fury Solid
Ultra Zone (not drilled yet)

Columbia
Perfect Rival

Ebonite
The One (re-release)
Big One

Hammer
No Mercy

Lane #1
Chainsaw Massacre

MoRich
Awesome Revs

Storm
Virtual Gravity
Secret Agent

Here is what I have come up during my brain storming session.  I tried to take into account a few factors, including age of the bowling ball, cover stock overlap between balls, and drill patterns that may be very similar so that having two balls in my bag that do basically the same thing would be bad.

Leading off, I think I am going to shelve the Awesome Revs in favor of the Secret Agent. Both are a particle pearl blend, but the Secret Agent has a smooth pin-axis drilling on it, which gives me a completely different look than anything else in my bag.

Next, I am going to take the Big One out of the rotation and put it on the bench.  This ball has an identical drill pattern to the One and very similar to the Swarm, so it will not see much play since it has more games on it than both of those balls.

That brings me to a tough choice, the No Mercy.  This is a hard one for me since I have shot some VERY good scores with this ball, but it is very cleaning sensitive and pretty aggressive, so I will leave it in the tournament rotation only, because I will not be able to justify having it in the lineup if I can’t use it on a regular house shot most of the time.

The Ultra Zone is a non-factor as of right now since it has yet to be drilled, but I will have it waiting in the wings in case I need it.  I think I am going to try a funky drilling on this ball to turn it into a true “specialty ball”.

Here is what the rotation looks like now, after that selection process:

Swarm
Twisted Fury Solid
Perfect Rival
The One (re-release)
Chainsaw Massacre
Virtual Gravity
Secret Agent

Well, I have been able to trim it down from 11 to 7, which is pretty good.  I think I may be able to trim one more ball, but I am going to leave this alone for the time being and let things play out as the season progresses.  These will be the balls in my league lineup, and in my next blog entry I will discuss what I will do for a good all around tournament lineup of bowling equipment.  Thanks for reading, and any comments are always welcome!!

-James Goulding III

www.lausbca.org

www.msusbc-maine.org