Anyone who takes their bowling seriously knows that having the right equipment is essential. This means having an excellent quality bowling ball that fits your style of play. But how often should you get a new one?
How often should you get a new bowling ball? It depends on a few things.
If you bowl frequently, you might need a new ball every few months. If you only bowl occasionally, you can probably get away with a new ball every year or two. If you take good care of it, it will last longer.
Consider your style of play when you’re deciding how often to get a new ball. If you’re a power player who throws the ball hard, you might need a new one more often than someone who has a more gentle style.
Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide how often to get a new bowling ball.
Table of Contents
When Should You Replace Your Bowling Ball?
When properly maintained, most bowling balls have 5 to 10 years. Maintenance is crucial. If you take good care of your bowling ball, it will last longer. However, frequency of use also plays a role.
Some bowlers may use their balls several times per week, whereas others may bowl only a handful of times per year. Therefore, it is logical that the more you use your bowling ball, the faster it will wear out.
If you find that you cannot hook the ball as effectively as you once did, your ball may be wearing down. If your bowling ball makes a rattling sound when it strikes the floor or a hollow sound when it strikes the pins, you may want to consider replacing it.
How Do You Select the Ideal Ball?
If you decide to purchase a bowling ball, consider its composition, weight, and grip. Your skill level primarily determines the type of ball you buy, the material you choose, and whether you hook or straight-throw the ball.
Beginner Bowler
Most first-time bowlers opt for plastic or polyester bowling balls, mainly if they are straight bowlers with little spin or curve. Bowling Balls made of plastic or polyester slide effectively and maintain a straight trajectory.
Medium-Level Bowler
Urethane balls better serve intermediate bowlers. These balls have increased friction with the lane’s surface, allowing them to hook more than plastic balls.
Professional or competitive bowlers typically use resin or reactive balls. They are the most adaptable type of bowling ball and are used by professionals.
After selecting the most suitable material, you must choose a weight. Your bowling ball should weigh approximately 10% of your body weight up to 16 pounds, the heaviest bowling ball available.
Bowling Ball Grip
After selecting the material and weight of the ball, the next consideration will be the grip. The majority of the bowling balls you borrow from the bowling alley have conventional grips, in which your thumb fits entirely into the thumbhole, and your other two fingers fit only to the second knuckle.
Fingertip grips differ from conventional grips in that the thumb is fully inserted, but only two fingers are inserted into the first knuckle.
The conventional grip is preferred by the majority of straight bowlers, while the fingertip grip is preferred by those learning to hook the ball.
Getting Holes Drilled
The last step in customizing your new bowling ball is to have holes drilled into it. You’ll want to do this at the pro shop of your local bowling alley, so a pro can evaluate your style after observing you bowl a few frames.
How Do Lane Conditions at Your Local Bowling Alley Affect the Life of a New Ball?
The lane condition is a significant factor that affects the life of a new bowling ball. A rough surface will wear down the cover faster than a smooth one.
A bowling ball’s cover is made of thin plastic, protecting the core from damage. The lane condition determines how long this cover lasts before it wears out and needs to be replaced.
Playing on lanes with a rough surface will cause more wear on your new ball than if you were playing on streets with a smoother texture.
If you are playing on a rough surface, this will cause different wear on your ball from how You would wear the ball on a smoother surface new ball will wear faster when you are playing on a rough surface than when you are playing on a softer texture.
How long does a bowling ball’s surface last?
A reactive resin bowling ball’s surface can last long and still be in good condition. However, this is not the case with other bowling balls, such as urethane or plastic.
This is because the reactive resin is porous and has microscopic holes that allow it to absorb oil from the lane. Now you will ask, How is reactive resin different from the lane?
Resin is a reactive material that can soak up oil in the lane, whereas the lane surface is made up of a non-reactive material such as plastic or synthetic turf.
This is because the resin is porous and has microscopic holes that allow it to absorb oil from the lane.
How Does Long Bowling Affect Your Ball?
A long bowling session can be physically and mentally taxing for a person. This is because it requires a lot of stamina, mental acuity, and physical strength. Moreover, the ball’s life is also affected by this long bowling session.
The ball’s life is the number of times the ball has been used before it becomes unusable. However, certain factors can affect the life of a ball. These factors include:
- The type of balls
- The length of time spent on bowling
- The frequency with which balls are replaced
- The quality of the balls
How Do You Rejuvenate Old Bowling Balls For Extended Use?
The first step is to inspect the ball, and then you can take it to a professional for an inspection. If the ball is in good shape, all that You may need is a resurfacing or buffing, which will make the ball feel new again.
If the ball has deep scratches or other damage, it will need resurfacing, which can be done by sanding down its surface and then polishing it with a particular material.
However, if You cannot repair any cracks in your bowling balls with resurfacing or buffing, you should replace them as soon as possible.
How Do You Know It’s Time to Replace Your Bowling Ball?
Bowling balls are designed to absorb the shock of a strike and help the ball travel farther down the lane.
The rubber cover on a bowling ball will wear down over time, causing it to become less effective.
This can be caused by friction from the ball being dragged across the lane or in contact with other balls.
If you can see your finger marks on your ball, it’s time to replace it.
A worn-down bowling ball will cause you to lose more games because your shots won’t go as far as they should.
How Many Games Should You Play When Practicing Bowling?
The number of games you should play when practicing bowling depends on the player’s skill level. A beginner should play around ten games, while an expert can play up to 100 games.
A person’s skill level determines how many games they should play when practicing bowling. A beginner can practice around ten times, whereas an expert can practice up to 100 times.
Final Reflections
A bowling ball should last between five and ten years with proper care and maintenance. Even though a bowling ball can last for a considerable amount of time, it’s still a good idea to replace it if it’s not performing as it should.
To prevent your bowling ball from losing performance, you should always wipe it down after each game to remove dirt, dust, and oil buildup. Letting oil sit on your bowling ball for extended periods can significantly reduce premature wear.
Hello everyone, I’m Sonjay Chowdhury.
Bowling for Beginners is a resource I made to help new bowlers learn the basics of the game, whether they’re just starting or hoping to make it as a professional.
I’m an aspiring bowler with a strong passion for the game. I started playing the game at a very early age, and it’s been an integral part of my life ever since.
The start was not as easy as many hurdles to becoming a professional bowler. However, if you’re passionate about something and have the guts to work your way, then there’s nothing in the world that can stop you.
However, I eventually overcame the barriers, and right now, I’m a member of many prominent bowling clubs around the country. For me, bowling isn’t just a hobby; It’s instead a passion that’s embedded in my veins.
I’ve chosen to commit a good deal of my time to assist anyone interested in learning to bowl. If your objective is to bowl more strikes and increase your scoring average, or if you want to learn more advanced techniques and skills, I have enough resources for you as well.
I hope everyone who wants to bowl may learn to like it.
Happy Bowling!
