Bowling Tip
By Mike Luongo

Bowlers: This week's tip is for bowlers using performance bowling balls. These balls are made of urethane, urethane with reactive additives, with or without particles.
All performance balls come out of the box with either some degree of matte finish, a compounded finish or polished finish.
When a manufacturer chooses a box finish for a bowling ball, many times it is for shelf appeal. All companies want you to choose their products. What you need to know as a customer is that the cover on your performance ball can be adjusted to best fit your needs.
What does this mean for a customer? To maximize your scoring ability on a given lane condition, the coverstock of your bowling ball should match the lane condition. If your ball is grabbing the lane too early, you will need some polish. If the ball is already polished, use a higher degree of polish, preferable something with a slip agent. T his will help you get the ball down the lane with less effort. The telltale sign of a ball grabbing the lane too soon is when you see the ball start to hook and then it stops hooking.
On the other hand, if your ball is skidding too far down the lane, you will need some surface friction on the ball. How much friction you need will depend on your ball speed, rev rate and the amount of oil on the lane. The degree of matte finish could be as little as 4000 or as much as 320.
Reminder, these are adjustments to fine tune you ball reaction. It is up to your Pro Shop professional to help you purchase the ball or balls with the proper core and cover to match booth your game and the lane surface on which you bowl. Depending on how serious you are about your bowling, and how many centers you bowl in, you may need more than one ball to help you match the conditions.
And always remember: your equipment should be cleaned each time it used.
Mike Luongo is technically certified through IBPSIA as a Pro Shop Operator and Master Instructor.. He is also a Silver Level Coach with the USBC and is also the Northeast Regional Sales Manager with the Storm and Roto Grip Bowling Ball Company. If you have a question or subject you would like covered, Mike an be reached by calling 341-1694 or by sending an e-mail to mikespro@warwick.net

Ed's Outlook

I love to get together with folks who share great knowledge about this sport and the subject always turns to the fact that this sport depends on all of us who participate in the sport.
Selling this sport is really as easy as letting others know how much we enjoy the sport.
All league officers, association members and officers and league bowlers should sell the sport and let non-bowlers know about the fun of bowling and we should all be out there recruiting new league members.
An interesting question we as bowlers should be asking each other is how often do we speak about bowling's benefits to friends outside of our regular bowling circle.
Just a little casual conversation about the game you love will do more to create positive change in attitudes about the sport.
Always use a positive approach and lets all try to bring in new bowlers because when this happens the sport grows and this is very important to our great game of bowling.

PBA RETURNS TO ACTION

PBA action returned to the lanes this week following the holiday break.
The Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles Championship took place Sunday through Tuesday and the event will be televised on Sunday, February 1 on ESPN at 2 p.m. ET.
The National Bowling Stadium Championship is presently underway at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, NV with the championship round taking place this Sunday (January 11) on ESPN at 1 p.m. ET.