Skor-Mor On-Line: Ball Guide

Quick Guide To Ball Selection

Which ball should I get?

First you want to know if you roll a three-quarter roller or full roller. The term comes from where you track on the ball. If you track between the finger and thumbholes, you are a full roller.

If you are a full roller and /or roll the ball very fast, you should stay in the softer, higher hooking balls. Also, if your lanes are usually oily, this causes your ball to go fairly straight, stay with the softer equipment. If you roll a full roller and roll the ball average to slow, stay with the pearlized reactives to get the ball down the lane further before it starts breaking.

If you roll a three-quarter or spinner and you roll the ball very fast, you should stay with the softer, HIGH LOAD PARTICLE hooking balls also. You should also put the pin, on the multi-piece weight blocks, in the strong position, 3 3/8" from your axis point. If the ball hooks too early, have it shined with a spinner or in a Lustre King ball conditioner. This makes even the soft equipment with strong pins playable on medium to dry lanes for the faster players. If you roll a three-quarter roller and roll the ball very slow, I would recommend you go with a shiny or pearlized cover stock and put the pin in a weaker position, 4-6" from your axis. Also go with a pin out and keep the pin beside or above the fingers. If you roll a three quarter roller and put a lot of revolutions on the ball, you too should stay with the shiny or pearlized cover stocks to get more length and definitely keep the pin in a weaker position.

How should I get the ball drilled? The basics here are as follows. The cover is the most important factor in ball selection. If it is dull and has a lot of friction, it is going to hook earlier and more than a hard shiny ball. The second most important factor is the pin position and to tweak the ball reaction further, the mass-bias placement and weights. This is hard for many older bowlers to believe because they grew up with just weights to work with.

Who should drill my ball?

The Skor-Mor Company can drill your equipment if you send us your measurements. We will not drill a ball without written measurements. If you have someone else drill it, be sure they are a qualified ball driller. Ask other bowlers who they have drill their equipment. Do not let just anyone drill your ball. This is a very important part of getting the ball to react for you. If you are just a once a week bowler, make sure your holes are fairly snug. If you bowl tournaments and/ or bowl a lot of games in one day and none the next, drill your holes a littler bigger so there is room for your thumb to swell. This way you can put tape in your thumb hole when you are bowling a lot.

Please email us at skormor@skormor.com or skormor@aol.com with any questions, comments or suggestions.