Bowling Ball Preparation for Hook Again Process

It used to be and so piece of cake: there was dull and there was shiny. Dull balls were for oily lanes; shiny balls were for dry lanes. These days? Surface roughness is a cardinal component to ball reaction and with the diverseness of conditions faced along with the increased rate of transition, managing that surface is vital to a bowler's success.

Bowlers looking to meliorate their game often ignore the value of agreement surface management, so this month, that will be my focus. From the nuts of what to utilize, to advanced techniques in the "greyness surface area" of the rules, using the tricks of the pros can assistance anyone better their game.

The nuts of surface management

Equally stated earlier, the typical thought procedure is that sanded assurance hook more and are designed for oil, while polished assurance slip further and are designed for drier conditions. While this is more often than not true from a lateral hook indicate of view (right-to-left or left-to-right), it is not necessarily true when looking at ball motion from front to back.

Sanded balls expend energy faster, transition from sideslip to scroll more slowly and have a much smoother hook shape when compared to polished balls. The shinier a ball, the faster the transition from skid to curl, creating a more athwart shape. This is a general dominion that applies universally with regards to shape when comparing a unmarried ball at two different surfaces. Exactly how much the ball hooks laterally is dependent on the lane conditions and bowler style.

Depending on conditions, sanded balls can actually claw less than polished ones because they lose too much free energy besides apace. When because a surface change, information technology is important to consider energy retentivity and claw shape starting time and lateral hook second.

There are multiple types of abrasives and polishes on the market. For the purpose of this article, we volition focus on abrasives, since they are about likely to be used by paw, earlier or during competition. In the abrasive category, Abralon and SiaAir pads are the most usually used these days, but Scotch-Brite and sandpaper have been used a lot in the past equally well.

Abrasive pads come in a diverseness of grits to let bowlers command over the surface roughness. Most manufacturers these days provide information on their factory surface finishing process, but information technology is usually almost incommunicable to indistinguishable. This brings us to the start and near important lesson in surface direction:

You do NOT need to proceed a bowling brawl at the surface roughness that it comes out of the box!

Manufacturers will produce bowling balls and fix up the surface with the general public in mind. There is absolutely no reason to call up that because the brawl comes a sure way in the box that it is the "best" fashion for the brawl's surface to be for you lot. Your conditions, style, and brawl layout could necessitate a surface alter. Realistically, a ball's reaction should be fine-tuned to the surroundings by surface changes; when you compete in different environments, you will need dissimilar surfaces. Abralon pads (and other abrasives) are what you use to fine-melody the reaction and match it upward to your requirements.

Typically, you will desire a full set of pads in order to give yourself maximum versatility. Like any abrasive, lower numbers indicate rougher surface and higher numbers are for smoother surfaces. 3000 and 4000 grit pads are very smooth and create more length than 500 and 800 grit pads.

Serious competitive bowlers should always have a expert selection of abrasive pads on hand at all times

The all-time way to get used to changing surface and to understand what consequence the different pads have on your bowling equipment is to spend fourth dimension during practice irresolute the surface multiple times. This brings u.s. to our 2nd of import lesson in surface management:

Surface changes are reversible!

It is almost incommunicable to permanently screw upward a bowling brawl using surface changes. Annihilation y'all try can be undone or redone. The but consideration here is that if yous use an extremely crude pad (anything under 500) y'all volition need to do more work to accept out those deep grit lines. That kind of surface roughness is harder to "disengage" but is still an option for experimentation.

For example, if you start with a brawl that has a m dust sanded surface with smooth on top and you cull to sand it to 2000 grit to encounter what happens, you can always re-sand the ball with a 1000 grit pad and then add polish back to the ball. Being unafraid to experiment is the best way to learn how to manage your surfaces.

Know the rules!

Before going into the techniques you tin can use for altering the ball's surface, it is of import to bring up a very important consideration: when am I immune to alter surface? The respond to that question depends entirely on the nature of the competition in which you are competing.

USBC (American) and CTF (Canadian) Rule eighteen tin exist found here, but below are the important points:

Altering the surface of a bowling ball by the use of abrasives while bowling in USBC/CTF contest is prohibited. All bowling assurance so altered must exist removed from the competition.

Competition is defined equally the remainder of the electric current game and remaining game(s) in the serial beingness bowled.

This is the general rule that applies to league play and tournaments where no specific rule regarding surface manipulation exists. It means you are only allowed to alter surface prior to the start of play (i.due east. 3 game serial, 6 game cake, etc). Surface changes are allowed until before the first ball is thrown in contest (i.due east. surface changes are generally allowed during practice).

Nevertheless, different competitions tin have different rules.

The Candian dominion for tournament play is here, simply the important office is beneath:

For tournaments with bowling brawl restrictions (eastward.g. half dozen-brawl limited events) bowling ball surface adjustments by mitt are adequate between games provided they are done in the designated area and that the adjustment procedure does non delay the bowler's next plow.

This rule mirrors the rule for international competition where surface manipulation is allowed during the block, but only between games. It is a pocket-size but important distinction because you'll often meet bowlers touching up their ball surface between games in international play, just it is illegal in well-nigh local, land or national tournaments like the USBC Open Championships.

Incidentally, the USBC Open Championships has the strictest dominion regarding surface manipulation:

No alterations of bowling balls are allowed once you exit the team room.

This means that you aren't even allowed to change ball surface during practice, prior to throwing your showtime ball for competition, which is allowed in league play or other "regular" competition.

This is simply a small sample of the different rules that are out there when it comes to surface manipulation. Since the penalisation can range from the ball existence taken out of play, to 0 for the game, to disqualification, information technology's extremely of import that you ostend what rules apply to your state of affairs. Despite the differences noted above, i thing remains constant: in no case are you immune to alter the brawl'southward surface during the game.

Simple techniques

The most bones method of surface adjustment is to simply use an abrasive pad, in a small circular motion, around the whole ball. Provided that you use consistent pressure, this creates a uniform surface, similar to how a ball is prepped in the manufacturing plant or by a Haus auto in the pro shop. Fifty-fifty including the more advanced techniques beneath, this is the most common method of surface aligning by hand and it is extremely constructive. If all you lot practise is main this technique and understand the effects that different pads have on your equipment, your game will better significantly.

An of import consideration when using this method is not just the concluding pad you utilise, simply the underlying surface. A ball that is sanded with a 500 pad and so a 3000 pad will have a slightly different reaction than a ball sanded with thousand, then 2000, then 3000. Sometimes, the correct surface adjustment requires more than than only touching the surface with a single pad. Annotation that this is also true when applying shine. A ball sanded with 500 and then polished volition not exist the same as a brawl sanded at 4000 and then polished.

A more avant-garde fashion to expect at brawl surface adjustments is to empathize the effects of the management of the sanding lines on the brawl. The aforementioned pad, used either with or against the bowler'south brawl track can likewise impact the brawl shape. Sanding the ball in the aforementioned direction every bit the initial track will create a 'grain' of the ball that typically creates more than length than a brawl sanded perpendicular to the initial rails.

This is more similar to what can happen when a bowling brawl is sanded in a ball spinner. Depending on the brawl's orientation in the spinner, the grit lines created by the pad can be with or beyond the runway. Higher rev players often prefer sanding with the track, while bowlers looking to go the ball started sooner will tend to gravitate towards sanding against the track.

When discussing the management of the sanding lines, information technology is important hither to consider the ball's track flare. A ball that is sanded with the initial ball rails that has a lot of flare will see the sand lines offset to become more than perpendicular to the track equally it flares. Lower flaring assurance don't see that kind of change considering the axis does non drift equally much.

These are the most ordinarily used techniques for adjusting surface, and the vast majority of the time, these techniques permit bowlers plenty of control over their ball reaction. Using these techniques at the appropriate time volition never get you in trouble with a tournament director or rules committee. Mastering surface manipulation through these dissimilar methods will requite bowlers a much better take a chance at creating good ball reaction beyond a diverseness of conditions.

There is, even so, a more advanced method of looking at surface management, and it is i that borders on illegal depending on the estimation of the rules.

Advanced techniques

This is where you actually demand to know your rules. The post-obit techniques constitute the "grey expanse" of surface manipulation. Some organizations have rules that are very clear nearly surface texture being "compatible" around the unabridged ball, like the PBA's:

If the surface friction of the ball is contradistinct by sanding or polishing, the entire surface of the ball must be sanded or polished in a uniform manner.

The USBC's general playing rule is not written so conspicuously, but they are clear in the FAQ section that surface changes must exist uniform as well.

However, the understanding and application of this rule is difficult. On one hand, altering just a portion of the ball with a rougher pad is clearly illegal. This means that you tin can't just sand a portion of the ball at 500 grit, then sand the rest of the brawl with 3000 grit. On the other mitt, when sanding by mitt, it is very difficult to exist absolutely consistent in the pressure being used, and even more than difficult for an observer to know what kind of pressure is beingness used, and so the rule is very difficult to accurately enforce.

Therefore, using the same pad effectually the whole ball, merely with various amounts of pressure or directions is a generally accepted practice amongst international coaches and professional players. Almost all coaches have used this kind of "grayness area" to their advantage in improving ball reaction. As long as the unabridged ball is sanded, it is very normal to encounter bowlers and coaches "hit the flares."

"Hit the flares" consists of trying to create more friction in a certain part of the lane, most oft the midlane or back end. To do this, those who use this practice will locate the flare section of the brawl they'd like to "hitting" and sand perpendicular to these flares, then sand around the residuum of the ball in a general way, all with a single pad.

This is not a recommended practice by any ways. Whenever you skirt the rules or but push the rules to their limits, you take chances some serious penalties. Even PBA and international players practice so at their own risk. That said, understanding how very modest aspects of surface manipulation can improve your ball reaction can but help further underline the importance of playing with brawl surface.

Practice makes perfect

The best thing for whatever bowler to do is to invest in some annoying pads and spend some do sessions playing with them and adjusting ball surface dorsum and forth. Just like you tin can spend time working on your swing or footwork, improving your surface grooming knowledge can be a valuable step to improving your game.

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