Category: Bowling

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Bowling

Storm Fast and Furious

You’ve heard of the Fast and the Furious, but did you know that it applied to bowling as well?  Ok, not in the general sense, but Storm is coming out with two new bowling balls ([bowlingball value=”7066″/] & [bowlingball value=”7067″/]).

You have to love the way the bowling industry plays with words to try and make them work for bowling balls.  It’s always quite interesting to me to see the New Release Bowling Balls every few months.

Keep an eye out for these two bowling balls coming at the end of May 2009.

Categories
Bowling

Storm Virtual Energy, the successor

[bowlingball value=”7056,i150″/]

Storm had a HUGE hit with their amazing [bowlingball value=”6811″/] bowling ball.  I can’t wait to check out the new successor, the [bowlingball value=”7065″/].  It is set to release on June 25, 2009.

Here are the tech specs on this upcoming new ball release:

  • Color: Emerald/Olympic Gold/Black
  • Coverstock: R2X Hybrid Reactive
  • Weight Block: Shape Lock HD
  • Ball Finish: 1500-grit Polish
  • RG: 2.48
  • Differential: .052
  • Mass Bias Diff: .020
  • Logos: Virtual Energy, CG, Key, Storm
  • Durometer: 73-75
  • Flare Potential: 6″ Plus (High)
  • Fragrance: Pear Berry
Categories
Bowling

How to Hook a Bowling Ball

Often, people ask for a hook bowling ball.  But what does that mean?  I will try to spell it out.

I am going to include a video from [bowlingball value=”6693″/] below for a different explanation.

Bowling balls hook because of friction.  Oil is applied to the lane to let the ball get down the lane before it hooks.  A larger entry angle into the pocket increases your chance for a strike.  But a bowling ball hooks because of the bowling release, the friction on the lanes, and the core in the middle of the ball.

If you really want to hook a bowling ball, you need a higher performance bowling ball.  Anything stronger than a plastic bowling ball will be a great start.  Plastic bowling balls are meant to go straight.  I personally suggest that you start with a lower price entry level bowling ball.  This will allow you to get it drilled professionally to fit your hand, start to develop consistancy, and then you can find your PAP.  From there, as you buy more expensive higher performance bowling balls, you will have a better idea how to drill them.

Watch this video, and please ask if you need help learning to hook a bowling ball.

[bowlingball value=”6568,i150l”/] [bowlingball value=”4927,150l”/] [bowlingball value=”4183,i150l”/]

Categories
Bowling

Carolyn Dorin-Ballard Sets New Record on TV

Women’s bowling took a big step forward this past weekend.  A few years back the PWBA was pretty much canceled and the women were no longer on TV.  This year they started introducing them back at the beginning of the season, showing their title matches in the middle of the men’s games.

This past weekend was the Women’s Series Showdown where 6 women competed in the finals.  They used a new scoring method, The Johnny Petraglia Scoring System, and bowled 3 women at a time.  The format of the bowling was very confusing for me at home, as well as the women bowling.  You can see at one point, Jodi Woessner looks to her right and points at herself to make sure it is her turn.  The women did not bowl on the same lanes as each other, they each had their very own lane.

The six women were broken into two squads of three.  The winner of each squad moved onto the finals, the highest score (worst score) was eliminated, and the other three moved onto a wildcard round.  After the first squad, it appeared that Carloyn Dorin-Ballard was going to be eliminated with a score of 17.  Lucky for her, Michele Feldman struggled and ended up shooting an 18, giving Carloyn a chance in the wildcard.

In the wildcard round, Carolyn made a great change and tied Macpherson with a score of 12 each.  They then went into a sudden death roll off where Carloyn rolled 3 strikes to finally knock Macpherson out.

Carolyn shot the last 8 strikes in her wildcard game, then 3 in the roll off.  She then threw the first 9 strikes in the finals (10 would have been a perfect game), giving her 20 strikes in a row on television.  The previous record for the PBA was 18 in row.  This was an amazing feat, and I was happy to have watched it.

The final standings:

  1. Carolyn Dorin-Ballard (Keller, TX), $25,000
  2. Jodi Woessner (Oregon, OH), $12,000
  3. Stefanie Nation (Arling, TX), $5,000
  4. Wndy Macpherson (Henderson, NV), $3,000
  5. Miss Bellinder (Fullerton, CA), $3,000
  6. Michele Feldman (Auburn, NY), $2,000
Categories
Bowling

Petraglia Scoring System

I watched the PWBA (Professional Women’s Bowling Association) tournament this past weekend and found that they were using a new scoring method.  John Petraglia, one of the PBA’s greatest 50 listed this year, introduced a simplified scoring method.

Basically you bowl until all of the bowling pins are knocked down.  In a sense, the scoring is like golf.  The lower your score, the better.  A strike is one(1) point.  A normal spare is two(2) points.  There were a few frames where the women scored three(3) points because of splits (like the dreaded 7-10) and just chopped spares.  A perfect game would be 10, almost accomplished on TV by Carolyn Dorin-Ballard.

This isn’t a new concept, but the PBA put a name to it (Petraglia) to give it a little more appeal.  Johnny Petraglia is a great person, and I am happy that they used his name for this scoring method.

It will be interesting to see if the Johnny Petraglia scoring method catches on and becomes more widely used.

Categories
Bowling

ABT: Amateur Bowlers Tour

My friend Brian Halstrom and I decided to enter a local ABT tournament this weekend. We bowled the 2:30 squad and the top two in each division auto-cut to the semi-finals. The auto-cut means you may not bowl well enough to beat 80% of the field (1 in 5), but you bowled well enough in that one squad to automatically make it. This is what happened to me 🙂

Brian of course bowled well enough to make it either way. He did make the auto-cut like I did, but he didn’t need it.

Then Sunday’s Semi-Final happened. Turns out that the wick in the oil machined didn’t engage properly, or something to this effect. So the lanes were very dry in the middle/right side of the lane. It was very easy to send the ball through the beak, or brooklyn.

After all was said and done, my tournament ended there. I was +2 (602 with handicap) for the three games, 489 scratch. It was tough, and I did not do a good job adjusting to the conditions.

I had a lot of fun and plan on entering more tournaments this year. If you haven’t tried a tournament, I would highly recommend giving it a shot. I wish I would have entered them much more when I was younger. Live and learn…

I used a combination of my [bowlingball value=”6991″/] and my [bowlingball value=”6918″/]. Both great bowling balls.

[bowlingball value=”6991,i150l”/][bowlingball value=”6918,i150r”/]


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Bowling

Barack Obama Bowling Ball

Here is your chance to own a piece of history with a [bowlingball value=”6988″/]. This unique design was created by bowlingball.com and is a limited edition bowling ball. On one side of the bowling ball you will see Martin Luther King Jr with his famous speech in the background. On the other side is the United States of America President, Barack Obama, with his Inaugural speech in the background.

[bowlingball value=”6988,i300″/]

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Categories
Bowling Video

Ebonite Magic Bowling Ball

[bowlingball value=”6969″/]

Here is our bowling ball reaction video of the [bowlingball value”6969″/]. Let us know your thoughts.

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Categories
Bowling Video

Hammer Hot Sauce Pearl Bowling Ball Video

Hammer has released the new [bowlingball value=”6936″/] as a successor to their popular [bowlingball value=”6724″/]. Watch the following video to see the ball reactions of Tony Ruocco, Brian Halstrom, and myself.

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Categories
Bowling

Roto-Grip Rogue Cell Bowling Ball

Roto-Grip is about to release the next version of their Cell brand of bowling ball – The Rogue Cell. The Cell and Cell Pearl have been wildly popular in the bowling leagues around me. I can’t wait for this newest edition to hit the lanes on March 12, 2009.

As usual, we will try to get video and reviews written as soon as possible.

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