Critical posted:

A. What kind of balls are there?

Plastic/Polyester

These balls slide down the lane due to a non-reactive coverstock. Used primarily as a spare ball since it goes relatively straight. A plastic ball can hook a few boards if sanded, so if you like a little movement on your spare ball don't be afraid to take it's surface down a little. I'll explain how to do so in a bit.

Urethane

A little more reactive cover, Urethane balls came into popularity in the late 70s/early 80s. A urethane ball will have a smooth arc and reacts well with dryer lanes. They're pretty allergic to oil, so don't pull them out of the bag until the lanes are pretty well toasted. Urethane balls are having a small resurgence with the advent of shorter oil patterns. The Natural by Storm and the Blue Urethane Remake by Hammer are two recently released urethane balls.

Reactive Resin

Here's where we start to gain the large angular motions of today. RR balls will grab the dry back end of the lane and head toward the pocket with authority. They come in both Polished and Matte (or Solid) varieties. All drillings being equal, a polished ball will go longer and have a more angular break down the lane than it's solid counterpart. But a solid ball will hook a few board more.

Particle

The most aggressive balls will have a particle coverstock. A rough cover with more “teeth” to grab any friction it can on the lanes. These balls will soak up oil like a sponge so they require a good cleaning now and then. We'll go over that a little later.

B. Putting Holes In Your Balls.

Note: Everything from here on out that refers to direction will be based on a right handed bowler. Lefties just have to reverse directions.

Drilling today, while seemingly complicated, is actually easier than the drilling of 10 years ago. Drilling today is very personal and can be tailored to any individual's game, giving them a ball hook and reaction they prefer. Much better than “Throw the pin under the ring finger and hurl that bitch.”

I don't drill balls myself, but looking at a drilling chart can give you a case of the what the fucks if you don't know the terms. So here is some explanation.

PAP – Positive Axis Point: The axis your ball turns around before it makes it break to the pocket. The way your ball is drilled is tailored around this. Notated as, for example “4.35” by 1/4” up. What the gently caress does that even mean???

Imagine a vertical like drawn between your finger holes down through the center of your thumb hole. Then a perpendicular line from a point equidistant from your thumb and fingers. In the notation above, the PAP would be 4.35” to the right of the vertical line and 1/4” above the horizontal line. Bingo. If you were to put a piece of tape on that spot and throw the ball down the lane, the tape would stay rotating on that spot until the ball starts to make it's flip.

To find your PAP, go to a pro-shop. They will determine it from either looking at a track on an existing ball or filming you throwing a shot and gathering it from there.

CG – Center of Gravity – Self explanatory. This is based on the core of the ball and is marked. On storm balls, it looks like a little hurricane logo. Depending on drilling this can add side weight which will control how much and when a ball hooks.

MB – Mass Bias – Used on balls with asymmetrical cores. Denotes where the most mass is located on the core. This controls the shape of the hook.

Pin – Denotes the center of the core. This used to be what drilling was based around, not so much anymore. Adjusting the pin position can add or decrease length.

VAL – Vertical Axis Line – This is calculated depending on the layout of your ball. Arcs drawn specific distances from the Pin, MB and a Pin Buffer determined by the layout create a start point that you measure back from according to your PAP.

So what does all of this mean? I just want loving holes in my loving ball.

Layouts are usually notated by three numbers: Distance from Pin to PAP, Distance from MB to PAP, Pin buffer.

A good starting layout is the 4 x 4 x 2. So The pin is 4'' from your PAP, the MB is 4” from your PAP, and the VAL is calculated by the 2” Pin Buffer. So, on the VAL, the driller measures 4'' from your pin, 4'' from your MB. Using the PAP described above, he measures Ό'' below that mark and 4.35'' to the left. That is the center of your grip. Simple, eh?

Didn't think so. Use this PDF from Storm about the Virtual Gravity Nano to see how it works.

http://www.stormbowling.com/drill-specs/PSA_Lightning_Stikes.pdf


C. Caring For And Maintaining Your Balls

The simplest thing you can do to take care of your balls is to heed Douglas Adams' advice. Bring a towel. Use it to wipe the oil from your ball after every shot. EVERY shot. As oil soaks into a ball it's reaction will decrease. Especially on particle coverstocks. Wiping the oil off minimizes that.

Get a cleaner and wipe your ball down after every use. Pro shops sell them, you can use alcohol if you want. I use a ReactaClean solution made by Storm (I'm not on their staff, I swear.) on my Nano after every use.

Every 25 games or so you want to do a deep cleaning. This is amazingly simple. Go out and buy dish detergent with a strong degreaser. Lube up your ball. Wash it with warm water. Then wipe down with your cleaner of choice.

DO NOT put your ball in an oven or submerge it in scalding hot water. Temps over 120* cause the core to separate from the coverstock and cause cracks. Also, submerging your ball in water for a lengthy period of time will cause it to soak up said water and release it onto the lane, causing your house manager to hate you and hope you die.

Another part of maintenance is altering the surface of your ball. This means polishing (Bringing the surface UP) or sanding (Bringing the surface DOWN).

To polish a ball, throw it in one of those machines at your lanes for anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes. Or get some ball polish and do it yourself, you lazy gently caress.

To sand it DO NOT USE SANDPAPER WHY DO I EVEN HAVE TO SAY THIS. You can bring a ball down with Abralon pads, which is how they prep a cover at the factory. They range from 200 to 4000, the lower the number, the rougher the surface. If you're lazy and cheap, you can do it with a ScotchBrite pad, although this is less recommended than the alternative.

You can alter any ball at any time BEFORE YOU PUT IT IN PLAY. Once it touches the lane you can do nothing more than wipe it with a towel. Bringing a ball up is always easier than bringing one down. And if you gently caress up and bring one down too much, you can always bring it back up again.

Altering the surface can help. For example, my Victory Road is pearlized, or polished. If I'm practicing before a tournament and coming in a board light and leaving 10s all day, I can do two things:

Move a board right. But on a sport pattern this can send the ball too high and gently caress up my day. Or I can pull out an Abralon pad, bring it down to a 2000 finish and watch it hook a touch more and eliminate the lighter hits. After the tournament, I stick it in the polisher and bring it back up to a high polish again.

Note that bringing a ball down will also make it hook a tad earlier, so be prepared for that.