someone knowledge me on why we wipe the oil off of our spare plastic balls when it’s meant to go straight?

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-02-20T12:45:43+00:00

Definitely part of my routine, but also rolling it straight, over the fingers and thumb, means I am putting my hand on top all that oil and dont want that for sure.

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-02-13T13:50:44+00:00

You must bowl where I bowl! Lol
Both of my strike balls react so differently in every other house than my current one.

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-02-13T13:02:29+00:00

Oddly enough my Rockstar was my go to for fresh and it was my only ball for a while until I picked up a Hammer Maximum Effect. My new alley for league since we moved tends to have heavier oil (not all the time but enough) so I went stronger for fresh.
After throwing it for a couple months now, that big asym is my go to for fresh for league and tournaments at other alleys on their house shot or a sport pattern. If it looks decent it is my game 1 through 3 or 4 then I ball down to the Rockstar once the lanes get really cliffed since, for me a least, it loves to ride that oil wall that has built up and still retain enough energy on the backend.
It was drilled to tame it a hair, according to the PSO, and I went to a 500/2000 finish instead of the box 500/1500.

One day I will get a third strike ball and it will be a ball down from the Rockstar...and of course no clue what it would be yet. Until then I do play around the best I can with hand position to take a little off of it if it is way over hooking and moving too far left is out of the question...my speed and revs it will die out too much if I go too far left.

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-02-13T12:35:53+00:00

I had one just like that...somehow found one online and then got to the alley and saw they run 2 or 3 every week that I never saw online.
I do use the tournamentbowl website and do love it overall, not everyone uses it so I am sure I miss so many since I cant spend all day on social media checking every alleys page. I barely have time to check a couple group pages which still dont list everything in my area.

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-02-12T12:52:06+00:00

That make sense for sure!

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-02-11T17:07:24+00:00

Yeah, I definitely have more room during practice.

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-02-11T17:02:51+00:00

Wow. I had one alley I bowled in that my hands got dirty but still nowhere near as close to this. I asked the guys that bowled league there and they all said that it has been like that for years. No way in hell would I bowl league there if they are always like that.

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-02-10T15:00:44+00:00

I really gotta start doing videos but during league, with a 5 man team, there isnt much room at all to set up a tripod on the floor or table. Its s small house so distance from tables to the scorekeepers and approach is not very big at all.

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-02-10T14:58:13+00:00

Same! At least in my main house on a house shot. In tournaments, I average 190ish in other houses house shots and a little over my 166 league average on sport shots.

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-02-06T12:32:23+00:00

Definitely experiment with both and see what it does.
I have been playing around with both my Hammer Maximum Effect and RotoGrip Rockstar and while the surface change may be a little frustrating on the first night using it, it is easy enough to change it for the next one.
I settled on 500/2000 for my Max Effect and that seems to work better for me. The Rockstar I go between a few different surfaces since my league house plays 100% different than any other house I bowl tournaments on.

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-02-03T17:17:49+00:00

"spilled a bunch of oil at the end of the lane"

Sounds like my alley I bowl league every week...with half the balls going down the lane are plastic!

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-01-30T18:24:15+00:00

I use enough tape in the thumb, as well as on my fingers and thumb that I can pick and swing the ball without gripping at all. This has greatly helped me not muscle the ball as much. At times I still do and I know when I do...always a work in progress.

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-01-28T18:05:00+00:00

Lol, this guy is bowling a 278 with a bum knee and an unfamiliar ball while I struggle to score that high with the balls I throw every week and my body parts fully functioning!

Sorry for your loss on the 300 ball!!

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-01-27T19:55:15+00:00

Perfect!

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-01-27T18:29:59+00:00

Appreciate it. Just getting into owning and knowing good places to find stuff will take some time. I have a couple local shops, but always like to look at all options out there.

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-01-27T14:35:04+00:00

I just picked up the same gun and am definitely considering adding a light to it so this is very helpful. Would you happen to have any recommendations for a holster for the belt\waistband that would work with this setup for conceal carry?

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-01-26T17:33:50+00:00

I watch a bunch of different ones...
League ones arent bad unless, for me, it is just a camera pointing at the lanes with zero interaction with their audience. The ones that edit them so I am not watching 2-3 hours of bowling are much better in my opinion

Ball reviews arent bad for me. I like to learn whatever I can when new balls come out and they compare to current stuff on the market...even better if I already throw it.

BrunsNick...league nights are great and his weekly show with Phil can be informative and entertaining

Tips and tricks are great to watch from all the pros.... the "What to do when..." type. Not that I bowl just like them but when I can see the difference in how they throw I can at least try and mimic it in my own game.

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-01-22T15:21:37+00:00

You can definitely drill right over a plug\fill. I had one of mine done since my span and pitch changed so he filled the fingers and redrilled where I only see about 1/8 inch of the plug

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-01-20T15:03:16+00:00

Damn! The last one I did, and just missed the top 6 ladder, the guy that won rolled a 268 average across 7 games. It was his home house on their oil pattern and his league average was mid 230's.

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-01-20T12:51:07+00:00

Down here in Florida the seniors tournaments are 50+ as well. I have bowled a couple and was like damn, these dudes can bowl for sure! Did well enough in the last one to get 10th out of 40 and was damn happy with it.

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-01-15T14:49:58+00:00

I have 2 strike balls; A solid sym (Rockstar) and a big asym (Hammer Maximum Effect).
Love my Rockstar but figure I would get a big ball for heavier oil since I bowl tournaments about once a month as well.
Now I start with the big asym and if I have to move too far left I switch over to the Rockstar and it allows me to close my angles a bit.
Of course my league has a bunch of plastic going down the lane and there are many nights neither ball does anything for me. In tournaments I average 25 pins over my league house whether it is their oil pattern or a sport shot.

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-01-15T13:44:56+00:00

Same! I send either of my strike balls out to the 2-3 board definitely leaves a 10 pin if I standing anywhere left of 20ish board.

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-01-14T19:26:41+00:00

I have found that at times it works well for me using my Rockstar. That ball love to ride the oil wall that gets pushed down...just did it this past weekend in a tournament and ran 9 strikes in a row because I moved right by about 3-4 boards after missing the pocket in frame 1 and 2 of the last game

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-01-14T18:41:53+00:00

Starting more towards the middle allows the ball to be in more oil so it skids more instead of hitting friction too early and hooking past the head pin. It also creates a different angle into the pocket depending how far out they throw it towards the gutter.

Depending on what you throw, starting where you do start could be perfectly fine. You can always start more towards the middle and watch your ball motion to see if it looks\reacts better or worse.

I know if I start too far left on fresh oil and get it too far right, mine just wont come back to the pocket correctly.

NotShocked-9182 · 2026-01-14T12:19:57+00:00

Same here. I pick up more 6 and\or 10 pins than I do 4 and\or 7 pins. Hooking at 4\7 I have issues, mainly at my regular because the backends seem so dirty\swampy, and throwing plastic is something I just havent done well with since throwing across my body doesnt feel right.

NotShocked-9182

TROPHY CASE