Bowling Ball Surface | What You Need To Know | Ten Pin Life

[@brandoncathey2961]

I really love watching your videos. Even though I pretty well knew everything you talk about its super nice to see somebody give reliable information to the world of bowling which is full of misinformation. Keep up the great work!

[@TenPinLife]

Thank you Brandon!

[@byronfranek2706]

Well explained!

[@TenPinLife]

Thanks Byron!

[@michaelricciuto9968]

This was great explanation but I would like a video showing what a ball will do at the back end with 2000,3000,4000, 5000, grit and high polished with each grit?

[@GrumpaBaggins]

I know I'm 2 years late to the game, but where do hybrids fit into the grit category? I have a Perfect Mindset that came at 3k grit and just travels straight down the lane. Tried 4k and it only changed where I stand. Tried 2k and it felt chuggy but no performance increase.

[@lonestarpatriot876]

And to throw an even bigger loop at you, the surface changes with each throw. So, a 2000 grit surface can become a 3000-4000 grit surface in just a few games even when you are wiping off the ball after each throw.

[@Fmr.PBABowlerJoeJenkinsII]

You should do a video on pin placement, top weight difference and layouts by PBA oil patterns. Love your channel.

[@TenPinLife]

Got lots of content in the works on layouts and maximizing what a bowling ball can do so, stay tuned!

[@ctchase360]

Dude, I love how you present quality information. You’re a natural and you make the concepts extremely digestible for the viewer.

[@TenPinLife]

I appreciate that very much! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@atlkj55]

If you know you know. It takes commitment to time and practice to really understand this game and how build a league and or tournament bag that works for you and allows you to be prepared to adjust on the lanes as needed. Best of luck to everyone. Thanks for the video, a great reminder of how to stay prepared !!

[@TenPinLife]

Glad you liked it!

[@greatballsofricardo1500]

This is great, tons of info. I'd love to see a video that explains how to use pads or return to a box finish, etc. Thanks! Really enjoying it.

[@TenPinLife]

That’s on the docket!

[@gustavos.527]

New bowler here, and that explains a lot, specially with all the different bowling balls you see in a pro shop, it’s not easy to pick your first one or just a new ball, thanks man!

[@TenPinLife]

Happy to help!

[@fanoir9030]

Dude. Thanks! Just found your channel and so far so good! As an amateur bowler with high hopes, knowing the little things really helps. Great stuff

[@TenPinLife]

Welcome aboard! Glad you liked it and I am happy to help!

[@bowlingxp8345]

Well explained. The video i am about to release also touches on the energy part. Very well articulated and without taking a long video to do it. Congrats !

[@TenPinLife]

Just subbed so I’ll be ready when you release it! Glad you liked it!

[@bowlingxp8345]

@@TenPinLife Awesome ! ^_^

[@brianmallon1772]

Great reporting! Keep it up! Thanks!

[@TenPinLife]

Glad you liked it!

[@remgirl2247]

Hi Ben, this is great to understand surface and it's affect on the lanes. Thanks for all you do for us.

[@TenPinLife]

Thank you for the kind words!! This one was a challenge for sure, but there will be more to follow like this!

[@FreeFlowSports]

Nice idea for a series. I like how you put so much info in the description. Keep up the good work.

[@TenPinLife]

Thanks Tyler!

[@alansabin7487]

this is the first vid that i have ran across that i understood thank you for that, take care

[@TenPinLife]

Glad it helped!

[@jakemarcell]

Very good explanation, many people have trouble understanding strong does not equal sharp, fast reaction.

[@TenPinLife]

I want it to look like a HOCKEY STICK. Hockey stick good, banana bad.

[@jakemarcell]

@@TenPinLife 🤣

[@LynchMob98]

So what does strong equal? Sounds like "sharp, fast reaction" = "HOCKEY STICK"? And so that's "good" ... and so that's "not strong" ... and so "weak" = "good"?

[@TenPinLife]

@@LynchMob98 good is the ball that strikes the most. Strong vs weak are just different ways of getting there.

[@jakemarcell]

@@LynchMob98 it's dependent on conditions what reaction is "better". I'm talking more about the mindset that a lot of bowlers have is that a ball with a lot of backend that is sharp and quick is stronger than an early, smoother reaction. Stronger balls tend to have very "boring" looking reactions and therefore are seen as weaker and not as flashy or cool looking. Your normal inexperienced bowler will see that big backend that pearls tend to have and think, "wow that's a strong ball."

[@clutchturkey5781]

Perhaps as a follow up on this video is on how to change the surface of the bowling ball, and how it affects the bowling ball over time. I've been a long time bowler, who is just starting to learn the equipment part of the game. I've always been hesitant to change the surface of the ball. I tried once and was unsuccessful.

[@TenPinLife]

For sure! Thank you for the input!

[@rozarian3136]

great video man! Summed things up in a very simple and understandable way without spitting out a bunch of numbers.

[@TenPinLife]

Glad you liked it!

[@jeffchipps3534]

I just ran across your channel and I found it to be very informative. I just started bowling again last summer for the first time in 30 years. A few things are confusing to me about what grade sand paper to use.

[@TenPinLife]

I don’t recommend sandpaper. Abralon pads or ctd trucut pads are much more forgiving

[@jeffchipps3534]

@@TenPinLife I didn't know what they were called to me they look like sand paper. Thanks for correcting me.

[@TenPinLife]

@@jeffchipps3534 they’re definitely abrasive like sandpaper, but much easier to use. A good, safe first run is to take a solid coverstock ball that has some games in it and hit it with 2000 grit nice and evenly across the whole ball.

[@jeffchipps3534]

@@TenPinLife My Wolverine is a 1500 - Grit Polished. So I could use a 2000 grit

[@TenPinLife]

@@jeffchipps3534 you can use whatever grit you like, but that’s not a solid. Wolverine has the S64 pearl coverstock. Not sure what you want to see different in the ball, but I personally wouldn’t sand my Wolverine.

[@emerald3331]

A weak/dry bowling ball that is sanded won't make too much of a difference in heavy oil.

[@TenPinLife]

Yeah. I’m aware. That’s why I said it’s a small adjustment within the spectrum. Not a major shift.

[@CrimsonReaper]

cool content, this just clears my mind as a newbie! Thank you! Hope you can talk about more about the difference between pro bowler and house bowler next time, especially why are sport patterns that hard to us. watched you bowl on us open pattern and that is frustrating :(

[@TenPinLife]

Glad to have helped! I think I can do that.

[@erwinarmstrong3581]

Great Video, you are actually really talented in the way you display and convey the information. On the spectrum between Solid and Pearl, where do Urethane bowling balls reside?

[@TenPinLife]

I knew someone was gonna ask! Matt Russo actually explained it to me better than anyone ever had before. Urethane lives in a different world than reactive and has no place on the spectrum. Now, that might not be helpful, but I like thinking about it that way because when urethane is right, it’s better than everything else. When it’s wrong, it’s awful. So they live on a similar spectrum of their own, with the like of a pitch black being on the strong side and a purple hammer on the weak side. Lastly, that spectrum is not very wide, and surface adjustments make more significant swings in urethane balls.

[@erwinarmstrong3581]

@@TenPinLife I'm sorry if that wasn't the entent of the video. 😅 That makes a lot of sense. Thank you for your time.

[@TenPinLife]

@@erwinarmstrong3581 you’re good. Thank you for asking!

[@32rekt62]

So if I'm looking to make a certain ball react stronger at the break point I'd be better off going with a higher grit? Let's just use the Axiom Pearl as an example. If I have two Axiom Pearls and one is sanded down to a 800 grit and the other is sanded/buffed polished to say 3500 grit, the 3500 grit one would hook more at the break point and would glide more through the oiled part of the lane? And the 800 grit Axiom Pearl would do the opposite by digging into the oil a bit and thus burning up it's stored energy and not hooking/flaring as hard at the break point? If you or someone could answer this for me, I'd greatly appreciate it!

[@TenPinLife]

To say something would 'hook more' is an analysis of multiple variables. The alteration of surface dictates how energy is used front to back, so a higher grit surface will have more energy available to transfer into a change of direction (hook) than a ball with a lower grit. However, just because a ball has more rotational energy at its disposal does not mean that it will translate that into right to left motion or more 'hook.' I'm making more videos in this series to break this down so just stay subscribed and you'll have the more in depth answer soon!

[@32rekt62]

@@TenPinLife 🤞🏼💯

[@alexanderbreen4010]

Great video, the one comment I have on cover strength though is that the distinction between Solid and Pearl is only valid within the same cover formula. Because you could have a strong pearl cover on a ball like the Parallax Effect and that pearl cover will still be much stronger than a weaker solid cover found on something like an IQ tour

[@TenPinLife]

Sort of... But I think you're referencing a different variable. Yes, R2S is a weaker/cleaner solid cover, and the Traction X7 is a stronger/earlier pearl cover, but all that does is moves them closer to the center of the spectrum. What I think you're referencing is actually differential, or the amount of fresh cover that is utilized in the ball motion process. That'll be the next video, so stay tuned!

[@oswaldokatz2523]

What strategy would you recommend to attack a pattern totally dry outside of 12 board. Low volume. Medium length. breakpoint? equipment? surface? sorry thats alot but i want to learn

[@TenPinLife]

Find a center where they oil outside of 12? I can’t tell you a breakpoint you gotta figure that out on your own but typically when lanes are cliffed like that, strong covers serve me better and then just move left till it works. Need axis rotation to get away with that though. If you don’t have a decent amount of axis rotation in that environment, no ball is gonna save you.

[@KwuNorthstar]

I wish you made this video 5 years ago. But very useful knowledge. thank you.

[@TenPinLife]

You and me both! Glad you liked it!

[@russellgilbert3453]

I've always thought of surface as dictating where you want the reaction to happen on the lane.

[@TenPinLife]

If you mean from front to back, that's mostly correct. The problem that I see with most people when considering where they want the ball to 'hook' is that they're referring to when it changes direction from left to right which isn't really dictated by surface.

[@jorditerhorst3276]

Thanks for explaining these things! There is still something I don’t get; some people say that a 500 grit polished ball behaves differently as compared to let’s say a 3000 grit polished ball. From a theoretical perspective it makes total sense to me: the first ball has deep grooves with smoothed surface, and the second ball has intermediate deep grooves and a smoothed surface. Does this simply mean the 500 grit polished ball has earlier friction and less energy left at the end, and the 3000 grit polished ball later friction and more energy left at the end? Or is it more complicated than this? I feel like the polish creates more surface for contact with the lane, and therefore compensates for the effect of deep grooves. So I would say the 500 grit polish acts like for example a 1500 grit unpolished, and a 3000 grit polished like for example a 4000 grit unpolished. Or is this not the case? I think this is relevant, cause adding a polish doesn’t make sense in that case cause taking the right grit does the trick already, unless you really want a lot of smoothness, for example 4500 grit or higher…

[@judgement9571]

I'm an average bowler, averaging around 210 on a normal day. I used to always add some surface to my balls when playing on a fresh oiled lane in order to get a little extra hook at the start of the game. (usually around 1000grit on zen master or pitch black) The problem for me was that I feel like the extra help I got from the surface was very short lived, and changed a lot over a short period of time (very strong for a few shots, medium for a bit, and then back to normal again) Because of this, it was very annoying that the reaction I got changed so much over the course of a game that I often got bad scores, so I stopped using it. Did I do something wrong or is this the intended effect of using surface?

[@TenPinLife]

Short answer, no. You didn't do anything wrong. However, the reason for what you're seeing is probably different between those two balls, so i'll try to explain. The easier of the two to explain is the pitch black. Urethane is notorious for hooking a ton for 3-5 shots after surface is applied, and then slowly receding back to normal after that. Those types of cover stocks don't have much in the way of 'natural depth' so the scuff from the abralon pad wears off quickly and/or fills with oil and other lane residue. Combatting this is hard with urethane because it is an innate feature of that type of cover stock. The Zen Master is a harder one to say, but I bet it's an issue with a saturation of oil. Strong cover stocks like that absorb oil pretty rapidly and fill the natural grooves in the cover from the bottom up. As more oil penetrates the cover, the less likely it is to dig through an oil pattern and the weaker it becomes. Sometimes frequently applying surface will encourage faster absorption, but it's also just kind of how modern cover stocks work these days. I'd recommend having a good pro shop operator clean and resurface the ball to it's box finish. By taking the cover stock down to a very low grit, you can clean out those natural grooves and restore some of the old glory.

[@judgement9571]

@@TenPinLife Thanks for the detailed answer! Yes, you are right with the urethane, surface on that seems pointless :). Generally I don't feel like I need that "extra hook" anymore since I have evolved my playstyle during the last months, but I also don't play on a lot of different patterns that would be considered hard, so that might be the reason.

[@TenPinLife]

@@judgement9571 house shots tend to be pretty accepting of different surfaces. As the oil pattern difficulty increases, the need to match up surface increases.

[@tomatowado3222]

I just realized the importance of surface this year and I've been dominating my local events. Being able to use surface the right way is extremely important

[@TenPinLife]

It’s such a massive part of the game and your success. I’m always changing and tinkering with surface on everything I have and love the process!

[@matthewstoker224]

As a beginner, this is still something I struggle with when deciding how to start building an arsenal. It's easy for me to categorize them by strength or ball motion, but I'm always left wondering whether the weak ball should be shiny or dull, the strong ball should be shiny or dull, and what everything else in between those should be. Really tricky subject. Just going to judge based on ball motion in the meantime and hope I don't make any mistakes.

[@TenPinLife]

Your eye is the most accurate judge. Find surfaces with different balls that work for you, regardless of what other people or manufacturers say.

[@matthewstoker224]

@@TenPinLife Will do, thanks. Love the channel!

[@32rekt62]

I'm 38 years old and have been bowling in leagues for 30 years. Up until the last couple years or so I've never bothered with doing anything to the surface of any of the balls I've owned. I've still managed to have a 200+ average in leagues since the time I was in my late teens. I've also heard many times that surfacing our bowling balls is very important. I guess I never bothered because even in the more competitive leagues I've been in a very small percentage of the bowlers surface their balls. I know that you can sand your balls with abralon pads and other pads on the market. I also know you can polish your balls and make them shine. I just never knew how to apply any of it. I've purchased some abralon pads in the past and have used them several times on my balls but I never even knew why I was doing it, or what to expect when sanding them down to 500, 800, 1200 etc. What I'd like to achieve is making some of my balls react much stronger down lane than they often times do. With me having a lower rev rate it's extremely rare for me to want to smooth a balls reaction out. I have issues with my balls already being far too smooth regardless of how strong the coverstock/core of the balls I own. With that said, I hope this video explains what I can do in my case where I'm looking to make some of my balls react stronger at the break point then they currently do. Guess it's time to unpause the video and find out. 🤞🏼😆

[@TenPinLife]

First time the channel has had someone comment mid and end of video. Gotta love a good timelapse.

[@vicfanwi]

OK, so can you help me on Sunday? JK!! See you then!!

[@TenPinLife]

I can try!

[@egibs3565]

Less oil= More Surface

[@TenPinLife]

Sometimes! It’s all about what matches up with your game!

[@Fabomenal92]

How do i change surface ? And is it a good idea to make old balls stronger for more hook ?

[@TenPinLife]

It’s been requested multiple times to go through HOW to change surface, so I’ll be making that next week!

[@TenPinLife]

Also, it depends on the ball. Sometimes more surface is the answer, sometimes a full resurface is the answer! Sometimes the dumpster is the answer!

[@Fabomenal92]

@@TenPinLife thanks for your answer! Really enjoing your content.

[@TenPinLife]

@@Fabomenal92 happy you’re liking it!