bowling fanatics

[Mr.WeakTight]

i bowl like once a year. i took my kids bumper bowling. the guy next to us was mr uber bowler. had 9 of his own bowling balls. threw it like a pro with a curve and usually made a strike &/or picked up his spare. after about every ball, he'd take out some kind of piece of tape from inside one of the finger holes and move it.

anyone know what he was doing with that tape? why would a guy have 9 balls? was he likely a pro?

[pergesu]

No clue about the tape. He may have been demoing balls. Using nine balls is super strange. The hardcore bowlers I know use two balls - one for the first and second shots. The first shot is always the same and needs to be consistent, whereas obv the second shot will vary a lot and they need more control/finesse/whatever.

disclaimer: I know nothing about bowling, only tidbits picked up from friends, and I fully anticipate a total smackdown from the bowling experts shortly

[palman]

tape is usually used solely for grip or if you think the hole is a little too big for your fingers, to cause a better fit. Obviously if the hole is too big, you can fix it with tape, but if it's a little too small there's nothing you can do.

[Vyse]

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whereas obv the second shot will vary a lot and they need more control/finesse/whatever.

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Obvious? In what way?

[ZBTHorton]

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whereas obv the second shot will vary a lot and they need more control/finesse/whatever.

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Obvious? In what way?

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Your first ball is usually a ball that hooks a lot more than your second ball, so that you can hit the pocket at the optimum angle.

The second ball is a "straighter" ball, which makes picking up 1 and 2 pin corner spares alot easier.

[pergesu]

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whereas obv the second shot will vary a lot and they need more control/finesse/whatever.

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Obvious? In what way?

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In the first shot there are 10 pins in a triangle. In the second shot there are an unknown number of pins in an unknown configuration. Meaning unknown before the frame begins. i.e. after the first roll you could be left with one pin standing or a 7-10 split.

[Vyse]

Wow, I need to go to sleep. I totally misinterpreted your comment. Nevermind.

[NT!]

if he's taking out tape after every ball it means he can't get his grip right for some reason, you shouldn't have to fiddle with your tape like that. good sign that the ball's not drilled right or that he's too dumb to put tape in the hole correctly.

the only reason to have 9 balls is if you are doing a demo, testing how they react, or are just a huge douchebag trying to look like a pro. most people don't test 9 balls at once, that's kinda silly... so it was most likely either a sales rep or some huge douche. judging by the thumb tape i'll go with douche.

and no, he's probably not a pro. there are lots of people who can shoot 220+ on normal conditions all the time and aren't close to being good enough to go pro.

[Hollywade]

There are some very serious bowlers out there. Having 9 balls does not mean he is a pro, however. I know a lot of amateur league bowlers that bowl 3+ nights per week. One die hard in particular used to drive a van to the lanes that certainly was worth less than the sum of his 15 or so bowling balls.

I'm not too familiar with tape in the finger holes, but a lot of people do put it in the thumb hole. This is because the fit of the hole obviously changes as your hand and fingers swell.

To me, 9 balls is a little overboard. I can see bringing as many as 4 to the lanes if you are a serious amateur. You might experiment with a few different strike balls depending on the lane conditions. Then, a lot of people like a plastic or some other non-reactive ball to shoot spares.

[Phresh]

135, 158, 139, 126, 177, 179, 210, 165 - 161 AVG

130, 134, 177, 164, 166, 148, 118, 114, 193, 117 - 145 AVG

150, 149, 156, 148, 192, 122, 183, 132, 123, 126, 130, 181, 140, 140, 108 - - 145 AVG

154, 148, 131, 137, 160, 152, 141, 118, 160, 156 - 145 AVG

165, 147, 173, 144, 150, 181, 255, 146, 202, 190, 116 - 169 AVG

222, 254, 202, 208 - 221 AVG

149, 187, 158, 133, 161, 155, 137, 148, 161, 178, 151 - 156 AVG

116, 159, 192, 169, 203, 223, 197, 144 - 170 AVG

188, 144, 159, 209, 159, 163, 161, 197, 162, 181 - 172 AVG

The last 9 games I had where I kept score. The super hot run with the 200's had like 5 more games in it, but I didn't get a print out and only wrote down the games I specifically remembered.