Understanding Bowling Ball Cores: Symmetrical and Asymmetrical

April 12, 2011 Leave a comment

Understanding Symmetric and Asymmetric Cores In Bowling Balls.

Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Cores In Bowling Balls Whats The Difference?

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This is a question you may have wondered, I know I did for a long time. Then one day I ask an ebonite representative in a phone conversation what this was on the drill sheets I seen some said symmetrical drilling instructions and other said asymmetrical ball drill instructions.

This really puzzled me and even after talking to him at the time I struggled with it, now this was a few years back. Well later I finally understood what symmetric and asymmetric was. Now I see a lot of bowling ball promo sheets with technical stuff on them that the average and even the high average bowler really has no idea of what most of this stuff means.

Now I will try to address some of the technical stuff, but I am not an engineer or science expert so the only thing I am going to try to do is pass on what was passed on to me. In addition, share some of my own personal experiences and studies. The first thing I will share is what the difference is between symmetrical and asymmetrical.

Ok first symmetrical, this means that something or object is even on all sides, a bowling ball is symmetrical before it is drilled, it is even on all its sides, some cores are even on all there side on the inside of a bowling ball. These balls tend to have an even and smoother reaction to them. Now asymmetrical, this means that something or an object that is not even on all sides. An example would be a bowling ball with a chunk cut out of it.

Some cores in bowling balls are asymmetrical, these balls have a extra weight distribution in them called a mass bias on a bowling balls promo sheet, now bowling ball companies do have different terms they use for this, examples are intermediate differential, mass bias strength, PSA or Positive Spin Axis, Bomb, Key, to name a few. An asymmetrical bowling ball is very tunable to the bowlers style because of this weight distribution.

These balls are drilled to enhance a bowlers week areas of the game or can be drilled to rev up sooner or later in the hook zone of the bowling lane. In addition, the style of asymmetry can cause the ball to spin faster or slower. As a rule the higher the mass bias strength the faster and the more influence the cores spin will have in theory.

There again I am not a science major. Refer to Morich Bowling for more on this as they as I know it are the founder of this technology. In addition, Refer to Ebonite for there bowling ball layouts that I wrote about in the beginning. There is and example below of symmetrical and asymmetrical.