The Basic Construction of a Bowling Ball

Basic Bowling Ball Construction

First bowling balls have evolved a lot over the years. In fact there is a lot of history behind them. But, I will be mainly explaining the newer reactive bowling ball of today…

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First there are 2 main parts of today’s bowling balls… 1. The core 2. The cover stock  Both the core and cover stock can be made out a number of different materials…

First there are 2 main parts of today’s bowling balls…
1. The core
2. The cover stock

Both the core and cover stock can be made out a number of different materials…

The Reactive Bowling Ball Coverstock…
Today’s high performance bowling balls are usually made out of a reactive urethane material with additives in it to help it grab the lane. This additive can be anything from bits of rubber to bits of glass. They are sometimes called particles. bowling ball manufactures are always experimenting with different materials and additives.

The Core of a bowling ball…
Today’s bowling balls use 3 main core types…
1. The 3 piece pancake design. This is usually used in your lower priced and introductory bowling balls and can use polyester or reactive resin type cover stocks.
2. The 2 piece symmetrical design. This type of core was very popular in the mid 1980’s and still is very common in a lot of bowling balls today. This type of core is even on all its sides and usually has a smoother reaction on the lanes. In other words this core design will have a longer and more even transition when it is rolled down the bowling lane.
3. The 2 piece asymmetrical design. This type of core is not even on all its sides and a high end type design which a lot of science is involved and is newer technology. This core gives the ball driller the ability to fine tune the drilling of the ball to fit the bowlers style,.

In conclusion, the construction of today’s bowling ball use a cover stock that is usually made out of a reactive urethane material or polyester and there are 3 main types of core designs a 3 piece, 2 piece symmetrical and a 2 piece asymmetrical..

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Bowling Ball Construction: The Basic Construction of a Bowling Ball

Bowling Ball Surface and It’s Effects on Ball Motion

This article is about giving you a better understanding of what adjusting the surface on your bowling ball does and what you should be trying to achieve by doing this.

Before I can go into detail on bowling ball surface adjustments I need to give you the basics on bowling ball motion.  The basic motion of a bowling ball as it is rolled down a lane is slide, hook, and roll.  These are also known as transitions.

So what you as a bowler are trying to do with your equipment is match these transitions to the lane conditions to give you the best possible reaction on the lane and at the pins…

When you adjust the surface on your bowling ball with either abralon or polish, what you are really doing is adjusting the first transition or the slide portion of the lane.  In fact the more surface on the bowling ball’s cover stock the shorter slide the ball will have on the lane.  The less surface, the longer this transition will be.

By finding the best ball surface match to the lane conditions can give you the best possible skid to the hook zone which I will go into in later articles.

What you do not want to do is get this confused with hook or a bowling ball changing direction.  Surface only shortens or lengthens the slide part of the ball motion.  So look at this as earlier or later response rather then more right to left direction change.

Conclusion
There are three stages of bowling ball motion. slide, hook, and roll)
These stages are called transitions.
You as a bowler adjust yourself to these transitions for the best over all result.
Adjusting the surface of your bowling ball adjusts the first transition or slide part of the bowling ball motion.
More surface short slide, less surface longer slide.

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How Bowling Ball Surface Effects Bowling Ball Motion