What resources do you use to research bowling balls?

Bowling ball related topics including new products, arsenals and comparisons.

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kajmk
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What resources do you use to research bowling balls?

Post by kajmk »

Hope some of you will reply.
I'm curious about how you keep abreast of what's available and evaluations of same.
Thanks
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Re: What resources do you use to research bowling balls?

Post by 44boyd »

YouTube reviews are what I use for information. Then I look to see what is actually being thrown by people in tournaments. I love the information that the social media platforms provide, but hate the used car salesmen tactics praising every release by staffers. It’s hard to decipher what’s actually going to be good vs what is just hype.
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Re: What resources do you use to research bowling balls?

Post by nwohbowler »

Youtube mostly. I look for reviewers with as close to my stats as possible and see what layout they use. It gives me a decent idea of what to expect the ball to do for me. That said, I have yet to actually buy a new ball based on watching reviews. Really though, I think I'm going to utilize the help I get from this forum for picking my next ball and layout. I've already been given a good amount of information, now I just need to settle on a ball.
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elgavachon
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Re: What resources do you use to research bowling balls?

Post by elgavachon »

I always look a ball up on Bowling This Month. I think they do the best job of comparing balls. They use 3 people with different styles and change the textures and change the patterns. There are also some very great articles written by Dean Champ ( deanchamp here), Joe Slowinski (BowlingCoach here), and Bill Sempsrott (Blueprint here at BowlingChat. I just realized I left off Rob Mautner (RobMautner) and maybe others, I apologize. Please add yourselves so I won't feel bad.

https://www.bowlingthismonth.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Last edited by elgavachon on March 17th, 2019, 7:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Mongo
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Re: What resources do you use to research bowling balls?

Post by Mongo »

BTM and YouTube.
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Re: What resources do you use to research bowling balls?

Post by Olias »

I tend to use Bowling This Month as a starting point. They have been doing reviews for a long time with 3 different styles. They review a lot of equipment so you can generally calibrate what you might have and they have reviewed in the past with more current releases. Bowler's Journal is another reference. Some staffers that throw similar to me are another source. Some videos on-line on you-tube or from some of of the coaching/sales sites are ok...mainly the ones that state the pattern and layout (and ideally the bowlers characteristics - but I can get the gist by whiting them throw it). Facebook post reviews/comments...no. Every new release is awesome.
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Re: What resources do you use to research bowling balls?

Post by jdbogard17 »

As others have said, BowlingThisMonth is a phenomenal resource. They have been reivewing balls for a long time, and from what I've seen they do a really good job of giving a non-biased, objective reivew. It does cost a littel bit of money for full access to most of the reviews and content (something like $5 a month) but for me it has been WELL worth the pocket change. There is a ton of info on that site besides just ball reivews that have helped my game a ton since coming back to bowling after a long time off.

If you want to actually see ball reaction and shape down a lane (and, who doesn't?) then check out Tamer Bowling on YouTube. Again, he does a really good job of giving objective reviews from several different companies and he uses multiple different bowlers on THS and Sport conditions so you can get a pretty good feel of what each ball does for different styles on different patterns. His only downfall is that the Brunswick family of balls doesn't seem to want to work with him and they won't send him any balls to review, so if you are a fan of the Big B and their daughter companies then you'll be out of luck.
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Re: What resources do you use to research bowling balls?

Post by J_w73 »

Mongo wrote:BTM and YouTube.
Yep.. BTM and Youtube. I don't think BTM reviews are as great as they once were, but their comparisons are still pretty good.
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Re: What resources do you use to research bowling balls?

Post by guruU2 »

BOWLERS JOURNAL is my starting and primary source.
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If one does not know one's product, one can not manage nor promote the product one does not know.
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