Adjusting Ball surface

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Rjljr
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Adjusting Ball surface

Post by Rjljr »

I carry a full bag of Radical products.

I have a ball spinner, pads and polishes.

What should I be looking for to lead me to change the surface from OOB finish? Second to add surface or polish.

Thank you for you help, and to Mo, thank you for these great products.

RJ
44boyd
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Re: Adjusting Ball surface

Post by 44boyd »

Does the ball skid too far? Add surface. Does the ball burn up or read the lane too soon? Go higher grit and/or add polish.
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surffisher2a
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Re: Adjusting Ball surface

Post by surffisher2a »

go research the 3 phases of bowling ball movements on the lane. Skid, Hook and Roll. Really get to learn how to recognize them when you are bowling.

The best way is to find your PAP and put a piece of tape on it to observe what your ball is doing as it rolls down the lane.

Once you are confident that you know how your ball is rolling on the lane you can make decisions on how to adjust the surface of your ball for the conditions you bowl on.

The lower the grit you sand the ball the sooner its going to transition from the skid to hook phase.

The higher the grit you sand the ball to the later its going to transition from the skid to hook phase.

If you add polish to the ball it will transition even later down lane.

If you add a slip Agent to a polished ball it will transition even further down lane.

Adding just a compound to the ball will make it transition from skid to hook a little later down lane, but not as much as polish would on the ball.

You want to make sure your ball is into the roll phase a bit before it hits the pins. If its still in the hook phase the ball won't hit the pins very hard and you'll get weird leaves and have trouble knocking the corner pins out.

So as you can see you need to see what your ball is doing to make sure you get it to the roll phase at the correct time by adjusting the surface.

Example: If you ball is hooking early and rolling 1/2 way down the lane, you would need to sand to a higher grit and add polish, or maybe even a slip agent.

Example 2: If your ball is skidding the entire length of the lane and sliding into the 3 -6 pins, you want to sand with a lower number grit and don't add any polish to the ball.

Last words here, you don't always have to change the surface of your ball, you can just freshen up your existing surface every once in awhile to keep your ball performing as it is now.
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