This week I have a few tips that will help prolong the life of your bowling ball and increase your consistency with your bowling ball reaction.

Bowling balls on the market today are made of a very porous cover stock.  I often hear people say “my bowling ball is dead”. It’s not dead; it simply needs some maintenance. The tip of the week will cover maintenance and how to prolong the life of your bowling ball.

Today’s bowling environment has more oil on the lanes then in the past. What happens to the oil that gets on your bowling ball?  It gets soaked up into the cover stock of your bowling ball which can create advantages or disadvantages for your game.  

The advantage is that your bowling ball will be more aggressive and it will have less hook potential. The disadvantage is it will not react the same way it did when the ball was new.  Assuming that you purchased your ball for the specific characteristics it offered when it was new oil build up is probably an issue for you.  If it has improved your game you most likely purchased the wrong ball.  You will not be able to count on the oil build up factor for consistency.

Your bowling balls cover stock is very much the same as your tires on your car. Good tread adheres to the pavement for better traction. So more aggressive cover stocks adhere to the lane surface creating more traction in oil. So what happens to your tires after a time?  The treads wear out, don’t they?  Well I am not saying that your bowling ball tread is worn out, simply filled.

What do I mean by filled?   Your bowling ball has absorbed the oil that is on the lane surface. Without cleaning your bowling ball every time that you use it, the bowling ball will have less traction in the oil every time, thereby creating less hook or to seem dead. So how do you know when you need to clean your bowling ball? The answer is simply this, every time you’re done bowling!!!

I can hear some of you asking the question; well what do I clean it with? I know you will be tempted to use a household cleaning product.  Do I use rubbing alcohol?  What about Windex?  The answer is none of these or any other household cleaning product. These are great cleaning agents for other uses. They are not great cleaning agents for your bowling ball. Glass cleaner has a polishing agent in it. That’s what makes the glass so shiny. Use this on the bowling ball surface and you will add a waxy solvent to the cover stock.  Rubbing alcohol will clean the surface of the bowling ball, but it will not remove the oil.  There is a vast array of cleaning products made specifically for bowling balls.

Remember, when you think your bowling ball is dead, why not try and clean it first. You may find that the small investment you make on purchasing a cleaning agent for your bowling ball will save you money in the long term.

Next week I will go over the processes of Resurfacing and extracting oil out of your bowling ball by your local pro shop. Until next week, keep your balls clean!!

T.J. Yeip is the Manager of GLC Bowling and the Lead Technical Advisor. He is an IBPSIA Advanced Certified Member and former PBA member. You can email your questions to him personally at thomas.yeip@glcbowling.com