This week I would like to take a step back from all the little tips.  Normally I write about how to do this better or that better and what you need to do to be more consistent.  All those things are great, but someone recently asked how do you do the ball reviews, and how do you actually determine the differences between all the bowling balls that you have tested.  This brings us to this week’s article about how I actually do a bowling ball test.  I will cover from when I first look at how I should drill the ball all the way to when I am sitting at my desk enjoying a cup of coffee and actually writing it.  

The first thing I do when I get a new bowling ball is to determine its character.  What was the ball designed to do.  The next step is to lay out the ball.  I work on a layout that will be conducive to what the bowling ball is designed to do on a given lane condition. Let’s look at the Fast by Storm ball review I did earlier this year. You know that one even has a video review that you can watch and actually see what the bowling ball does on the lane (Fast). Ok so let’s get back to how I started and ended up with the Fast by Storm.  

This bowling ball was a stronger version of the Street Rod Pearl that Storm released the year before. With that in mind, I mapped out this bowling ball to be a longer ball reaction with a strong back end. Once I map out the bowling ball and I am happy with what I see, I go right to the drill press and drill the gripping holes. After that is finished this is where all the fun starts to happen. I get to go out and see what this bowling ball does on the lanes. So why don’t you come on down to the lanes with me and lets start to go through what I see when I am bowling. 

Well thank you for coming back and joining me out on the lanes for the Storm Fast ball review. Now that I have a pair of lanes to go out and throw this bowling ball let’s first start by some stretching and warm up shots to get my body ready for the test. You know you can’t just go out and toss the ball like you would if you do not stretch and get loosened up first right? Now that we are out on the lanes and we are all warmed up and ready to try this review, I typically will start with my favorite starting point on the lane and see what type of reaction I see the ball do on the lane. Once I see what the initial ball path does, I start to test the ball from a variety of different angles on the lane. This will give me a reference point as to how strong the overall bowling ball is on the lane condition. As I am trying multiple angles, I also try different ball speeds along with different releases to get a clearer picture for the variety of bowling styles there are in this sport. You know just because it will work for one style does not always mean they will work for other styles, unless given different lane conditions or even ball surfaces.  

The last step is to finish up all the bowling that I have done with the test ball and start to write some notes as to what I saw during my testing. After that I wipe the sweat of my forehead and call it a day. The final step is to actually put it to print and post the review for all to see. 

When I get back into my office, I sit down at the desk, take out my notes from the previous testing, grab my coffee, and start to put together the written format of the ball review. I double check the manufacturers specs on the bowling ball to make sure I do not provide any misinformation and start to give you the reader some insight to this new bowling ball release.  After this is all done you have a ball review.  I hope you enjoyed your journey with me this week into this part of my life and work. Soon you will start to see video reviews on our site with every bowling ball release that I test. From here you can actually see the bowling ball motion and have a greater connection with the equipment that is out today and what you can expect to see when choosing the correct bowling ball for you. As always if you have any questions or comments I would love to hear from my readers. Don’t forget to check out our facebook page and we are now up on twitter.

Until next week have a great time bowling and tune in next week for another journey with T.J. Yeip and GLC Bowling. 

T.J. Yeip is the Manager and Lead Technical Advisor for GLC Bowling. You can email him directly at Thomas.yeip@glcbowling.com