We come across the best games we will forever play quite suddenly, don’t we? In fact, we may have no interest in the specific game for years of watching it on television. But, just one fine day, your family or friends may make you play it randomly and you feel like you cannot do without it.
Bowling is one such game that most people do not show much interest in at first. However, once you start, there is barely any going back. It might be as just an occasional recreation or a serious regular sport, people go back to bowling.
However, at the very beginning, small achievements seem big so people love the house bowling balls that are available in the club for everyone. With time and practice, the house bowling balls actually start demotivating the bowlers or worse, worsen their skills. This is why you should know a house bowling ball inside and out to decide if you are alright with using it or do you want your own bowling ball.
House bowling balls are much different from customized bowling balls for players. Let us find out how these balls are great and how they are not.
House Bowling Ball – Everything you need to know
The first question we should face is basically what exactly is a house bowling ball? Well, you know what a bowling ball is but house bowling balls are just the ones that a club keeps on racks in the bowling lane for anyone to use. These are available for any size, age, and gender of bowlers who want to take a chance at bowling randomly.
House Bowling Ball – Characteristics
Weights Suitable For All
When you visit a bowling lane you will find that there are bowling balls of different weights and sizes. Possibly, a guide will tell you about the weight and size you should be using and you will start playing with that bowling ball. Generally, the weight of the house bowling balls starts from 6 pounds and end at 16 pounds.
There is not much difference between house bowling ball weights and customized or bought ball weights. The weights are quite standard and you will be able to find just the right house ball.
The Size That Does Not Fit All
This is where things start to get a bit unsuitable. Bowling balls usually feature three holes for your fingers. On for your thumb and the other two for your index and the latter finger.
House bowling balls usually feature a wide range of sizes with different sizes of finger holes as well. However, these sizes will not always fit everyone. It is more of a free size that you need to adjust your fingers, hands, and skills in.
On the other hand, bought or customized bowling balls will have finger holes contoured and made to your specific needs. You will feel a great fit and comfort when using these balls. There are mainly two areas you have to check:
- Size of the holes: The finger holes should neither be too tight nor too loose. You should feel a nice grip on the ball when you hold it. Apparently, you cannot choose the right size by measuring, you have to try it to feel it.
- Distance between the holes: The second factor that you should check is the distance between the thumb hole and the other two holes. It should not make your hand fold in too much nor should it make your hands stretch too much.
House bowling balls offer minimum attention to such factors, since they are trying to cover a broad range of people’s ages and hand, so you are less likely to find a good fit.
Coverstock Material Designed for Longevity vs. Performance
Apparently, every time you watch a professional bowler on television and try bowling just like him with a bowling ball, you will be disappointed. You will spend days and nights thinking where you went wrong with your technique but not find any flaws. However, one day you will suddenly realize it was actually the bowling ball that caused the trouble.
Most house bowling balls are made of polyester, plastic or rubber. While these are really durable for the regular wear and tear that club balls go through, they are not meant for high performance. Apparently, what you see the professionals doing is hooking the ball during each shot.
Hooking not only requires expertise but needs the ball to be suitable for it as well. Unfortunately, the house bowling balls are just not suitable. The coverstock material does not provide enough friction with the lane to provide the ball with the hook it needs.
Moreover, you never know what these house bowling balls go through. They definitely do have scratches and more on them which also affects the hook capacity of the ball.
On the other hand, better quality bowling balls have polyurethane or reactive resin coverstock. These materials have more pores in them and thus helps create more friction on lanes. Thus, these balls provide a better hooking capacity to the bowler.
The Core Weight
House bowling balls are quite simple in their motion. This is because their core has a very basic and balanced weight. Apparently, this type of core reduces the hook of the ball and its ability to create friction.
These balls will not react to your advanced skills or improving performance as well as you want them too. Furthermore, you may even worsen your skills by trying to get a better hook on these balls that will never provide you with any.
Customized and bought balls, on the other hand, have an imbalanced core weight that enables high performance. You can manipulate the speed, direction, and hook of the ball with your skills easily. These cores are more adapting and meant for high performance.
The Colors
When every other feature is below par or just par, you have to make the object look better to sell it. This is quite the case of house bowling balls. I am not saying they are totally useless but they do not focus on improving skills much either.
This is why house bowling balls are available in many different attractive colors. Beginners who barely know anything about bowling first choose the balls based on their weight, size, and color. If you observe carefully, you might even see two novice bowlers putting dibs on different colors of house bowls.
Conclusion
As you can guess by now, house bowling balls are a fine choice if you are just beginning or giving bowling a try for a short time. But, if you want to learn, grow and compete, you better buy a customized bowling ball that will help you grow. In fact, you can choose the right bowling ball for yourself by keeping in mind the same factors I discussed above.
So, now that you know a House Bowling Ball, you can make your own decision and choose to either stay where you are or improve your game.
Related Bowling Articles:
Our Review of The Storm Timeless Bowling Ball
How to Hold a Bowling Ball – Complete Guide
Our Review of Storm Pitch Black Bowling Ball
Brunswick Kingpin Bowling Ball Review
I’m Lia and I love playing games. I started this site to share things with friends and they encouraged me to post more and now I’m trying to share things with the world – indoor and outdoor sports, and board and bar games. I write about things like Bocce, Croquet, Billiards, Darts and other fun ways to enjoy time with your friends and family!