Ball weight

[santos314]

How much does ball weight matter as far as hitting and pin count. Would a lighter ball be the equivalent if just thrown harder. I used to throw 16 when I was younger. I am now throwing lighter. Any pros/cons going lighter?

[C J]

Alot of pros to going lighter if you need to go lighter... A person who is capable of throwing a 16 efficiently with no problems may notice loss in pin carry if they go down to a 14.... Not from personal experience but I have seen/heard of people gaining pin carry by going lighter. This is because they are able to get the lighter ball down the lane better... A 14lb ball going down the lane 16mph is probably going to give you better pin carry than a 16lb ball going 12mph...

I personally think people the NEED to drop the weight alittle bit will benefit from doing so.

[santos314]

Yeah, I can't tell if it's helping or hurting yet...

[Hawk]

I just switched from #15 to #14 picked up a few revs in doing so.. I leave a light pin here and there no diffrent then pins left w/ the #15

[J Anderson]

Disclaimer: I have no experience going to a lighter or heavier ball. I started with 15# as a sixteen year old who only weighed 120 pounds and still throw the same weight even though I'm now 25% to 30% heavier.

The down side to going lighter is the tendency to muscle the ball. We see this with some of our junior bowlers who as they get bigger and stronger become erratic in their deliveries because the ball is now too light.

[bowl1820]

How much does ball weight matter as far as hitting and pin count. Would a lighter ball be the equivalent if just thrown harder. I used to throw 16 when I was younger. I am now throwing lighter. Any pros/cons going lighter?

You should read Ron Cliftons article: WHAT WEIGHT BALL? COULD 14 LBS BE YOUR "SWEET WEIGHT"?

Click here for WHAT WEIGHT BALL? COULD 14 LBS BE YOUR "SWEET WEIGHT"?

[santos314]

Thank you Bowl1820 for that article, very informative!!!

[JasonNJ]

Speed is the number one factor in pin action so if you drop a pound in weight but gain 1 MPH speed then you will probably have better carry. Now if all things were equal and you were able to throw a 16lb just as fast as a 15lb then the 16lb ball would carry better.

[Aslan]

Alot of pros to going lighter.

Untrue. Many pros, as Randy Peterson reminds us on every PBA50 telecast it seems, are starting to transition back to 16lbs.

How much does ball weight matter as far as hitting and pin count. Would a lighter ball be the equivalent if just thrown harder. I used to throw 16 when I was younger. I am now throwing lighter. Any pros/cons going lighter?

Lighter deflects more. Heavier carries through the pins more. There's been no real evidence that deflection is a "good" thing, although many believe it is.

Speed is the number one factor in pin action so if you drop a pound in weight but gain 1 MPH speed then you will probably have better carry. Now if all things were equal and you were able to throw a 16lb just as fast as a 15lb then the 16lb ball would carry better.

That is incorrect. Entry angle would likely be the number one factor IF you could isolate factors...which you can't.

There IS some science behind 15lbs being an "ideal" weight...but it has to do with RPMs + speed + weight and ultimately how those all come together to create entry angle and momentum/force through the pins. The prevailing theory in the last decade was that by going to 15lbs...you still have enough weight...but the gain in RPMs results in the most ideal entry angle.

Some folks decided to push that envelope and start advocating 14lbs...but that never really caught on. 14lbs is believed to be "too light" and leads to too much deflection and not enough force through the pin deck.

The latest theories are that 16lbs is starting to be ideal again because the bowling balls have reached a technological level where RPMs are starting to cause the balls to hook too much and burn up too early...causing bowlers to look towards weaker covers like urethane and looking to heavier equipment with less RPMs.

The "ideal" is a 16lb ball with an ideal entry angle. It used to be hard to get that entry angle...and dropping to 15lbs gave you increased RPMs...and the weight trade-off was okay given the more ideal entry angle.

Where all experts are in agreement...is that a person should throw a weight they are comfortable with and can safely throw. Trying to throw a heavier ball than you can throw well (or safely if you have injury/age issues) is likely to be a detriment to your overall game and you'd be better off dropping in weight and getting the timing back in sync.

[JasonNJ]

That is incorrect. Entry angle would likely be the number one factor IF you could isolate factors...which you can't.

There IS some science behind 15lbs being an "ideal" weight...but it has to do with RPMs + speed + weight and ultimately how those all come together to create entry angle and momentum/force through the pins. The prevailing theory in the last decade was that by going to 15lbs...you still have enough weight...but the gain in RPMs results in the most ideal entry angle.

If the ball hits the proper entry angle then an 8lb ball would strike but in terms of pin action where you throw messengers around and trip pins then speed is the most important factor. The formula for kinetic energy is (KE = 0.5 • m • v2). So 0.5 x mass x velocity squared. Since the velocity value is squared it is a much bigger factor in the force produce in throwing pins around. So a 16lb ball at 16mph produces a KE value of 2048 while a 15lb ball at 17mph produces a KE value of 2167.5.

This is simple physics and I'm not going to take credit for this. I got this from Ron Hatfield a really well respected gold level coach.