Hello everyone. I have a question about finger inserts which may seem rather trivial, but it is something I think needs to be asked. [Exactly why I am asking this: I am getting my new ball drilled next Saturday (not this Saturday; the Saturday after) for my sixteenth birthday.]

I have seen bowling balls where the middle finger insert was a different color than the ring finger insert. This observation leads me to the following question: do the colors of finger inserts have any bearing on their textures? I know that clear inserts are softer than opaque inserts, but do different colors have different textures?

Honestly I've never felt a difference in softness or texture in different colors of the same brand. Across different brands I have. Some bowlers will use different colors for each finger just for the fun of it. Some do it to differentiate sizes. They will order the ring finger insert size in one color and the middle in a different color.

I've never noticed a texture difference between colors, just brands. The Pro Shop operator where I go has the inserts in a dispenser by size with all the colors just randomly in there. When you get a ball drilled, unless you say you want specific color(s) he'll just take the first one of each size and put them in. I currently use two different colors so I can tell the orientation of my ball more easily due to lack of a thumb hole.

There's no difference in color as long as they are the same brand. If they are different color, they could be specified by the bowler or it could be the only ones left. The bowler could have requested different brand inserts, though rare. Also, one finger could be lift, while the other is round/oval, which is another rare choice.

Question #2 about finger inserts: I did gather that the Vise inserts and the Turbo Grips inserts each had different feels to them. Which is softer: Vise or Turbo Grip?

Does this also apply to finger insert styles/shapes?

As far as I know, he only caries the vise oval/lift inserts. He knows that I like a lift on my middle finger and oval on the other so he puts them in that way, but otherwise he just does ovals. But they are the half/half inserts where it's oval on one side and lift on the other so you can just take them out and flip them around to change it.

As far as feel of Vise vs Turbo, I prefer Vise. I have Turbos in another ball and it feels a bit more textured. My fingers seem to come out cleaner with the Vise. My Vise inserts feel more smooth, but I'm not sure if they are softer, it may be the other way around. Most shops I've been to sell Vise, and Bowling Ball.com has Turbos for cheap, so you can always experiment. Mostly just preference.

Drillers won't mix 2 different inserts on the same ball, unless you specify it. Or if by chance, they had no other option, but I'm sure they would say something.

As far as one being softer than the other, I've only used Vise, so I can't comment. But I have read that Turbo are softer, unfortunately, softer means, they will wear out faster. For me, brand doesn't matter, but just prefer power lifts, than ovals.

Well, what I meant by that is: Could the Pro Shop operator arbitrarily insert the two-sided inserts into the holes without any input from you if you want ovals or power lifts?

Yeah he could just put them in. Like I said, his default is to just put insets in oval side out. I've never heard of anyone just putting in the inserts and not seeing or caring what they are, just putting them in. They want to make sure they are in right side up and all, so seeing one as a lift and the other as an oval would stand out and I'm sure they would change it. Same for if they normally put in ovals and they "mindlessly" put in lifts, they would catch it at some point and probably fix it.

I was going to say that almost all of the balls (with the exception of maybe one or two) my fellow youth league members use which are drilled fingertip (well, all of them have inserts) have power lifts. I think my Pro Shop operator may give me a strange look when I ask for ovals.