Hi Guys,
I've gotten my balance holes plugged, too. Had a couple balls where I had all the holes plugged and redrilled.
You got an Idol and I picked up an IQ Tour solid. It rolls very nicely, smells great and after quite a few games shined up really well.
The IQ Tour gives me more control. The Code X I have covers about as many boards but provides a little more pop on the backends and I can keep moving left with it if needed.
Glad to see you folks posting... Have a good weekend...

A friend gave me an IQ Tour Nano. Works pretty nice. Anyone tried the IQ Emerald?

I've got to get my stuff to the Pro Shop, I want him to match the fit of my other equipment to the Hy-Road Nano I got a few months ago. I'd been planning to get them done over the summer and haven't gotten around to it yet. No balance holes in any of my equipment to worry about.

The tournament went OK, but I lost my reaction on the left lane the 3rd game and it kept me from a decent series. There were also a few high average teams in the tournament and we had no chance. It's a 5 person per team format and if you won a league with less than 5 bowlers, you get to choose who else from the league can join your team. I think that it give them an advantage. Before it started, we got to vote to possibly change it to a 4 person per team format. We voted to keep it 5, but our league is one of the only two leagues in the whole association with 5 person teams so I figure most everyone else voted for 4.

Mark

Boat. You are right in line with the way my balls are drilled. Almost all VALS are 25-35 3.5 to 4 in pins.

I just had a Radical More Ca$h drilled 65/4/30 with a deep thumb hole last week based on MOs new drilling for no weight holes. I had a very similar layout that MO suggested with a GURU but with the weight hole. Got a good deal on the More Cash NIB for 60$ a couple of months ago. Just now got around to getting it drilled.

I tried the deep-hole drilling but didn't really notice that much difference. In fact, I'm coming to the conclusion that how I drill my ball has very little to do with it's overall motion.

I can drill a ball to go straight, but if I want, I can make it bend out of the building. I can also drill a ball to bend out of the building, but make it go straight.

The USBC ball motion study shows that ball-surface and lane-surface make up 85% - 90% of a ball's motion. The rest comes from whatever RPM's, rotation and tilt the bowler can put into their release.

I'm pretty versatile, so I stay away from the high-end nose-bleed surfaces and stay in the 175-200 range on the 'Perfect Scale'.

If I was bowling competitively, it might be a different story, but for a THS, unnecessary.

A perfect analogy to describe the new balls, is that of an old person driving a 2 ton car with power steering, power brakes and radial tires. Then have a deer jump out in front of the them :-) Their chance of controlling the car is practically zero :-) The same applies to new bowling balls.

I think most bowlers at the professional level would all be using balls made years ago if they didn't have contracts with a manufacturer.

I bowled better with middle-of-the-road numbers like 50 x 5 x 50 than I ever have using 3-3/8 and acute VAL's. The simple answer is control. If I was 41 instead of 71 I'm sure it would be different.

I'm friends with the lane guy where I bowl. He likes to keep the pattern a secret. Generally speaking though, it's a 39 foot XMas tree. He hasn't changed it in years. As I hear other bowlers complain about the shot, only 2 variables have changed; Their age and their equipment. If their average is dropping, they either need to find a fountain of youth or an old Hy-Road :-)

Wow, glad to see some still here. I felt I was witnessing the death of a site.

I too have plugged a couple balls, getting rid of the balance holes. Weird, but I notice very little difference. I thought they would be weaker then they were.

I'm bowling in 2 leagues at 2 different houses. Tuesday afternoon Senior League, which I use for competitive practice, and an open Wed night 4-man league with 34 teams.

The shots are completely different. The Sr League is at my old Brunswick house, which has now been renamed Bolero. It's a 38 foot shot narrow Christmas tree. A lot of dry outside of the 10 board. I actually can't use any of my equipment there as I no longer have the speed to keep the ball outside. And, the balls all gain friction early at any angle.

The second league is at the House I moved to a few years ago. It's more to my liking with a 42 foot shot and a good amount of oil. The balls I use at the old B house, just don't work here. So, I carry 2 complete sets of balls, one for each house, as I still carry all my equipment in the trunk of my car.

I'm not interested in any newer equipment, as I feel a surface change to my older stuff is sufficient for me. Besides, I feel the newer equip requires more speed to take advantage of the ball dynamics.

My re-start is going slowly. I wanted to take advantage of the Summer to recover from 5 months of no bowling. But, in week 3 of the Summer, I pulled my groin muscle which sidelined me for a couple of weeks. Now, I walk very gingerly. I'm elated when I see my speed at 12 mph.

So far, at the weaker house, with weaker equipment, I'm averaging 201. And, at the regular house with regular reactive equipment, I'm averaging 17X. Gotta get the 170 up to the 200 to consider this a satisfactory attempt.

I've been laid up for awhile with health issues, and only went out to bowl a few games last week. I have but one ball with a weight hole, and I doubt I'll plug it. With the new no rules at all on lane oil now, I'm seriously thinking of just resurfacing my 4 year-old Hy Road Pearl and having a one ball bag. We just lost one center entirely this summer, and the other one just ripped out their Pro Shop. Hard to be too serious in this climate.

Hey Dennis.
The centers I bowl at are just the opposite from yours. Longer pattern at Bolero and shorter at S&S. Good to see you back bowling.

Boat. Still not getting emails when there is new post. Looks like it is set up right but?

Go to 'My Stuff'. From the dropdown list, select 'Watch Lists'. Select all the forums you want to receive emails for.

Oops! Go to 'my stuff', select 'Watch lists', over toward the right, click on 'Edit watched forums', select the ones you want and then 'update'.