Geeze, it's hard to find an active bowling forum on the interwebz.

Anyway.. I just picked up bowling for what it is, and not something else to go do when you're out of other things to do on a Friday night. Saturday, I was taught how to hook the ball. Yesterday I scored my highest score yet.. 159. That could of been more, but I was so anxious to also get my first turkey that my ball slid right into the gutter on the 10th frame.

I've got two questions.

1) What's a good beginner's ball that's a step up from plastic house balls, but won't break the bank?

2) How does league pricing work? I've got a flier for a practice league, but am unclear on how much it will cost. It says 4 to a team, and that the cost is "$10.75 Plus Prize Fund." Is that per person, per week, or for the whole shabang (12 weeks)?

Thanks for any and all of your help.

Welcome, and you're right, its hard to find an active forum. I find myself checking this forum many many times a day to just find out nothing new has been posted.
As for your questions, theres someone more qualified to answer than me.
The league cost, I'm not sure what the 'plus prize fund' is, but around here prices run anywhere from $13-16 per week.

Step up from plastic would be entry level Reactive Balls. Most major ball companies have a line of them: Storm Tropic, Columbia 300 Scouts, Ebonite Tornado, & Hammer Vibe series.

League Pricing. Usually it varies from league to league and center to center. My League which is 36 weeks long started in Stepmber and runs to end of May. Cost me $18 a week.

I believe your $10.75 a week plus prize fund. That per week per person. Plus prize fund will depend on the voting for your league some leagues vote to up the cost per week so you get a bigger prize money in the end of league. In my league there prize money for What place your team ends up in, High Series, High Game, High Series Handicap, and High Games Handicap.

Welcome 2wisted. I'm sure you will find this site very active, and at times super active with great discussions and good advice.

Most of the ball lines Brandon mentioned should cost just over $100 with drilling. I've never bought any of them, so I don't know what their prices are really like but thats an educated guess. That price is per a person per a week, but normally a league like that is ran by the center and they normally set the total price of it, so I'm not sure how it will work with the "plus prize fund" part.

I'm biased since I started with this one, but I say go with the Brunswick Power Groove until your average tops out and you are really comfortable hooking the ball. It gives a nice gradual hook and only costs about 60-70 bucks online. Get it fingertip drilled at your Pro Shop, and you're good to go.



It will probably cost you $15 per person, per week. At the end of the season, all that extra "prize fund" money will be given to the (usually) top 3 teams.

Good luck!

The majority of leagues break the prize fund down so everyone gets something back, with teams at the top obviously getting more and the teams at the bottom getting less. Some of the more competitive leagues might only give to the top teams, and sometimes a company will donate so much money to go to the first place team, but that is rare any more.

As for the price of the Power Groove, which I hadn't noticed wasn't listed before and all the other balls listed are similar to, online it still has to be drilled which costs money and the total will be similar so it would be just as easy to go to a Pro Shop to get it, and probably less time.

The Pro Shop near me, who drills balls pretty cheap at $20, told me if you are buying a beginner ball, like the ones listed, it's probably better to buy through the Pro Shop, but if you are buying a really nice, expensive ball, then there is no doubt you will save a lot of money buying online. Once you pay for shipping and drilling, you are going to be within about $10-20 of the pro shops total cost, so I'd suggest ordering through them. Then if something happens to the ball en route, or something, they can return it. But if you order online and get a blemished or cracked ball or something, you're out of luck. Not to mention they are much more likely to be helpful in the future, if you buy a ball or two through them. And I've also heard of some shops charging extra to drill balls not purchased through them, some of the other guys/gals can probably confirm these things as well.

I just bought an Ebonite Tornado, and I like it a lot. I got it for $95 through my Pro Shop, that included shipping and drilling, and I think I paid an extra 5-10 on the grips and stuff. If I would have bought it online for $60, I would have paid like $10-15 for shipping, $20 for drilling, and $5 for grips. So I would have been up around $100, the same as what I paid. And keep in mind, most other places I've heard about charge more for drilling, anywhere from $30-60. I'm not a great bowler or anything, but I'm sure any of those balls listed above will work just fine.

if some place is drilling balls for $20 I'd seriously question the competency of the proprietor.

i just got a new ball myself to start throwing a 'hook' ball. i went to a local Pro Shop, paid a bit more than if i bought on-line, but, i got good advice on what to buy for where i normally bowl, and as a beginner of throwing a hook, was shown how to throw it [Pro Shop wasn't at the house i normally bowl in, as they don't have one], and got a coupon for a free game.

as far as the drilling goes, i was amazed at how many ways there was to drill a ball, not just a matter of plunking holes in it. in this case, i don't think cheaper is better, i'd pay more for someone who knows what they're doing.

$20 drilling plus $5 for grips. If that is 3 grips, it totals to $35. Which is about average.