i've been thinking back to that 2 different arsenal. i went to a different house that i bowl at sometimes with a buddy and it is synthetic and i bowl on wood most of the time. and i want to keep my balls that i use on my house away from there because they always react different there, always. so i'm thinking about redoing some things along with what i've read on this tread. so i mite get 2 balls to go to that house when i go there and keep mine to use were i bowl the most. its interesting for sure.

Different houses react differently, no matter what the lanes are, the house pattern, the wear and tear on the lane, any possible lane tilt and several other factors will effect ball reaction. That is when you have to learn a different line. On the synthetics you probably have to move more outside and play a little more direct even with a different ball for that house. I bowled league in two vastly different houses, all synthetic since that's pretty much all there is around me other than some older, smaller independents that are well out of my way. The way I had to play the lanes were different. Using the same ball, I would play up the 5 board at one while I would have to swing it from 15 out the laydown point out to 5, and that would be just the start of the night. I could go to weaker equipment, like plastic and play up 5 if I wanted to.

Absolutely, different House lanes play differently. If I know that I am to bowl at particular lanes, I take specific balls for them. I do bring my 2 main balls, as I can adapt pretty readily to whatever lane conditions. But, I really don't have anything for dry, wood surfaces in my bag or my closet.

I had a ball or two in my 14 lb arsenal that worked well for me on dry or wood as long as it wasn't flooded, a Brunswick Groove Urethane, as well as plastic. Like I said few houses around me has wood so I mainly just had to worry about dry conditions. For the different houses that I know were vastly different I did have different balls for them. I had my main 4 balls, which worked most centers, and then the dry lane balls such as the Groove, or I would just put the Groove in the spot of a ball I rarely used.

So I decided not to specialize in one brand of bowling ball. But the two arsenal idea that came out of this discussion is still an interesting idea. I have been doing some research and I have found about 40+ balls that I could put an arsenal or two together with, based on stats, how I think they will work my game, the lane conditions I will be playing on and what type of lanes, coverstock and flare, and last and most importantly, how cool the ball looks. I have to however, limit that number down about 6 or 7 balls starting with the conditions I'm playing on.

I really need to get my dry lane ball replaced. It's all banged up but it still works fairly well. It acts more like my spare ball now, and I'm getting a little tired of sitting my BW solid out in the sun every 3-4 weeks to get the oil out to retain its reaction. Plus I'd like to get a couple of balls and drill them skid/flip (The Ogre SS and the Track Kinetic and maybe BW Pearl). Why is it so hard to find Visionary bowling balls?

But like I said I need some dry lane and medium lane balls first, for normal conditions, carrydown and on occasion balls that are good for getting through the heads.

Visionary is like Lane 1, Lane Masters and any number of other companies that rarely if at all work with distributors. They work directly with the pro shops most of the time. At least that's what I think. You can go to Visionary's website and get the number to order directly from them as an individual consumer though. If I had decide to go to one company exclusively again it would either be Visionary or back to Brunswick, but I haven't really tried Storm( I have a Tropical Storm but don't really use it much), Roto-Grip( I've owned a Spare Tire), Ebonite, Track(well modern equipment), LaneMasters and I can't think of what others I might have missed.

So what's the difference between the Ogre Solid and the Ogre SS?

As for my dry lane balls these are the balls I've looked at:
Rayzr (Solid Reactive)
Tropical Storm (Solid Reactive)
The Hornet (Pearl Reactive), it might be a little storng for dry lanes
Avalanche (Solid Reactive)
Avalanche Pearl (Pearl Reactive)
Pluto (Solid Reactive)
Venus (Particle Pearl)

You know what is funny?

There more advice I get from Coachjim about releases and such, the more I think that I only need one ball regardless of condition.

The Rayzr from Hammer seems absolutely awesome. It's basically a spare ball with a cover, which hasn't really been done before. Storm tried with their ice Storm to put a weight block in a ball with plastic cover, but the carry isn't very good. (Bowled with a guy who brought two ice storms to Canadian national championships for the short pattern.) I think that would be a good bet, since even stuff like the tropical Storm, out of the box can still hook quite a bit on light oil patterns.

DD, even those that have multiple releases need several bowling balls for different conditions to score well. The number of balls needed can be cut down though. Instead of 7 or 8 balls, it can be 3-5.