Hello,

Nice forum you have here. I have been searching around for a good bowling forum and this is the best I have found by far.

When it comes to bowling, I am a complete nube. I have bowled before on a handful of occasions, but I have not been to a lane in at least 8-10 years prior to this past Wednesday. My trips to the bowling lanes consisted of social occasions back in High School on a slow Friday night and a couple of visits when my nephews visted us several years ago.

Last week, I was sitting with my wife having a few drinks before dinner and the TV in the lounge was showing ESPN Classic and they had an old PBA tourney on. We started discussing bowling and much to my surprise, my wife had bowled a bit with some friends from work before I knew her. After a little more discussion, we decided to try bowling again.

We bought some shoes and hit the lanes last week to see how things would go, and we really enjoyed it so we are going to go a few more times and see where it takes us. The next step is getting into a fitted bowling balls as wife can not find a good fit with her hand size with the house balls.

Great site, I look forward to participating.

Welcome to the site! I'm a bit of a newb myself, having only gotten back into bowling about three months ago.

May I offer a little advice? When you're in that transitional stage between "fun bowler" and "serious bowler", try not to get too frustrated when things don't seem to be going your way. That's where I am right now, I'm working on my game every week but still haven't broken 160. (Some days I barely break 100!). If/when you start getting aggravated, remind yourself that it's just a game. Remember to have fun. I have to tell that to myself constantly, because I'm a perfectionist at heart with monomaniacal tendencies

Greetings Open Frame, though I hope you have less of those as you gain experience. Happy posting.

Don't feel that you have to get a top-of-the-line ball right away...you can do well with an entry-to-mid-level ball and put the money you save toward lessons with a good bowling coach, which will help you more at this stage than an expensive ball will.

I'd also definitely join a social-type league at your earliest opportunity to get experience...the program director at your center can point you to a suitable league based on your schedule. Most leagues give you handicap based on your average, so you at least have some chance against the better bowlers and teams. There is always a thread active for the current season in the "Leagues and Sport Bowling" forum, so you can post your progress there.

Thanks for the welcome.


I am not expecting too much out of my game anytime soon. So far, just some outings with the wife and hopefully find a small group from work to have some social bowling to instill some friendly competition.

As far as a ball goes, while I initially had visions of grandeur, I am really leaning toward a Columbia 300 White Dot for both of us. If I start to become an equipment junky (which judging by my golf habits I eventually will) I am thinking that the White Dot can still be used as a spare ball.

If I were you I would spend the extra 20 bucks and at least get a Urethane ball. The white dot is just a plastic ball, but the Urethane will give you at least a little more pin carry than the plastic will.

Welcome to the site and the sport so many of us love, Open Frame. This is the best bowling related forum I've came across, maybe thats why I spend so much time on it.

So far you've made a smart move getting your own shoes, they will pay for themselves after just a few times hitting the lanes since you don't have to rent house shoes. If you do continue bowling and get your own balls getting anything that is custom fitted to your and your wife's hand will be great, whether its plastic or reactive. House balls fit no one correctly. Good luck and don't be afraid to jump in and ask questions.

Welcome to the site, it sounds as though you guys are headed in the right direction!

Getting the shoes was a no brainer. I have never been a fan of the rental shoes, and a decent pair should last a while unless I am bowling so often I wear them out which isn't a bad thing as I would probably want to upgrade anyway. After gathering some info from here when I was just lurking as a guest, I decided to go with a Right Handed set rather than universal so they should do me well if I advance my game a bit. Besides, the wife enjoyed picking out a set of shoes and it probably encouraged her more to want to go bowling.

welcome open frame ! good move on getting the right handed shoes. as you advance in the game the shoes can too. i like to slid a bit so i got my sole and heel set to where i want it. so you can adjust shoes in this game too amazing what you can do in this game. i'm new to the hook ball. i've only had one since feb. i had a straight ball first. and yes you can keep the white ball as a spare ball later. its a good chose to start out with. the Pro Shop guy will hook you up on what ya'll need and they can even point ya'll in the right direction when you want to get a little more serious. so good luck to you both and have fun with it. and welcome to the site again.

I've unfortunately have had to use rentals on several occasions since I've had my own shoes. Since you have a pair of righties they will probably last a while unless you want to upgrade. My first pair that weren't universal's I only had for about 5 months before I stepped up to interchangable soles, mainly due to one particular center but they've come in handy since.

Fortunately, I have not had to wear rental shoes in a long, long time. My dad had a set of bowling shoes he picked up when he was in the Air Force and they had an alley on base. Since he was the same shoe size as I am, I was able to use his shoes the few times I bowled as he had not worn them in many years and they were in great condition.

Of course, my brother in law bought a pair of rental shoes from an alley and wears them around as normal shoes just to be different.

Welcome to the site. Your own shoes and balls are a staples if you want to be "serious" bowler. Granted my dad threw a 628 last night with his Columbia Blue Dot on medium oil. Just thought I'd throw that in there to demonstrate that if you have good mechanics you don't necessarly need the reactive balls, although they do help out a tremendous bunch (combined with good fundamental you could be a demon at this game).

Me pesonally, I do better when I'm a recreational bowler when I'm not on the lanes aka somewhat of a fun-loving goofball. But as soon as it's my turn the serious bowler comes out and everything else kind of gets drowned out. Anyways welcome to the site. Don't be afraid to ask about anything each of use at least knows a little bit about a lot of things.

What is the difference between the Columbia Blue Dot and Columbia White Dot other than price and colors? They sound very similar in description and, so far, I have been unable to figure out the price difference or performance differences from what I have read.

Demoman, I think I will keep your personal self assessment. Never know when I could use it again. It may come in handy. Kind of self incriminating. JK LOL

I've been trying to figure out the same thing as well Open Frame. I think maybe the coverstock of one is a bit harder which means even less grip.

OK, another nube question. In my research, it was quite a shock to me to find out about lane oil and oil patterns. I never knew such things existed. Also, from what I have read, plasic balls are supposed to be next to impossible to hook, but when I was on the lanes this past week I was getting some hook action (nothing spectacular, but I did have to adjust for it) from the house ball. I know there was oil on the lane from the oil ring on the ball, but I was not expected any movement from a house ball. Would that reaction be caused by a relatively dry lane condition or is there something else at play there?

The "plastic can't hook" dogma is repeated over and over again but as you've seen with your own eyes, it's not really true. A more accurate statement would be "For a given set of conditions, plastic will tend to hook less." This is not necessarily a bad thing! I'm of the opinion that learning how to bowl with plastic will be more helpful to your development than buying a "hook in a box" at the get-go. Plastic demands greater accuracy and hand control, even on an "easy" house shot. If you get good with plastic, then you'll know you're really good.

Note that plastic balls can be sanded if you need a bit more grip on the lane.

The Blue Dot is supposed to be a bit harder than a White Dot. It's also a bit cooler-looking, in my opinion. But I think a White Dot would be a great "first ball" for just about anyone. It's inexpensive, durable and would continue to be useful to you as a "spare ball" or "dry lane ball" even after you branch out into more aggressive ball types such as urethane.

These are just the opinions of a guy who was in your situation only a few months ago...

I would say the lane was probably drying out. I went out last night and my black widow ball was hooking too much for me to be able to control, so about half way through my second game I switched to my plastic ball. My plastic ball was hooking just as much as what my black widow normally does. I have never seen the lanes that dry there.

Thank you for such quick responses.

I was kind of figuring the lane was drying out, but with little to no experience I had nothing to base it on.

Yeah, I think plastic is the way to go for a while. I was initially thinking about going with a lower end reactive like teh Power Groove Reactive, but I think plastic will do just fine until I figure out what my bowling style truly is and if I am going to play enough to consider additional investment.

I am reading through a couple of books and I think they refer to the bowler Walter Ray Williams as a straight bowler or if I can recall the term correctly, an overspin bowler? I have watched a few YouTube videos and his ball seems to hook a bit. Is it that he just hooks it less than other bowlers or is there something else that he is doing?

I agree that the terminology people use can be pretty confusing. I believe many refer to WRW as a "straight" bowler because he delivers the ball fairly straight up right-side boards. (The hook happens at the back part of the lane). Compare this to the "big hook" or parabolic ball path used by many these days.

Look at some 1960s-era matches on Youtube to see some real straight bowlers who make WRW look like a hook monster.

WRW being referred to as a straight bowler is that his ball goes with the boards before it reaches its breakpoint and then it starts hooking. WRW can hook the ball, he just prefers going straighter.

As for ball, a Groove Urethane might be a good start. Its just a little grippier than plastic with a little more reaction and better hitting power but nothing like the performance balls.