Reading Your Bowling Ball Reaction

By: bowlingball.com, Originally Posted: 7/23/17; Updated: 9/27/2021

As a top tier player, reading your bowling ball reaction is an important part of your game.

Making a swift and concise evaluation of the oil pattern must be made so alignment to the pocket is effective.

Your best tool is your bowling ball reaction. From the ball motion as it travels down the lane you can gain insight as to how you align to the pocket on the given oil pattern.

In many cases, you can make quick adjustment decisions if your ball does not contact the pocket solidly. If your adjustment works, you will gain further insight how to adjust again when ball reaction changes.

It is on challenging oil patterns that reading your ball reaction becomes less obvious and, therefore, multiple deliveries or multiple adjustments must be made until you regain a reliable ball reaction.

On challenging conditions, you likely will be faced with deciding if you made a quality shot or a poor one.

You must also decide if you require a physical game adjustment (release, ball speed, loft, or a delivery angle change, etc.) or a change in bowling ball equipment.

The quicker you decide correctly, the better your chances at hitting the pocket and striking.

It is easy to get carried away with drilling layout options, coverstock preparations, core designs, and surface texture procedures that it can be confusing if you do not gain a good ball reaction.

Most skilled players today choose controllable bowling balls producing tame back end ball reactions and consistent skid distance so you can align to the pocket as well as possible.

One preferred strategy is to use a “lane reading ball” when you first begin your bowling session. By doing so, you can assess an oil pattern and know which adjustment, if any, will be needed to align effectively to the pocket.

Using only strong reacting bowling balls can lead to poor ball reaction and “false reads” in playing the lanes.

Work with your pro shop professional to develop an effective arsenal of bowling balls based on your game and once you have done so, make certain you do not fall into a “surface trap” where you do not tend to keeping your ball surfaces prepared and ready to use.

Any player who can make the best “lane reads”, quickly choose the best ball for the pattern from their arsenal, add any other adjustments such as ball speed changes, release changes, alignment changes, and sighting changes are the bowlers who will likely get off to the best starts in competitive bowling conditions. Be sure to practice your physical game adjustment techniques so you are not apprehensive to use one or more as needed. Make double certain that you understand the differences in your bowling balls and when to use each on a given lane condition. These factors lead you knowing that reading your bowling ball reaction requires some knowledge in bowling science and trust in your judgement to make alignment adjustments when necessary.

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