2020 USBC Rule Changes On Bowling Ball Weight Holes By MDM Bowling Coaching

21 thoughts on “2020 USBC Rule Changes On Bowling Ball Weight Holes By MDM Bowling Coaching”

1. 

   Ray Larsen says:

   Hey Group, Should have done this 20 years ago?? What sport can you adjust the equipment Baseball, Football, Tennis, ECT No you have to be the BETTER PLAYER, Ya know what this GOING TO CAUSE!@!!!!! READY Practice!!!!! OMG!!!!

   June 30, 2020 at 2:20 pm

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2. 

   Ray Laursen says:

   The reason is two fold, Put a Weight hole in a ball and DONT SAND THE hole and the hole Cracks now bowler want a new BALL FROM THE MANUFACTURER or you take out to much weight the bowlers shoots a Award Game and the Balls ends up not being legal and the Bowler is Mad at the USBC and not the one that made the ball ILLEGEL!!!! End result is not USBC to many balls probably ended up not Legal weight wise and THIS is the ONLY way to make OUR PROBLEM and ( not theirs) GO AWAY!!!!

   June 30, 2020 at 3:28 pm

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     G says:

     I’ve shot TONS of award scores and not one time did I have a ball inspected.

     July 20, 2020 at 11:22 pm

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       Mark Field says:

       When I shot my first 300, in a local tournament in 1990, we had to wait 2 hours for 2 USBC officials to arrive. I thought they were going to grind my ball down to see what it was made of. They weighed it FIVE TIMES, checked the hardness in about 10 places, and then spent an hour checking the oil pattern. After all that, they wouldn’t say if everything was ok. It was 5 months before I got a letter telling me that my 300 had been certified. Then one night a few months later, as my mixed league was about to begin bowling for the evening, the league secretary calls me out onto the approach and announces to everyone that I’d bowled a 300 and they were presenting me my 300 ring. It was really cool and well worth the wait.

       July 30, 2020 at 12:52 am

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       J S says:

       Same here

       September 18, 2020 at 3:36 pm

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     D says:

     Putting a wight hole in the side of a ball gives the driller more freedom to make the ball legal, esp if you have a customer that THINKS they know what they want.
     There are set rules on what balls can weigh so if you have a driller making them illegal you have a crappy driller.

     August 2, 2020 at 1:28 pm

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     Pete pastor jr says:

     Ball drilling is a skill the center of gravity dot is relied upon to judge the weight influence after drilling the rules of top weight side weight and thumb weight is what determines if it is legal after drilling drill an extra hole does not change the weith block rules it only serves to get it closer to the limits while at the same time removing total weight going further away from the maximum of 16lbs I dislike the change of changing from 1oz to 3oz or any other changes to the rules

     July 24, 2021 at 10:28 am

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3. 

   Ray Laursen says:

   Thank You, and Please keep up your Great work and correspondence with our Field!!!

   June 30, 2020 at 3:30 pm

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4. 

   D says:

   “You can drill two bowling balls exactly the same, except adding a weight hole to one, and they will roll significantly differently down the lane.”
   Thats the purpose.
   If I buy a ball and don’t get the exact reaction I wan’t, I can no longer modify it to fit my needs, so I just wasted my money.
   You’re not ‘ help even the playing field ‘ by doing this since everyone has the same option and balls have to be within a set guide line of weights anyways.
   If you really wanted to make a level playing field start by mandating patterns that qualify for honor scores/averages, mandate cover stocks that may as well be made out of chain saw blades, and stop the two handed bowling.
   Yanno, like it was when it was still ABC, when things had value and mattered. When you didn’t have to buy your honor award.
   With everything going wrong with the sport THIS is what you came up with.
   The city is on fire and you want to plant flowers.

   August 2, 2020 at 1:25 pm

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5. 

   Jim Sehr says:

   How many millions of 130 average bowlers will have to spend money pluging their balls.
   It was not my idea to drill the weight hole in my ball. Do you think the guy who drilled the weight hole is going to plug it for free?

   August 14, 2020 at 5:16 pm

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     Ray says:

     If You Put A Weight Hole in a 130 average Bowler the should REMOVE YOU DRILL PRESS!!!!!

     August 21, 2020 at 6:05 pm

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6. 

   Jim Washko says:

   A bowler on my team uses an alley ball which has a thumb hole but he does not use the thumb hole. Is he allowed to do this since all alley balls have a thumb hole? It’s not like the ball has a weight hole.

   September 16, 2020 at 11:37 pm

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     Randy Roberts says:

     Did you get an answer? I read usbc rules and house balls are allowed for no thumb and two handers who do not use a thumb, but they cant use any other ball, even soare balls, if they have a thumb

     December 18, 2021 at 7:15 am

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7. 

   Mark says:

   In 1980 I was preparing to become a Professional Bowler. I went to the pro shop and asked my driller to drill a 16 pound Colombia Yellow Dot with 2 3/4 ounces of top weight, 3/4 ounces of finger weight and 3/4 ounces of positive side weight. For an experiment he drilled me one. Then he drilled another ball with no finger or side weights. He then drilled what he called a DODO hole (later known as a balance hole) making the weights equal to the first ball. He gave me 2 free games to compare the 2 balls. When I was done I gave him my comparison. I could stand in the same place and use the same target with both balls. Both balls hit the pocket, however the ball with the dodo hole went down the lane about a foot farther then had a sharper angle (hook) into the pocket. I also left less 10 pins with the dodo ball. Many years later almost all of my reactive balls were drilled with balance holes. Unfortunately my driller passed away and my new driller didn’t drill my equipment with balance holes, but I still had great success with them. So, a balance hole can change the dynamic roll of the ball.

   September 23, 2020 at 7:56 am

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8. 

   Mark says:

   5 months!!!!! I was on the board of 2 Associations, If it took 5 weeks to get the award we’d have an upset bowler on our hands…….3 weeks was about maximum.

   And by the way, I’ve received 2 decline letters.

   September 23, 2020 at 8:13 am

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9. 

   Patricia Shultes says:

   Are you allowed to bowl in a sanctioned league if you have a weight hole and do your scores count

   September 27, 2020 at 6:53 pm

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     Brian Halstrom says:

     Hi Patricia, thank you for the comment. If your bowling ball currently has a weight hole, it may not be used in sanctioned league play and your scores would be ineligible. In order for the ball to be legal per the new guidelines, you could have your local pro shop operator plug the weight hole in order to abide by the new USBC rules.

     September 27, 2020 at 10:17 pm

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10. 

    Jack says:

    Seems like a way to create more sales for the ball mfrs. All these balls today just increase everybody’s average . The ball’s doing more work than the bowler. I went from a 170 to 215 average, as did my brother and nephew. Only change were these new balls.
    Seems like fake bowling now.

    November 2, 2020 at 2:12 pm

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      Skip Odiorne says:

      But, what if the ball is 15 to 20 years old and had a weight hole all this time? Should be grandfathered.

      September 16, 2023 at 4:45 pm

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11. 

    Charlie Johnson says:

    Just wondering if you have a thumb hole, not a weight hole, in your ball but you are a 2 handed bowler and dont use a thumb.

    TL;DR: are they banning all unused holes or just weight holes.

    November 20, 2020 at 6:09 pm

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12. 

    Chris Bramwell says:

    The SPORT OF BOWLING is designed to see who can compete and bowl high scores within the sanctioning body rules & regulations by using mental and physical skills which present themselves through practice, competition and the knowledge of bowling to make quick adjustments and to have the skill to “play lanes” by moving the trajectory & the angle of entry to the pocket. The added knowledge of effectively “juggling equipment” is necessary so that in conjunction with altering the speed of the ball, the surface composition and the core design will allow a competitive bowler to get to the pocket more often. When bowlers, even some of the top amateur bowlers, overcomplicate the necessary strategies involved, overthinking takes place. Then, at times, confusion also takes place and the enjoyment level of even competitive bowling is diminished. Unless a competitive bowler is hitting the pocket relentlessly on a variety of lane conditions (surfaces & oil patterns), dynamic weight
    imbalance is a source of frustration, lost effort, and a waste of time and sometimes expense. Just try to find practice specials that allow for increased skills and if you’re a league bowler with high aspirations, tournament competition will allow for increased mental skills as well. Good instruction from a knowledgeable bowler and/or technical expertise from a TOP-LEVEL instructional book (Par Bowling II: The Challenge) is a huge help for many bowlers who want to gradually increase ability and achieve the rewarding honor scores which are quite good.
    Knowing that an honor scores ring or even a trophy or a plaque is EARNED with added varying skills is very conducive to a bowler recognizing that high sanctioned scores are noteworthy and a quite a compliment to any bowler. Weight imbalance sounds sophisticated and it is because to effectively use those types of strategies to bowl better requires the utmost skill of repeating the same proven methods of physical approach to the foul line and effectively delivering the ball. By putting emphasis on getting a ball to delay the hook one to as much as fifteen or even twenty feet with dynamic imbalance discounts the importance of other variables such as added skills that are far more important.
    Remember too that unless a bowler is competing for money and titles, and even then, the healthy objective is to have FUN. AS IT SHOULD BE. Just my perspectives. And my opinions.

    May 25, 2024 at 11:13 am

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