What is a Bowling Ball Made Of?

Bowling balls are made of polyester, otherwise known as plastic bowling balls, urethane, and reactive resin. You may be asking yourself, what is a bowling ball? A bowling ball is a hard-spherical shaped ball used to preferably strike down 10 pins in the sport of bowling. The most popular type of bowling in the US is ten-pin bowling where bowling balls typically have two fingers and a thumb hole.

By RCraig09 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75334301

It’s all about the core. Inside a bowling ball you have the bowling ball core, which is either Symmetric or Asymmetric. The bowling ball core is the weight block inside your bowling ball.

Bowling balls have different cores, otherwise known as weight blocks, and technical specifications, such as, radius of gyration, intermediate differential and symmetry.If you’re not already confused or maybe new to bowling. that’s ok! Bowling centers have professionals trained to help you pick out the right bowling balls for you. So, if you’re curious on where to buy bowling balls near me or how much custom bowling balls are, you can locate your local bowling alley or use our bowling store locator here to find a dedicated Pro-Shop Operator ready to get you started.

Bowling balls have a coverstock, which is the outside material of a bowling ball. The coverstock affects the bowling balls motion throughout its skid, hook and roll phases. Each bowling ball coverstock is unique where score performance is largely dependent on the lanes chemical and physical friction characteristics. The core or weight block will affect the motion of a bowling ball. Typically a dull or matte finish bowling ball will provide more friction in the oil covered front end of the lane, however, less friction in the dryer back end of the lane. Therefore, duller coverstock finishes will give you an earlier hook. A shiny or gloss coverstock bowling ball tends to glide over oil in the front end of a lane and provides greater friction in the back end, promoting a sharper hooker further down the lane. Both surfaces are optimal and appeal to different lane conditions. It’s about finding your bowling style and the bowling ball that works best for you.

Manufacturers typically place a drilling spec sheet in the box of high tech bowling balls to give you an idea of how you would like your ball drilled. A bowling ball layout is a map used by Pro-shop Operators to drill your new bowling ball.

Storm Axiom Pearl bowling ball will be released on October 9, 2020. The manufacturer is Storm Bowling and you can download the tech sheet, ball image, drill specs, design intent, doplar report from https://www.stormbowling.com/axiompearl-1.

By RCraig09 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75299541

When picking out your next bowling balls, we recommend referencing the chart here on the Influence of coverstock and core on bowling ball motion.

Bowlers, before you check out bowling balls for sale, USBC maintains an approved ball list that is updated weekly. The ball list contains thousands of bowling balls updated by manufacturers so bowlers are prepared for USBC certified competition.

Whether your best bowling ball manufacturer is Storm bowling balls, Hammer bowling balls, or Brunswick bowling balls, be sure to check your balls certification here prior to any USBC competition.

In 2005, The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) merged with the American Bowling Congress, a membership organization dedicated to ten-pin bowling in the United States. The USBC has specific bowling ball specifications, which include; weight, diameter, surface hardness, surface roughness, hole drilling limitations, balance, plug limitations, exterior markings, and dynamic performance, such as, radius of gyration, RG differential, and coefficient of friction. USBC bowling ball specifications include bowling balls to weigh between 6lbs up to 16lbs.