2015 USBC Open Championships - Prepare Your Bowling Balls

If you are heading to El Paso, TX to participate in the 2015 USBC Open Championship then prepare your ball surfaces to be ready for the events.

If you have a chance to first view the wonderful video posted on the USBC site relating to the Open Championship addressing lane conditions, you will get recommendations on playing the lanes from PBA Champion and former Team USA member, Chris Barnes.

Chris carefully explains what angles of attack bowlers in these events will likely face during these events.





This video can be viewed multiple times so you gain access to some useful information from USBC Managing Director, Neil Stremmel, and from Chris Barnes.

Here are a few ideas courtesy of Storm and Brunswick you can use to prepare your equipment surface texture for the Open Championship:

500-grit: This reaction causes the ball to read extremely early. This usually only works well on extremely heavy patterns or very direct angles by speed dominate players.

360, 1000-grit: This reaction gives the ball more length than 500 alone, but still has a significant ability to generate friction in heavier oil. This works well on heavy patterns with fresh back-ends.

500, 2000-grit: This reaction is a very good benchmark reaction as the ball has enough topography to still generate friction in medium to light oil, but not enough to cause the ball to read too early in most cases. This finish delays the hook transition, allowing for a strong entry angle.

500, 4000-grit: This reaction works extremely well on multiple patterns, giving the ball easy length through the heads, a subtle but noticeable mid-lane reaction, and an enormous amount of friction at the end of the pattern. This finish can generate some of the strongest entry angles possible on fresh patterns, but may start to skid too far as the pattern carries downlane.

Here are a few more useful surface strategy tips:

1. To reduce oil absorption, clean your ball coverstock with a ball cleaner after each use.

2. If you think your ball has lost some of its “out of the box” reaction, restore the ball to its original factory finish. This is especially important for balls that are highly sanded or polished. Sand to 400 grit and then use a high-gloss bowling ball polish to restore the original factory finish on high-gloss polish balls. Sand to 220 grit, then use a high grit texture polish to restore the original factory finish on rough buff balls. For dull balls, wet-sand with the abrasive.

3. If there is a visible track on your ball ask your pro shop to refinish the ball using a Resurfacing System or similar resurfacing machine to remove the track and restore the ball to its original factory finish. The service is available, for a fee, at many pro shops. Consult with your local pro shop professional to prepare the ball surfaces to match with local lane conditions.

4. If your ball has more than 50 games on it, you may be able to increase mid-lane and backend hooking action by removing oil from the coverstock. Remove the oil from the ball by cleaning it with cleaner or rejuvenating substance or visit your pro shop to have it warmed in a "rejuvenator" or "revivor" type device.

5. Absorbent materials sold by any manufacturers to remove oil can also be used on virtually all bowling balls. Information to date indicates that absorbent materials have a more limited ability to remove oil than warming. You may be disappointed with results on heavily oil-soaked balls.

As a recommendation, whenever making surface adjustments, research shows that the lowest grit should be applied with more pressure, but for a shorter duration. The higher grits should be applied with less pressure, but for a longer time.

This will have the desired effect of creating strong surface deviations to displace oil, but will also round the edges, peaks, and valleys enough to get the desired amount of skid.

Be prepared by having your equipment ready for use at the Open Championship.