Expert: - 11/14/2008

Question
Hi Warren as you may realize by my email address im an Australian living in Australia, hard to get the right answers my question is can i havemore holes in my bowling ball, such as one for each of my bowling finger, IE 5 plus a balance hole making it 6 in total. the reason behind my question is that i am 70 years of age and have developed arthritus only in my bowling fingers, my thoughts were that given the extra holes either side allow's me to spread the weight if you get my drift,  also by drilling the holes deeper would reduce the weight which would hopefully be more managable, I bowl full finger tip with a Black widow pearl 13 pound, have tried a ten pound house ball and it just bounces of the pins.

Answer
Norm,
To answer your question, a hole for each digit (fingers and thumb, 5 gripping holes) is legal, plus the weight hole is 6 (from the USBC).

In the US, the United States Bowling Congress (USBC), our membership organization, allows 5 vent holes (one for each gripping hole) also. That makes 11 potential, legal holes. Of course the vent holes are tiny holes near the gripping holes angled to the bottom of the gripping holes to allow air in, as the fingers or thumb exits the ball.

I've dealt with the aging, gripping question, and with modern bowling balls a proper fit minimizes the need to squeeze. I'm a bigger fan of the better, (occasionally lesser conventional) fit versus going lighter. My father was rolling 14 lbs (fingertip) until he passed (at 81), but fit was addressed almost every year. The ball should let go of you. Using a stronger core, with a lesser grip (a conventional grip) allows control and longer, latter ball reaction (core effect). Adding the extra gripping holes will make a stronger delivery more difficult.

Lighter equipment contains seriously less effective cores, under the assumption that lighter balls aren't thrown very hard (by kids, women, seniors, or the physically challenged). So the weight and core shortcomings make knocking down pins more of a challenge.

I am a Charter member of a Pro Shop and Instructors trade association known as IBPSIA (International Bowling Pro Shop and Instructors Association). I meet a bowling proprietor and a bowling distributor from Australia at this past BowlExpo (a huge International bowling trade show).

Encourage your center owners and shop owners to bring IBPSIA training down under. Our founding president, Ron Hoppe, is married to an Australian and he has visited your country often. We, as yet, don't have any members in Australia (that I'm aware of). In addition to many countries (France, Germany, England, Italy, Mexico, Denmark, Canada, Poland, Japan), there are IBPSIA cetrtified members in Aruba, Portugal, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Greece, Cyprus, and others.

Thanks for the question. Bowl well.