Expert: Warren Friedl, Pro Shop Owner/Operator, - 6/27/2009

Question
I have an old 12 lb reactive ball I am getting drilled for my son, age 11.  He really wants the ball drilled so it hooks.  It has a 1 1/2 pin and 3 oz top weight.  Should I still get it drilled conventional and at what age should kids get a finger tip ball?  Also, is it okay to put finger grips in it?

Answer
Don,
Each case is different, but generally when providing a performance ball to a child, I like the child to have some control of what is about to happen. If your son is moving up from a more basic ball and rolls the old one OK, I'd put very little help into the layout.

He's (assuming here) changing weight, grip style (to finger tip), and moving to a ball with performance potential. It is a challenge to learn to control a ball if any ONE of the above is changed. He'll struggle with all three.

My 26 year old son still rolls the ball with a conventional grip, and out hooks most of the planet. A finger tip grip isn't magic.

Keep him conventional (less strain on a growing hand). He's young and learning. If he want's to hook it, he'll learn to. Finger grips are helpful little tools for us old guys who want a little more finish at the pocket.

When kids get performance bowling balls they stop learning to hook the ball, because everything the do is accentuated by the ball. When Jason Belmonte (the Aussie two hander) won his first tour event, he used a plastic ball to help control the hook on one of the lanes he was bowling on. Balls are tools.

A kid must learn to control the performance of a ball, when the ball is no longer a neutral tool. If you are limited by what you throw, you are limited. Belmonte developed his ball speed and rev rate because of his bowling environment. If he grew up with performance bowling equipment when he was a kid he never would have needed to develop his style, so it wouldn't have developed.

Thanks for the questions. Good luck to your son, and good bowling.