Expert: - 1/3/2010

Question
I am 69 years old, retired and bowl in three very good senior men's leagues. I average between 194 and 202 depending on the league. Recently, one of the leagues has been giving us an over under shot that has been frustrating even the top bowlers in the league. I am a stroker with about 14.5 mph ball speed. Any suggestions on how to approach this condition? Thanks for your help.

Answer
Ed,
Ball layout and cover stock can often help tame down the over under. Since changing layouts is more involved you may want to adjust a ball surface or two to see if your present equipment will work OK.

A smooth/shiny surface will often be very jumpy, so taking the shine off, and/or reducing the surface a stage (from 4000 to 2000, or 2000 to 1000) will help the ball burn off a little energy and make the ball less jumpy. If too much reaction is lost with a surface adjustment, dropping down a stage then re-polishing the ball will often add back some of the reaction. Give this a try.

Thanks for the question. Let me know how the adjustments work out. There may be additional tweaks I can suggest.