Expert: Chip Aki - 10/12/2006

Question
ball i got is a hammer big blue pearl,much of a similar reaction to bal i was using in the past, with the faball blue, im the only one in town with that ball,
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Followup To

Question -
dear chip,
        I'm a 51 year old ight handed bowler,been out of it for about 15 years,
used to be 3 times week league 190 average.
used to use semi-finger b4,14 pounder
thats the history,
came back to it and used a 12 pound house ball(conventional bad fitting grip) for a bit to get back in to it a bit,after while and talking with pro shop that i went to(no shop at home-lanes),
got a 14 pound and drilled relaxed finger tip,
first few games were good, mainly i think of better grip, then after coming back to own lanes acuracy went from bad to worse, missing right mostly , and going for 7 pin missing left,tryed all sorts to try to correct this but no avail.
eventually other bowler said laughingly , try a house brick ,
and the acuracy, and scores started going back up dailly , but hit mostly 170,s max,
the drilling(fit)or weight not a problem , no sores on fingers due to weight of muscles due to weight ,
do you think i should go back to what i was jears ago and use semi-, finger,
if you r agreeing with my thaughts, was contemplating moving the fingers(plug and re-dril)as thumb good fit, but as semi does this have any think to do with the pitches on this,will not use power lift grips on this, either oval textured inserts or none and a grip tape, sorry for the long story, know redrill is drastic, thats why the long message,
thanks (bobby)

Answer -
It doesnt sound like the fit of the ball is the problem.  You dont say what kind of ball that you bought, but I bet it is a reactive resin ball.  Compared to what you were using and probably what you were used to in the past, this new ball will be harder to control.   It will have more power though.

If this is the case, then it will be your lane play that will be most important.  Try to watch someone that throws the ball similar to you and line up off of them.

Good luck,
Chip

Answer
As far as a drilling would go, I would much prefer the fingertip to the semi.

I dont think the ball fit is the issue, but the type of ball and the lane condition.  I would suggest trying to work with the local pro shop or a coach in the area.  That would be the next best investment instead of doing something with the ball.

Good luck,
Chip