But it’s far more than just the ball material that impacts this. Also needing to be considered is the type of finger holes that are drilled – conventional (your fingers go all the way into the holes) or fingertip (your fingers only go in to the first joint), with the fingertip providing much finer user control of the amount of spin that can be put on the ball (but it’s also a little difficult to get used to when first starting out, and it absolutely must be drilled properly for the individual’s hand), ‘weight’ blocks that are part of some balls designs (their purpose is to accent the amount and type of spin the ball has), and surface type (rough, for more hook, polished for less).

Balls today are designed to have very specific ‘tracks’ to the pocket. Some are set up to go almost straight line down to about the 45-50 foot mark, then break sharply into the pocket. Others are set up to have a much sharper curve earlier on the lanes, with less ’snap’ at the back end.

I’ve been bowling for about 35 years, and for the first 25 of those, I used a conventional grip ‘plastic’ ball. I started with about a 120 average, and worked up to about a 165 with this. Then I switched to urethane ball with fingertip grip, and saw an almost immediate jump into the 180-185 range. In the last couple of years, I’ve gone to one of the reactive balls (specific model I use currently is the Brunswick Absolute Inferno), and I’ve pushed into the 195-200 range.

If you’re wondering what’s best for you, I’d get your local proshop guy to watch you bowl with whatever your current ball is and have him recommend the type of ball that will stretch and improve your game. Most of these guys are very knowledgeable about the differences between all the various types of balls (many of them are professional bowlers, besides running a shop!), and can not only get you the right ball for your current expertise level, but can also probably give you some advice on how to improve your game.