That is the question that sometimes I just cannot answer at the right time!

What am I talking about you ask, at what point in time you do leave your benchmark ball to the other ball in your bag? Or maybe the better way of looking at it, when is the move going to lead to better scores or more confidence?

One thing I’ve learned about bowling, is while talent and practice are important, it’s not crazy for someone to just walk in one day and throw a 200 game. While some of us practice and bowl consistently, but some nights, it’s a struggle to just bowl in the 180’s. Throw in all the new equipment that is out nowadays and there lies my struggle.

My current arsenal consists of 2 different balls; a 16 pound Brunswick Diamondback and a 15 pound Roto Grip Mutant Cell. The Diamondback I purchased brand new, not drilled and has since been fit to me. The Mutant Cell I found online, already drilled with around 9 games on it and haven’t updated the drill layout. My opinion on which is my benchmark ball: the Diamondback. Why would anyone disagree, drilled for me, brand new for me all of it but I find myself always working towards the Mutant Cell when my games are getting tough. Last night was a perfect example (last night was a struggle!!) first two games were rolled with the Diamondback; 153 and 160. The third game was a 180 and although my spare shot was off, 7 strikes in the 3rd game!

Now I raise this question partly becuase I haven’t figured it out yet but this seems to be a theme in the league I’m in. As you rea d here at Above180.com, finding your benchmark ball is important for many reasons; confidence, consistency, scores, etc, but what happens when you just don’t know? My teammate just purchased a brand new DV8 to go with his Storm he purchased 2 and a half months ago. With the Storm, he has raised his average 18 pins, has bowled his first 200 games, highest series’ ever, etc, but I’m already getting the feeling from him that once he gets the DV8, it is getting thrown in the bag for good! But why? How many of you out there would love a 18 pin increase in average over 2 months? I sure would!!

I suppose the whole point to this is, knowing your benchmark ball is great but if you don’t completely trust that ball, you don’t have a benchmark ball. Your benchmark ball is the ball that you trust with every roll. Will you roll great with it everytime, no, but you start with it and trust that you’ll pull through. I love my Brunswick, but man, does that Roto Grip give me a different dimension. Maybe it is time to get it fitted and switch! Time will tell!

Until next time, keep on rolling!!

One more thing of note, I need a name to this column and I’m hoping our readers can help!! Put some ideas in the comments below and maybe the best idea will be the new column name! Thanks for reading!