After carrying around a big solid asym to league at a house that always has a ton of friction for over 2 years, I finally learned this lesson.

@@Jqwerty38 Exactly me with my Proton Physix. The past year I've had it, I've used it maybe six or seven games at best. My sport shot league, combined with a slightly higher friction house, there's absolutely no way I can use it effectively on that pattern, even taming down the surface. The ball is just way too strong. Not saying it isn't a good ball, but I've encountered very few patterns I can use it on. A few longer tournament patterns it performs great, but that's it. I cleared a space in my bag not bringing it to league anymore.

You know I’ll take one of those off your hands as soon as you’re ready lol

Lol know how you fell I honestly need to get rid of some. There like trophies in my closet that i never use.

🤣

Yeah I was getting ready to do another ranking thing here before long with leagues getting ready to start again. The problem is that I need to just get back to what I intended for it to be in the first place. Just picking balls I think are great sport options, rather than ranking every single ball out there. Sure, everything on the market could have some kind of use at some point on some conditions, but the whole point of the series to begin with was to pick out just certain balls that I thought were "essential" for sport conditions. I kept getting so many questions about every other ball on the market that I just thought I'd rate or rank them all, and that's way too much work and kind of defeats the purpose, but just doing a livestream and ranking them all and talking a little about them works ok I suppose. Adding a sentence or two of my thoughts, or like ranking the ball for house and sport in a review is a good idea tho.

I gotta totally agree with you. Luke's voice is like butter. Lefty too, but I'm a typical 10 to 5 matched roller and part of Luke's genius is getting us to understand our motion and equipment. I was throwing monster solid asyms with super aggressive layouts and couldnt figure why my pin down Zing! Solid wasn't "hooking." Luke helped me to understand that my ball was hooking for 60 feet and couldn't stick the landing. On Luke's review, I put a Burner solid in my hand, buried the pin in my ring, and hit it with a 3000 pad. I'll string 6 or 7 before wrapping a 7 pin but then I'm back at the string again. I'm so much consistent with the tips from this channel. I wish there was someone this smart and thoughtful on the B. O. B. side this.

Super agree with you. I'm not on a 6 ball budget. I'm on a 3+spare budget. My current line up is Hy-Road Max, Burner Solid, Authority Pearl and Mix.

I am finishing my first year bowling and recently hit my high game 279 with a 705 series (first 700 series for me). I use a 2 ball plus + spare rotation. I am currently starting with a Scorpion Hybrid fairly straight and that ball is so versatile that I can move up to 10 boards left before I need to really open up my angles which puts me up against the ball return with the Scorpion Sting. I throw a White Dot for spares. My other lineup is to start with a UC3 fairly straight then move 15 boards left with a Web Pearl and the same White Dot for spares. With this second lineup my high game was 267 with a 670 series.

Just out of curiosity whats you league bag look like? And what your bail-out ball?

@@dylanfry7978 Current setup is… Everywhere: Gamebreaker 3, Supra, Trend 2 Tournament: Paradox Red, Astro Physix, Fast Pitch League: Black Widow Gold, Gamebreaker 2, plastic Essentially the Astro Physix I have at 4K so it is a smoother asym Pearl for tournaments and I use the paradox red that has a little more bite than the gamebreaker 2 when on higher volumes. I also swap a urethane ball for my spare ball when I bowl on hard stuff and use plastic at league.

Nah this is a good idea but it’s hard to find certain core numbers with the same cover or similar enough to make an accurate comparison. Depending on the combination, could be earlier despite a higher RG. It’s like the Trend and Trend 2. Trend 2 has a higher RG but it’s earlier than the Trend because the cover is quite a bit stronger. So many different details contribute, so it’s hard to make videos like this and try to lock things down.

@@LukeRosdahl Yeah that's what I was thinking

I'll have to let all this banning stuff get sorted out before I answer lol . .

@@LukeRosdahl thanks Luke, I also seem to match up better to higher RG symmetrical balls.

That's more for like my sport essentials collection, for this one it's the general concept I was going after, doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the actual balls, or talking about the specific balls wasn't the point

@@LukeRosdahl Got it, I've just started to get into bowling more over the last 6 months. This is a great video, the request was more because I'm still learning which current bowling balls are options for the parts of the bag. [i.e. Reality => Infinite Physix | Gem, Trend 2 => ?? | Hustle => ??] Thank you for your content!

@@chinnobi All good, yeah it's definitely a steep learning curve!

I think a Hyped Pearl or Hyped Hybrid would fit really well there. Not quite as long and flippy as a Hyroad, but not as weakish as an Electrify Pearl or Hustle.

Wood is tough because most people don't bowl on it anymore and they don't really design balls for it. I'd actually try something like an IQ Tour Solid and keep it at 2000 or 3000. It's rolly and smooth, the cover formula isn't super strong so it's not going to be crazy, it should get some dig early and then blend the backend better.

Kind of in the same slot, but they are a little different, Hyroad Pearl is a little longer, stronger, and sharper, so probably too much overlap UNLESS you generally use a lot of weaker stuff, then they would be important to have together to offer you some variation within the same general window

@@LukeRosdahl yea I was just looking for a step down to my Phaze 2. Just getting back into bowling after a 12 year hiatus and almost 10 years prior to that so I’m trying to build my league arsenal and hopefully I can compete in tournaments later on. So I really wanted reliable balls that I can use on multiple patterns. Thank you for your videos. You and Luis have helped me a lot.

I think they both work together if you scuff the E Solid, if both are polished they're a little too close together, but if you take the Solid to 2000 or 3000, they'd work REALLY well together.

@@LukeRosdahl Thank you for the reply! I am glad I did not sell one of them now!

In the case of the PM, there's nothing else that's out that acts like it, so I'll definitely never be without one. You might try out a few other things first before going out of your way to get one, especially for a house shot. The IQ Tour Solid is always a good choice, but I'd definitely talk to your pro shop about it more because they'll know a lot more about your game and the conditions you bowl on.

I would think so, it's a good step up from the Enzo

I'm really starting to lean hard into the Hustle Camo, and I think with the gap at the bottom of the bag that it'll pair really well with some of the others you have

IQ is a lot earlier and smoother ball with a sanded solid cover, Hyroad is a longer and sharper ball with a polished hybrid cover, so virtually everything aside from sharing the same cover formula. Hyroad would probably be the better pick for the bottom of the bag.

Where is your big asymmetric ball?

@@jeremybrillhart5870 as someone with a rev rate >500rpm I don't exactly have a need for an assym. The Axiom as well as the Phaze II are strong enough for me. Most "big" assym ball are very finicky for me, the dull balls burn up too soon to be affective and the shiny ball over react for me to control

Yeah? Original Phaze is a pearl and the P2 is a sanded solid and has a different and stronger cover formula than the original, and it depends on which version of the original that you have, the first cover formula isn't a whole lot weaker but if you have the deeper color R2S Phaze, then the P2 is quite a bit stronger.

Tons and tons of variables, so I can't really say. Might go out and practice and move around and try different things and try to figure out what works best for you, it's different for everyone.

I typically don't do that unless they're also drilled differently. I have a couple Pro Motions that I do that with, one stays lane shined and the other has surface, but they also have different layouts.

Lol . . I do like Talisker, I love the kind of salty taste from the seawater they use. I'm still a Laphroaig guy but I'd love to keep a bottle of Talisker around too . .

It might be a little of both, if you don't have the right equipment to do something, it's going to be hard to do it well, but it may also just not quite be "your game," if you know what I mean. Like you can drive a screw in with a hammer, but that's not really the point, you know? I think you might need something like an RST X2, or at least go find a demo and try throwing some different things to see what fits and what doesn't. The P2 is strong, but pretty smooth, it's not going to cover boards, and the Hyroad Pearl is pretty sharp but also kind of on the lower end of the spectrum when it comes to hook.

That's why it's so tough to make videos like this, everyone wants them, but there's no "right" answer, it could be all over the place depending on a bunch of different things.

I use kind of a hybrid vacu, I don't like how much I swim around in them and how much room they give your hand to move around, but I do like the extra flexibility they give you. I think they CAN promote some bad habits like over digging, but they can also be incredibly beneficial if you have issues with your hand swelling or shrinking. If you try them and don't like them, it's VERY easy to "fix," but if you do, it's also just as easy to convert all your current stuff, so I don't see any reason to not at least give them a shot.

I’m pretty sure I made a comparison video there . . probably be better to check that out

You have a bunch of really smooth controllable stuff that's going to be good with blending, but will be a nightmare when you have to significantly adjust to transition, you're going to need some stuff like an RST X2, Hyroad, etc.

Yeah there's a pretty steep learning curve with the equipment. Do you think you need another ball or just want another one? If you do get one, do you need it stronger or weaker than what you have? Or do you need something sharper or smoother? I'd figure out what you think you need first and then try to find that reaction.

@@LukeRosdahl both to be honest, something with a strong backend to get through the fresh oil. Thanks for the reply as well, I appreciate it!!

RST X-3 comes to mind, if you can't get that one to both hook AND be strong on the backend, you need more help than I can give you lol

@@LukeRosdahl No definitely lol. That honestly could be the issue. Mechanics and fundamentals are all over the place.

Wha? The UC3 is urethane, it's not going to be anywhere close . .

Usually helps to have a couple go-to's, but I prefer to use ball design differences over layout differences.

That's the first step, but cover formulas can throw a wrench in. Generally speaking with big asyms like that, you can trust the numbers because MOST are paired with strong covers too, very rare to see something like a Rubicon or Code X that has more of a medium strength cover.

@@LukeRosdahl I normally don’t get along with big asyms at all, but that ball at that center was money. I also had success with an original Lock there. Nowadays though I just can’t hit it; I even drilled a Proton which I knew would be way too strong for me to use almost always; and that didn’t do it for me there.

I think they'd be close, NRG hybrid and R3S hybrid are different, but not by a ton, I think R3S is just a little cleaner and sharper. The cores roll a bit different too, but they're reasonably similar.

Yep, the Zen is earlier and smoother, P3 is longer and flippier, about the same strength though. I favor the P3 because the Zen is just TOO early and smooth for me, but for those with higher speed and lower revs, the Zen will probably look better.

@Bandit, Keeper of the Zone So in your personal opinion do you think both will work in a bag together and I should state that this will be for sport shots

They'd both work together. The Zen is earlier and smoother, X2 is longer and sharper, Zen actually has more traction due to a stronger cover, but the X2 has a lot more torque.

So use the RST-2 after your strong ball as the second ball and the zen as the third ball?

Oddly enough, the UC3 occupies a similar spot to the Prime, there's overlap with the Wild Streak, Intensity, and Max though, so one of those at least can go, so Dark Code, one of those 3, UC3, Trend, and HSB are 5 easy ones to go, and I assume you use plastic for spares?

@@LukeRosdahl thanks alot for the reply I do use plastic for spares but was leaning towards taking 7 total with my 4 ball and 2 ball bag for strike balls and then putting my spare ball in a 1 ball bag that I have possibly but 6 is what I have normally took in the past if I do take 7 which 2 of my 3 in the middle that are close would have the most range or have different angles if I took 2 of them of 3 thanks again. I havent used the UC3 or max yet i will try them tonight but I kindof know what to expect from the UC3 now atleast Layouts MAX 2LS Wildstreak pin down HB intensity pin up

All depends, I usually end up in the Hustle Camo, Angel has been ending up with the Hyped Pearl. I've been looking at a few different things the last several weeks, but usually something like the UFO Alert or RST X2 is what we both start with.

@@LukeRosdahl see thats why i like asking questions even if they seem stupid. Because the x2 does not seem like something you would start with lol.

Yep, Hustle Wine or Camo would be a great decision.

That looks pretty amazing for a two hander . .

IQ Tour Solid . .

Since you are a two handed bowler I would recommend you work on flattening your release for spares and using the urethane instead of the plastic ball. It would open the option of a weaker ball like a Hustle camo or electrify solid or some other weak clean controllable ball to help when there is a lot of friction

Respectfully disagree keep the plastic. Name a two hander on tour who uses urethane for their corner pins.

Just Coolwick for the discount

Sounds pretty good to me on paper anyway, which balls do you use the most?

@@LukeRosdahl - well, in a league night I usually start with Proton Physix or Zen Master, depending upon how the front is playing. Then I can usually settle in to either the Innovator (asym pearl) or Zen (sym pearl). As of late however, I have been absolutely HORRIBLE at reading the transition. A couple of weeks ago I moved too quickly, this past week I didn't move nearly quickly enough. I'm still just not good enough or knowledgeable enough to manage transition properly. This week I am going to take a step back and only taking my spare ball, Zen Master (for the fresh) and Innovator (for transition) and see if I can play a little bit better. My swing and release are feeling (and looking, according to video) the best I have been, so far. I have really been working hard at keeping my arm, hand, wrist, etc, as relaxed as I can and getting as consistent with hitting my marks as I can (using 3 point targeting, very focused). That is all improving greatly, and my rev rate has also climbed significantly, but I am also fighting over hooking the ball, and I mean a LOT! .. so, for my last ball of the night (because we didn't need the pins) I threw from 42 board (on left) out to the 3-4 board and hooked back into the pocket for a strike with my Zen Pearl (maybe I should have been doing that all night). And I had just spun all of my balls back to factory surface earlier that day (maybe I shouldn't have done that, they all seemed to be hooking way too much). I have been trying to learn how to control my axis rotation better but my recent release practice (hand much more inside) is kind of counter acting that and I can't seem to get up the back of the ball quite as easily to reduce my axis rotation (at least not consistently). Anyway, all stuff in the works. But, I will say this, if I had to go to the lanes with just one ball, it would be my Radical Innovator, for sure. That seems to be by far the most versatile ball I have, at least for me.

@@LukeRosdahl - Oh, and thank you very much for the reply .. I appreciate it!

Part of the issue might be that the stronger of balls you start with, the faster the transition is going to happen, so if you can get away with using something weaker to begin with, it won't transition the lanes as fast as a Proton PhysiX. A lot of things come with experience, bowling is exceptionally experience heavy because there are very few absolutes, and because you have to figure out how all those things affect your game. The same transition could create wildly difference scenarios for you vs someone else if you do things differently.

@@LukeRosdahl - I am definitely learning with much yet to learn about how transition can be dealt with. This is one of the things I find interesting about this game. It's the puzzle of it all that I find fascinating. Thank you for the information and advice! .. always welcomed .. I am a bowler in training 🙂

You could flip a coin really, I throw both of them constantly, wouldn't go anywhere without either of them. The Camo is the more versatile of the two, I can really only use the IQ from straighter angles, but there's not a better look in the house when it's the ball. If you're just buying one though or if I had to just take one somewhere, I'd probably take the Camo because it's both good from straight and from deeper angles. If you get the Camo, you'd probably want to take the shine off to make it fit better with the Wine, as the IQ at least comes at 4000.

@@LukeRosdahl thank you! 👏

@@LukeRosdahl I was also curious if the ufo alert will be too much ball for me. I took helios to 1000k and use it until 8th frame or so of second game after that my wine. I'm also curious of a ball to ball down from if wine is too much. Thanks again!. Considering the !q tour solid. I feel the camo is about as strong as wine.. maybe a pitch black lol? Thanks a ton!

@@spencercasson4604 The Helios is stronger than the Alert and especially at 1000??? If you can throw the Helios out of the box let alone at that grit, then the Alert won't be too strong at all. And if the Wine is too strong, the IQ Tour is a ball up from the Wine, not down. There's really not much further down to go from the Wine, maybe a Tropical Surge.

@@LukeRosdahl I guess I'm still a noob lol, I'm paying attention to the diff numbers too much. Like the ufo alert is higher diff than helios so I just thought I couldn't keep it on the left side. I'm not even sure why 1000k is working for me on the helios but I couldn't keep the box 2k on left side. Seems I'm having trouble in the backend which is why I'm loving the symmetrical solid so much atm. I want an alert bc of your videos lol.. I saw hp4 and thought I'd be in trouble tho.. Thanks as always and really enjoy your videos!!!

I think I did a comparison there, similar rolling but the Synergy is quite a bit cleaner up front.

Yeah I think so, it's really strong even for a shiny ball, so I'd probably put it there.

It'd be a 1 ball with surface, 2 ball with shine.

@@LukeRosdahl Cool! I was looking at something like Reality Altered Reality Phaze II IQ Tour Journey Urethane I'm a right handed bowler so im not sure. I kinda like my 5th ball to be a go left throw right ball.

The Journey is something that likes to cover boards when they get dry, so I think you'd be ok there

They aren’t bowling shoes, I don’t slide so I use Under Armor Hovr

I used to be right handed, I've made the full permanent switch to lefty, used to switch back and forth every couple years. Had a shoulder injury a while back righty and never really made it back to 100%, tired of fighting it, especially because it's a major equipment overhaul every time I switch now.

@@LukeRosdahl Have been thinking about going lefty myself as I've had wrist surgery (right), good at times and bad at others. Was it a difficult transition for you??

Yes and no . . it's pretty rewarding while you're getting better, especially because it feels like any accomplishment period is a bonus. Once you start getting good at it though, nothing translates from the right side so you have to learn a lot of stuff over again, and not only that, you have to unlearn a lot of things and that's pretty tough. I actually started with a plastic ball so I could stay slow and focus on mechanics rather than having to chuck everything to get it down the lane

I probably should lol, I'll have to go back and look and see the last ones I did, probably about time for the Reality and Honey Badger Intensity . .

@@LukeRosdahl for what it's worth classroom and report cards are the videos I like the most. Very useful.

Ummmmm it depends on which "flavor" lol. Laphroaig was my first really peaty scotch, so it always holds a special place, but the Nick Offerman edition Lagavulin I have at home right now is definitely top shelf

It's definitely a problem for me though realistically. I often miss mistakes going back and proof watching my videos because there's so much going on. The problem is that I have so much to say, and if I slowed down, it'd take even longer, there'd be much more editing I'd have to do, many more visual things I'd have to add, etc. I haven't figured out a good way to say what I need to say while still keeping people entertained. If I slow video down or separate things somehow so I only have one thing happening at a time, it makes the video twice as long. People have short attention spans and as much as they say they want to watch something and learn, they really want simple and entertaining. I just haven't found a good balance of information and visuals. Nobody wants to sit and watch me yammer, but no one also wants to just watch the ball being thrown by itself either. I'm having a hard time figuring it out honestly, your point and request definitely isn't taken lightly. Maybe I play ball reaction first, then replay it in slo-mo while I explain?? I need to slow down and figure it out first instead of continuing to just crank stuff out to get stuff up

@Luke Rosdahl honestly, I wouldn't mind if your videos were longer, but I'm only one person. 😅 I watch your videos on my TV in place of normal entertainment. The hardest parts for me are the points made about a specific ball's characteristics or ball motion characteristics. So, that's the part that requires either memory recall or creative imagining. By the time I start trying to process what you said, you're already saying another thing. What I think would help would be listening to your video as if you were in a conversation with someone, but as if you were the other person who doesn't know everything you do. You spit out a lot of facts, but maybe for the things you want to teach or the point you're trying to get across, try to stay with the pertinent info? Either way, you're obviously a very smart guy, so this is in no way meant as an insult, just constructive criticism. There are a lot of things I could likely learn from you, I just have a hard time doing so. You're in Lawrence, KS? I'm in Springfield and used to spend a lot of time in Lawrence (but playing pool, not bowling). I might have an arsenal question for you too.

The trick is that I can't really explain everything in every video, I try to use the classroom videos to explain the concepts, and then once someone understands what's going on, we can talk about the bowling ball. I've spent more time in reviews lately saying something, then kind of explaining the concept or what I'm talking about, but then some people on the flip side get bored because they want to hear about the bowling ball and I'm chasing rabbit trails. That's something I consider heavily, I try not to be one of those people that just uses a bunch of technical jargon to impress people with how much I know rather than make it understandable. The issue again on the flip side is that for some things, you just have to have a certain knowledge base so we can get into more specifics. A ball review isn't really the place to explain or go in depth on lingo or concepts. I'm working on another overseas feature and I'm going to try segmenting it, just going to play some shots so people can get a look at the ball reaction without listening to me, then I'm going to replay the shots in slow mo while I explain and see if people like it or if it helps. I think the reason other channels are doing so well is that they throw a shot, explain it, throw another shot, make another point, it's just simpler and easier to absorb. I don't have the option to do that, I have to do the voiceovers, but I have no dead space to let things breathe. However, if I put dead space in there, people will just skip it to get to the next shot. Now at the same time, I don't really think 8 or 9 shots and a few comments on the spot really constitutes a review, but it seems to be good enough for most people. Quite often what people say they want isn't actually what they want, and listening too much is kind of killing my channel to be honest. I hear a lot that people want the more in depth technical stuff, but the channels that are taking off and getting the views aren't doing that, so I spent a lot more time leaning into the technical angle, which takes up a lot more time and is a lot more effort, but I'm kind of falling off the map now and I really think it's because I jumped into the technical stuff with both feet. I might go back to doing a more basic review and then adding an in depth to dig deeper later.

I mean . . I have review videos up about all of them with in depth descriptions and information, all the information is on the website, I can't dump all that stuff into every video without bogging them down or making them 10 times longer than they need to be. Just impractical and really defeats the purpose.

@@LukeRosdahl - understood, and I appreciate what you are doing, I'm just not there yet. I'll continue to follow the new bowling balls that come out and try to get a better grasp. Thanks! :)