The 4 Types of Ball Motion What That Means and Why It’s Important

By: Dustin Zehner

The 4 Types of Ball Motion are a way to classify all bowling balls and helps make arsenal building much easier. Each bowling ball has a designed shape of motion directly from the manufacturer.

We can use the following properties to classify bowling balls into specific types of ball motion.

• Ball Coverstock
• Ball Finish
• Ball RG Numbers
• Core Type
• Manufacture Intent

When breaking down ball motion, bowling balls can fall into 4 different categories; Traction, Continuous, Angular, and Straight. It is important to have at least one ball from each category in a 6 ball arsenal.

Traction (earliest)

Traction type ball motion is a ball motion that is the earliest. The bowling ball will hook early and be lazy down lane. It is often most advantageous to use this type of bowling ball on a heavy and/or long oil pattern. This type of ball motion will often times exit over the 9-pin (for a right handed player)

Example:

Hammer Obsession

Ebonite Aero

Continuous

Continuous ball motion is the most common type of ball motion across all bowling balls. This type of ball motion hooks later than Traction type ball motion but not as late as Angular motion. As the name states, when the bowling ball begins to make its move, it will continue through the pins to (ideally) split the 8-9.

Example:

Storm IQ Tour

Ebonite Game Breaker 4

Angular (latest)

Angular ball motion is the latest hooking type of ball motion, and often the most fun to watch. Angular ball motion goes down the lane the longest and makes a sharp move once it gets to the breakpoint. This type of ball motion is often best suited for lanes that have broken down and requires the player to open up the lane.

Example:

Roto Grip Rubicon UC2

Motiv Ripcord Velocity

Straight

Straight ball motion is a ball motion every single player should have in their bag. Straight ball motion should be used when shooting most spares. Some bowlers will use a plastic spare ball to accomplish this while others will flatten their hand at the release using a urethane or reactive bowling ball.

Check out this video for additional information on the 4 types of Ball Motion.

Changing Your Ball Motion With Surface

All bowling balls come out of the factory with the manufacturer’s recommended finish. But can you change the surface of your bowling ball from the recommended finish (making a polished ball dull)?

Yes. You can change the surface of any bowling ball and should change the surface

before throwing it to have…