How to Add Surface to Your Bowling Ball: Sand for Success

Bowling balls are made from some pretty impressive materials these days, but eventually they will need some tweaking in order to react the way you want them to.

We’ve already written about regular ball maintenance like cleaning, and today’s article will go over another way to improve their performance: adding surface.

What is Ball Surface Modification and What to Expect

A bowling ball surface modification basically means using a sanding pad on the surface.

Every time your ball travels down the lane, the surface is altered, and over time this can start to have negative effects, from excess oil settling on the ball and giving it a glaze to knicks and chunks that have the potential to really mess up your shots.

On the other hand, the finish that your particular bowling ball is given “out of the box” is by no means the only way way that it can be configured, so sometimes bowlers add surface to achieve a ball reaction that they can’t get any other way.

In many cases, adding surface can help improve your ball’s motion down the lane and lead to more strikes and thus higher scores, so it’s a good technique to be aware of.

How to Get Started Sanding Your Bowling Ball

One key piece of information you need before adding surface to your ball is the grit at which your ball was originally sanded.

You can find this detail on the ball manufacturer’s website. It will usually be listed under “finish” and you will see the grit number the ball was sanded (and sometimes see two numbers, both of which were used to achieve the finish).

Next comes the actual sanding process. Within most bowling organizations it is actually required that you sand the whole surface of the ball, so as to avoid the possibility of gaining an unfair advantage.

You want to start with sanding half of the ball and the top, then flip it over and do the same thing on the other half.

When to Clean and Sand Your Bowling Ball

Adding surface is a more involved process than wiping your ball down with a towel, of course, so you will likely wonder how often you should be sanding your bowling ball.

The following is a good general ball maintenance schedule: clean with a normal ball cleaner after every game, and look to resurface it every 60 games or so.

What’s the Difference Between Higher and Lower Grits?

As a general…