Does Bowling Ball Size Matter?

This blog post was from a 2005 test. 

Recently I was in a discussion about bowling balls and the topic of ball size came up.  Not really knowing if size really mattered I decided to set up a test to hopefully provide some insight into the very heated topic.  So in this issue of Tech Tips we will explore bowling ball size from a subjective standpoint.  For years professional bowlers and amateurs alike have said smaller balls hook more, or can go deeper into the pocket and as a result will carry better.  There has been equal amount of talk about larger balls.  Bowlers have said that larger balls hit better or that larger balls make the pins fly more.  So wondering myself how size effects ball reaction and pin fall, I decided to set up a small subjective experiment to try to find out if size matters or not.  The ABC/WIBC specification for diameter is 8.595 inches to 8.500 inches.  Knowing this we set this test up to sample a range of the specification.

The Set Up

For this experiment we chose three different styles of players.   Each player was given the same ball at different sizes.  

The sizes were:

1. ABC/WIBC Maximum Diameter 8.595 inches
2. Ebonite Standard Diameter 8.585 inches 
3. Test One Smaller Diameter 8.550 inches
4. Test Two Smaller Diameter 8.510 inches

One of the first things that we decided to look at was inertia or ball dynamic properties of balls.  We tested each ball for Rg and Differential.

The following is an average list of all of the Mass Properties for the balls:

                                                                                                                                   RG             Diff

Ball 1 ABC/WIBC Maximum Diameter 8.595 inches         2.538           0.042

Ball 2 Ebonite Standard Diameter 8.585 inches                 2.530           0.044

Ball 3 Test One Smaller Diameter 8.550 inches                  2.520           0.044

Ball 4 Test Two Smaller Diameter 8.510 inches                  2.508           0.046

We also weighed each ball to find out how much difference existed between the balls.

Weight (pounds)

ABC/WIBC Maximum Diameter 8.595 inches          15.13 lb

Ebonite Standard Diameter 8.585 inches                    15.03 lb

Test One Smaller Diameter 8.550 inches                    14.90 lb

Test Two Smaller Diameter 8.510 inches …