About Bowling

1. Choosing A Bowling Ball

Choosing a suitable bowling ball is indeed an extremely important factor that will affect the scores of a bowler. However, there is a standard laid down by the American Bowling Congress (ABC) if official recognition is to be given to any competitions throughout the world.

• The standard ball weight ranges between a minimum of 8lbs to a maximum of 16lbs.
• The circumference must be 27 inches and
  
• The diameter must be 8.5 - 8.59 inches

Bowling balls are made of plastic, polyester, urethane, reactive resin or particle. It's is also called a coverstock as it covers the core and creates the outside surface of the bowling ball.


2. The Lane and Pins


i) Lane
Bowling lane is divided into five parts which is approach, gutter, players area, the lane and the pins. Players area is the section where bowlers usually wait on his turn to bowl. The area that falls before the foul line is the approach. This is an area where players makes their steps towards the foul line to deliver the bowling ball. The area that the ball travels its way through the pin is called the lane. A lane consists of 39 boards. The first 12 ft of all wooden lanes is made of maple, the next 46 feet is made of pine and the pin deck is made of maple. The length of the alley is standard for most of the bowling alleys, which is 60 feet from the foul line to the head pin. The width of the normal bowling alley is 42 inches. The area on the right side of the 1st board and on the left side of the 39th board is called the gutter. Bowling balls normally falls into the gutter due to poor delivery and it mostly happens to those who just started to play bowling.




ii) Pins
Tenpins are 15 inches in height, and must weigh not less than 2 pounds (6 oz) and not more than 3 pounds (10 oz). The width of the pin is 4.75 inches wide. The design of all pins is clearly prescribed by the ABC. The distance between each pin is 12 inches from the center of a bowling pin to another. The distance between pin 1 and pin 7/10 is 36 inches and the distance between a sleener is 20.75 inches.