Bowling balls weigh from 6 to 16 pounds. The lightest balls are generally designed for children, and the heaviest are the maximum bowling ball weight allowed in professional bowling. What is the best ball weight for you? Is a heavier ball always better? The staff at BowlerX.com can help you decide.
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How to Find the Best Ball Weight
There is no single bowling ball weight that will work for everyone. Children should not be using a 16-pound ball, and most adults should not be using an eight-pound ball.
Some people recommend getting a ball equal to 10 percent of your body weight (to the maximum of 16 pounds). This can be a good guideline but is not a hard rule.
The most important factor is comfort. If you can only throw a 16-pound ball for five or six frames before you get sore, you won’t bowl well and will probably injure yourself. Switch to a lighter ball to dramatically improve your game. If you can throw a 12-pound ball all night long without getting tired, a heavier ball may be a better choice.
If you bowl often, test a few different house balls at your local bowling center to see which weight feels most comfortable. However, since bowling balls that are drilled specifically for your hand and fingers will feel about two pounds lighter than a house ball.
In other words, a 14-pound house ball that was drilled to fit as many people as possible may feel more like a 15 or 16-pound custom-drilled ball. Add one or two pounds to the comfortable house ball’s weight and buy that weight.
BowlerX.com offers hundreds of bowling ball options for adults and kids, from entry level to top performance balls. In general, consider the bowler’s age when choosing the right weight for a bowling ball:
- Child: 6 to 10 pounds
- Teenager: 11 to 14 pounds
- Adult Female: 12 to 14 pounds
- Senior: 12 to 14 pounds
- Adult Male: 15 to 16 pounds
Visit the BowlerX.com website and shop 24 hours a day, every day of the year, for bowling balls and bowling accessories for men, women and kids. Call us at 844.269.5379 if you need more information about bowling ball weight, or contact us online.