What Bowling Ball Should You Throw? Asymmetric or Symmetric

Hi everyone, welcome back to the Brad and Kyle channel. We have a great video for you today. We are going to be discussing the difference between what a symmetric bowling ball is versus an asymmetric bowling ball. Now, when we talk about the bowling ball, the bowling ball is for the most part made up of two components. A cover stock, that's around the ball, and then a core, we like to call the engine. When we talk about the symmetry of a bowling ball, we're talking about the core, the inside of the ball, the part that you can't see. So Daniel, when we talk about the difference between a symmetric bowling ball and an asymmetric bowling ball, what are the first thoughts that come to mind? So on a symmetric bowling ball, the word itself describes it. The weight block around the ball, or in the ball, is all the way around the same. If you cut it in half, you end up with two equal parts. And it doesn't matter really where you cut it in half, you end up with two equal parts. Now, on an asymmetrical bowling ball, it's not that different than a symmetrical bowling ball, with the exception that it has another component to it. It could be a void, a missing part, or it could be an added part, if you will. And that's what creates the asymmetry. That asymmetry is measured with the intermediate differential. If you look at the websites, when you see a bowling ball that has an intermediate differential, or a lot of the manufacturers abbreviate that by int diff, that's what it means. Intermediate differential. Simply put, the greater the number, the more value the asymmetry of the ball has. The more asymmetrical the ball is. Now, what does that do? Right, that's the big question. When you're talking about an asymmetrical bowling ball, I want you guys to imagine this. You have a four-cylinder engine and another four-cylinder engine that is identical. They're both the exact same. One has a turbocharger in it. So, you basically have the same engine, just with a turbocharger. What does the turbocharger do to a car? Well, when you step on the gas, it picks up a little faster. When you need to pass, it picks up a little faster, right? So, that's basically what an asymmetrical bowling ball does. It's going to do all the same stuff as a symmetrical bowling ball. It's just going to do it a little exaggerated, a little more. The break point is going to be a little sharper, a little sooner, and potentially a little bit more. So, if you're comparing a shiny symmetrical bowling ball with a shiny asymmetrical bowling ball, you end up with the asymmetrical bowling ball just being sharper off the spot. When we were at the clinic, you were explaining that on an asymmetrical, a lot of the times you guys on tour like to use it because it will sort of roll up a little harder, a little faster, and then kind of stop. Stop, yeah. And that's kind of what a lot of the really good players are looking for is like, does the ball at least hook? And sometimes we bowl in conditions where the ball doesn't want to hook, and that's when we get these higher intermediate differential balls, the asymmetry balls. And we've got some bowling balls up here. I have two asymmetric and two symmetric bowling balls. When we talk about asymmetry, the first ball that comes to mind is the King Daddy. Which one is the King Daddy? Any of the $300 bowling balls that are out there, typically, you know, they're meant to be as strong as possible. The big prize balls are usually the ones that are asymmetrical. And those are the ones that give you the most confidence. And if this ball isn't going to turn in the middle part of the lane, then probably no other ball will. Right. So I'm going to throw this a little bit, and we're just going to kind of see the shape, and then we're going to compare it to a couple different other bowling balls and see if we can determine visually the difference between an asymmetric and a symmetric. Yeah, you'll be able to see it, I'm sure. Let's hope. Eye on Max here, just on a normal pattern. Like we said, this is always kind of the first ball out of my bag, even in a practice session, just to kind of see what the strongest of the strong does. Okay, so to kind of dissect that, there's only one shot, obviously, but I got to go into the right a little bit. And hopefully you can see it just actually dig in. It's no longer wanting to slide. It's fighting going to the right. It's fighting going to the right because it's the core, and it's so strong that it just wants to turn over. That's nice when we throw shots like that, where we get just a pinch to the right or something, and the strength of the core helps us out. It gets it back to the pocket. Yeah, and one of the things that you want to do as a bowler when you're picking out the right bowling ball for your game is you want to sort of identify your own liabilities. By liabilities, I mean maybe your errors or the points in your game where you need help. For example, if you're the kind of guy that throws the ball a little hard, speed-wise, you know, you give it a little too much speed, or if you're the kind of guy that doesn't have a lot of revolutions or sometimes a little too much up the back of the ball, then the asymmetrical bowling ball could really help you out. Because if you throw too hard or if you don't have a lot of revs, that asymmetry in the bowling ball can really help you manufacture some of that. Yeah, it meshes really well with the lower reverie. And we've seen how many, like, really, really good local bowlers that like to play a little straight. They'll pull out those strongest balls and they're so hard to beat because they have control because the ball is giving them what their rev rate isn't necessarily giving them. So, all right, so we're going to test another bowling ball here. I'm actually going to go down to a symmetric ball. So this would be the ball that I would consider kind of closest to the Ion Max on the symmetric side. This is an OG Summit. Really, really strong symmetrical bowling ball. Probably the strongest symmetrical bowling ball we've thrown. So we go from the Ion Max, strongest asymmetric we have, to the strongest symmetric. And the difference I'm hoping to see is this one's going to be a little rounder. It's not going to want to change directions as quickly in the mid lane. It's just going to be a nice rounded shape, which kind of turns into a little bit less overall hook. No, no, no, no. Okay, now we got to play around with this a little bit. This is one of the reasons why I don't like professional bowlers because they make everything look really good. Did you see that shape be a little rounder than the first one? And what we mean by that, like, I know that one might have got back of the pocket a little better, but the Ion Max actually, it picked up off the spot, but then it rolled out a pinch because of the strength of the core. That one got to the same spot, still a really strong ball, read up, but it didn't roll out as much. And we would consider that strength. The Ion Max is a little stronger because it rolled out. Right. And the Summit actually took a little longer of a space to make its move. The Ion Max made the same amount of move in a shorter amount of space. So the asymmetry gets to the very beginning of that break point, and then it's kind of quick. It'll do it harder. It's like initially snaps harder, which can cause a rollout. We consider that strength. There wasn't as much strength in the core of the Summit, a little rounder, a little different type of shape. And it is helpful if you're what we call a matched bowler, somebody with speed and revs that sort of match. It is really helpful to understand that difference so that you can utilize both bowling balls to your advantage. If you're in a lane condition where you need a little bit more angle or where the lane is a little bit more oily or unfresh, maybe the asymmetrical bowling ball. If you're looking for a little bit more control, the lane has broken down a little bit, maybe the symmetrical bowling ball as well. Yeah, I'm going to throw the Summit one more time. And then we're going to get down into like a little weaker balls. But I'm just going to play around with the Summit one more time and see. We're going to make a little bit move left, play a little more inside part of the lane and see if it gets a little too round for us in the middle part of the lane. See, that was noticeable. That was noticeable. The Ion Max would have likely recovered from that. Yes, because it got to that break point. And like you said, it's longer. So it starts to kind of hook here, not as strong as the Ion Max. And then it kind of just rounds out on this long break point, causing it not to get to the pocket. Whereas the asymmetric balls, and we'll show you with an attention star here in a second, it's not going to want to be as round. That might have been a light strike, potentially maybe even a flush strike, depending on how quick they are. The Ion Max would have hit the 1-3. Yes. It would have hit the pocket. I'm not saying it would have struck, but it definitely would have made it back to the pocket when the Summit struggled to make it. Should we try it before we go? Let's try it. So now we're going to play that same line with the Ion Max. And then we'll throw a couple shots with some weaker stuff. Now we're inside. We're going to see if this core will just lock up a little heavier. Okay. So that wasn't an identical shot, but I got that one going a little bit farther to the right. And it still made it back. The ball helps us. So it goes back to proving the exact same point we've been talking about. Yes. You did miss a little to the right compared to the Summit. Ball made it back. Potentially, if I were to hit that same spot with the Summit, it would have been 2-10, just a little bit too round and behind it. Yeah. Now, another factor that comes into play is on how to drill them. And in the shop, we go through this all the time. One of the things that you guys don't see on the video is that Brad has both of these bowling balls drilled identical. And this is something that I recommend a ton. If you have a layout that you really like on a bowling ball, use it. Use it. Use it on all your bowling balls. It's okay to have the same layout on all of your bowling balls if it's a layout that you know works for you on the majority of cases. Now, the ticket is, the trick, buy bowling balls that are different from each other. If you're going to drill them all the same, great, do it. But make sure you're buying bowling balls that are different from each other and that you have your surface preparation different from one another so that that way you can build an arsenal. And the ball companies, they make lots of bowling balls. So it's very easy to have the same drilling and then you just have, you know, that's why they make different bowling balls. It's funny you mentioned that because I have four balls up here, two asymmetric, two symmetric. And they're all, all four of them are drilled identical. Absolutely identical. Which is just a normal pin up right there. It's about five and a half from my axis. You know, that's just a great drilling for me. And like you said, when you find something that works, stick with it. The layout is not going to make the bowler. The bowler makes the bowler. Yeah. And the bowling ball, this is something that I like to, that I explained during our clinic, remember? The bowling ball is still the same bowling ball. You can drill five ion max with a half inch difference, pin to pad distance from each other. And only the extreme ones are really going to roll different. They're going to roll pretty similar. The ones in the middle, right? So you have to be aware of the fact that what kind of bowling ball you're buying, what kind of surfaces it's supposed to have and drill them the same. If you have, I have no problem telling any bowler, drill your bowling balls the same. Yes. Variety of layouts can help, but it can also complicate. Yeah. And I've kind of given up on trying different layouts. Now, granted, I've trial and error my way into finding a couple of layouts that work for me. So if you're someone out there that doesn't quite have a layout, find some cheap balls. It's okay to try some layouts, but you're going to eventually find that. I just like that one. Just get another ball. I like that one as well. And you gravitate towards the same layout all the time because it works. It works. And it works for your game. Okay. So now let's see the attention star. That should be even quicker. Yeah. So the two shots with the eye, this is asymmetric strong. This is a great ball down from an eye on max. When the eye on max starts to roll out a little too much, which we've actually kind of seen the first one that got to the whole slash the 10 out six, got the 10 a little late. And then the next one was a ring 10. So both of those actually rolled out just a pinch too much. So in that scenario, we're going to keep a similar strength, core asymmetric. And then this covers actually to see what it's going to do. So a strong cover and a little bit or a strong core, a little bit weaker cover. And we're going to see that lock up in the front and then create some angle. It's actually going to not roll out as much. If I can throw it well enough. Yeah. So very, very obvious there. The core like that thing picked up so early and because it has a paralyzed cleaner cover, it made the angle really sharp. So now it's slingshot. We have a really strong core that's wanting to quickly turn the second it starts. And then now we have a paralyzed cover that makes it really angular. So now we have like strong ending. And it actually proves the point that you were making earlier. The eye on max being so strong with a more sanded finish actually backed off a little bit. It hooked hard and it backed off a little bit of what you call the quitting of the hook, the rollout factor, not quite a rollout. I don't like using that word, but it hit plenty hard. But it kind of laid off. It backed off the attention star with the pearl cover on it and the shiny finish, aggressive coverstock, aggressive core, asymmetrical bowling ball. When it went, it went. It was out of control. Yep. And as much as you had a beautiful shape on the lane with it, I don't think you're going to strike a lot. No. And so I want to throw it one more time and then we're going to go into our weaker symmetrical and then show you the difference on what this ball versus the symmetrical one can do. I obviously have to make a big move left. And that's why you saw the really, really strong one roll out. We talk about low rev rates, people playing straight. The fact that these roll out allows you to play straight a little easier. So I'm going to make a pretty big move left and we're just going to see, do we like that crazy amount of entry angle when we play a little farther left? Okay. So that wasn't my best executed shot. It was a little missed. I obviously moved left, missed a little with my hand. But it's nice that we had that asymmetric core and the strength because it picked up and still had hitting power. If I was to throw that exact same shot with the Ion Max, a little missed, move my feet left, it's probably not going to, it's going to be a little too strong and it's going to, I don't know, roll out a little too much to carry that light hit right there. So the fact that we got a little quicker cover around a really strong core gave us that kind of like light hit behind the head pin type shot. Okay. So now we're going to see the Faze AI. Now I don't, now you're going to... Beautiful color. Both of these, the Attention Star and the Faze AI are both really pretty bowling balls. Now this is the symmetric version, step down. And I don't expect this thing to ricochet and boomerang like this Attention Star did. Weaker, weaker core. Similarly, clean cover. So that's a good hit right there because you could see just how much longer that hook spot was. It wanted to start and then it just kind of labored a little more. Yep. So... And it got there. It got there. Because you put it in the right place, but it didn't have the power. Yes. And now when we're deciding like, you know, should we throw a symmetric? Should we throw an asymmetric? Based on those shots, I saw the asymmetric actually kind of get there. It gave me a light hit, made me feel a little comfortable that we had the strength in the core. Whereas this little weak 10 I just threw with the symmetric ball. Yeah, it could have been me. But we're kind of looking for something that doesn't require me to be as like perfect. Exactly right. You're looking for a bowling ball that will give you room to miss. Yes. And still get there. Yes. And so when you're bouncing back on like, you know, which one do you throw? Do you throw a symmetric? Do you... Which one gives you a little bit of miss room? I mean, they're different. The stronger cores, the asymmetric cores are going to give you some strength in the mid lane. But sometimes the symmetric balls, the roundness, the longer hook spot can give you a better look as well. But it's up to you to trial and error, to throw them, and then to kind of make your own assessment based on the difference of the bowling ball. All right. So one last shot here. I think if I was to choose a strategy, I'm going to play my left, my move left with the quicker core and quicker cover. And we're just going to see if this is the right one. The strength in the core gives me a little bit of comfort. Okay. What do we think? Do you think you would choose that ball for me? I think that if there was going to be a bowling match between you and Kyle on this line, I'd pick you three times, four times on a Sunday. I threw some strikes, didn't I? He couldn't strike to save his life this morning. All right, guys. Thank you for watching that video on a symmetric bowling ball versus asymmetric. Daniel, when you get into the weeds of these cores and the numbers and stuff, they can be very complicated, can't they? Yeah, it's a bit of a rabbit hole. And it's, you know, the majority of us don't have the opportunity to drill 50 bowling balls a year. So you've got to be a little choosy. My biggest advice for all of you, keep it simple. Buy bowling balls that are significantly different from each other, and it's okay if you lay them out the same. Absolutely. And if you guys are looking for more stuff like this, coaching in particular, we have a Bowl Like a Pro membership where you have access to us every day and a community full of members. So if you're interested, click that link below or DM us on social media if you have more questions. And it comes with the bowling ball. And it comes with a bowling ball on a yearly purchase. So anyway, guys, we appreciate you guys for watching that video. 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