When you're looking for the right bowling ball for you, the material of the coverstock is typically one of your first considerations.
These materials are the primary method of differentiating between balls and how they will perform on the lanes (as well as their price tag in most cases!).
Beginners will usually start with a plastic/polyester ball, which is best suited to a straight ball shot. These balls won't be very good for hook shots, unfortunately, but they do have the advantage of being much cheaper.
On the other end of the spectrum, professionals and competitive league bowlers will typically use reactive resin bowling balls, which are designed for the most powerful hook and strike potential. These can be great, but they are typically more expensive too.
Fortunately there's a happy medium: the urethane bowling ball.
These balls are ideal for someone just starting to throw a hook because the urethane coverstock generates more friction with the lane surface allowing it to hook more.
If you already have a plastic/polyester ball, don't toss it away or sell it: keep it around as your spare ball, a role for which a straight shot is preferred.
But in terms of honing your hook for your first ball, the urethane ball will be highly superior to the plastic.
You can find bowling balls at quite a few places both in person and online, but we prefer Amazon as it provides a superior customer experience, (usually) free shipping with Prime, and an unmatched selection along with the lowest prices.
This article will go over the best urethane balls that you might want to consider for your own use.
Top 5 Urethane Bowling Balls
1. Hammer Blue
The Blue Hammer is an interesting ball option. It's a high performance ball with a re-engineered Vibe core shape and Hammer's new Performance Urethane coverstock, but its motion and design style are decidedly old-school.
As a result, the Blue Hammer ball serves as a sort of throwback to an earlier era, but with the added benefits of the latest ball technologies.
With the Combat Tank, Motiv has taken a good thing and made it even better. Its already popular Tank urethane line has been given some major upgrades.
In particular it has a Hybrid Alchemy coverstock, a very unique urethane which will give you more length and a better performance on a variety of oil conditions.
It also features a Recon weight block, never before used on a Motiv urethane ball. The Combat Tank serves as a good option for bowlers currently near the intermediate stages.
Take one part Control Solid Urethane cover stock. Mix in a Capacitator core and finish things off with 1000 Grit Pad factory finish and you've got yourself a Storm Pitch Black, a recipe that will deliver superb ball control and a powerful but smooth and consistent back end.
Read our complete Storm Pitch Black Review for more information
As urethane bowling balls come, the Storm Mix is one of the best deals you can get. Its coverstock is U1S Pearl Urethane, and coupled with a traditional 3-piece core it packs quite a punch.
The different color schemes all look bright and impressive, and it can be a great strike ball on drier conditions or a shutdown spare ball.
Like the Sniper, this Motiv ball has a DMX Pearl Urethane coverstock. From there, the coverstock is treated with a 4000 Grit LSS factory finish. The Halogen core helps with pin carry and overall this is a solid ball to take with you for relatively dry lanes.
In conclusion, a urethane bowling ball will give you more action than a plastic/polyester one. You will notice it has a larger angle of entry into the pocket and goes across more boards.
In short: it's a ball that allows you to hook far superior to what you'll get from plastic. These urethane balls are best suited for dry/medium conditions and can also be good options for your spare shots on any oil pattern.
There's quite a bit of variation in price and materials here among the options we've presented so you can tailor your ball to your current status.
But if you decide that you're serious about bowling but don't want to break the bank and don't necessarily need the extremely aggressive action that reactive resin balls are designed to provide, a high quality urethane ball will most likely be your best bet.
Best of luck on your journey and we hope you find the right ball that makes a major impact on your confidence level and, ultimately, average!
Product Images Sourced from Amazon.com
I have a storm.pitch blue i have problem.woth splits and when i throw it hard like 14.8 mph per hour it tend to miss 13 and just hit 3 and split and when i throw slower at about 13.5 it either be perfect x or miss pin 10 so someone recomend me to get hammer.black it say better carry but i notice there is a purple.hammer urethane also coming out in 10 18 so which is a better ball the purple or.black and whst is different also i throw woth 2 fingers
Thanks
If you check out bowlingball.com you will see that the purple urethane is almost the same as the Black as far as hooking potential. I think it comes down and which color you like best. I have the hammer black urethane and I only use it when I want to throw out and in utilizing the middle part of the lane ( which is a rarity for me). I am a two-handed bowler that uses four fingers and no thumb. I throw down and in with the Hammer Widow spare ball which is a plastic ball with a core. The hammer black urethane will chill out after about 30 games.
Bought the storm mix 14 lbs ,I’m left handed like to throw between 5 and 10 ,board,down and in although I hit the pocket ,I leave to many 7 so I bought aebonite cyclone 14 lbs but I can,t control the hook do you think the ball is to light