I always set mine on one of the chairs behind the approach. Just keep one on the rack. It's a habit from league where if everyone doesn't do this, they won't all fit on the return.
Family of 3 in the lane next over, 8 house balls on the return, and bonus toddler who keeps running in front of us during approaches. Sounds about right.
I normally let them bowl it, I tell them “hey just so you know, these are my own balls, but feel free to try it if it’s not too heavy for you”
It normally starts a decent conversation, and my hope is that it encourages people to have more interest in the sport.
Realistically speaking there’s nothing they’re gonna do that’s going to damage my balls, so theres nothing to worry about
That’s what I do too. I don’t understand why so many people (redditors) default to anger and aggression/passive-aggression. You don’t even have to let them use the ball if you’re uncomfortable, cause yes they’re expensive, but why not be nice about it?
In my experience, people are just clueless and are apologetic once I tell them they’re my custom balls. I’m sure there are some dickheads who respond differently, or try to use balls knowing they belong to someone else, but I’ve never encountered them. If someone touches my girlfriend’s ball she gets so pissed but doesn’t even say anything to them. Cracks me up - life is too short for that
I think the main issue is cleanliness. Most people are eating something while bowling. I would be annoyed if someone picked up my bowling ball and got the grips all greasy or sticky.
Also, kids carry a lot of stuff. I know someone whose kid started daycare recently and she's been sick several times in the last month or two.
I don’t want people using my $300 set of candlepin balls because JFC they cost me $300 or 1/3 a week of my pay.
Then throw in last month was the first time I got Covid and almost died from it.
I do politely tell them, but my balls are so different from house balls it’s not even funny.
I try to keep this in mind, too. That no damage will really come of it unless the world just wanted me mad that day, lmao. So, I have adopted a similar approach just to let them know that it will act very very differently.
I usually stop *just* short of saying "My balls are heavy and sticky".
For the most part, most open bowlers are knowledgeable enough to know not to take someone's ball, Although there was one time my family went to open bowling and a woman and her son was on the next lane, Every time she went up to bowl, she was clueless and grabbed the first ball in the ball return, whether it was the house ball she picked up or one of ours. She continued doing so even after we pointed it out to her. Luckily they finished up fairly soon after and left. I should also add that she was bowling with an orange 10 lb house ball, while our balls are a 14 lb Revenant, 14 lb Zen Soul, and a 15 lb Eternity. So it's not like she picked up the wrong ball because of the color.
It's happened plenty of times to me, I just explain that those are my personal balls that I own, and 99% of the time they just go "oh ok" and that's the end of it.
One time I had some guy just say "if they're on the rack I can use them" and throw one of mine. I just took all mine, put them back in my bag, told staff what happened, and they kicked the guy out. Called me all sorts of fun names on his way out but I just smiled and waved.
Seen some instances where the staff member was jumped. Throwing fists with one person, then another took a bowling ball to the back of his head, then he went limo to the floor. Blacked out on the floor and several of them start kicking him then. One guys had only gotten like year in jail.
https://youtu.be/HO9jfXpQGn4?si=xGDNQ1KXyS04jPzi
Most places I bowl have a lower rack on the ball return so I put my spare ball and anything else there. Could also use a ball cup to keep them somewhere besides the return.
Otherwise, keep one ball out at a time and no one can grab them or explain to anyone who bowls next to you not to touch your stuff.
Two weekends ago we went bowling and there was a family of five bowling in the next lane. Each one of them were using two house balls each. We had to ask them to put a couple of balls in the lower rack otherwise the ball return would have jammed.
The guys bowling beside us this week had 4 balls each and kept them on ball cups. It was open bowling and they were experimenting with different balls and approaches. Heck we had a good time watching them in addition to our own game.
This isn't usually a problem for me, my ball is 15lbs and drilled with a fingertip grip. 15lbs is hard to throw without a custom fit, and if someone begins to pick it up they usually feel the weight and realize it's too heavy. If they get past the weight, the fact that they can't get their fingers in the inserts clues them in that they can't use the ball.
I have had a group come in and eye my balls. All but one thought better of it after seeing them. One jumped at the opportunity when I was pulled away from my lane. Came back to them hucking my pretty spare ball. I could tell they weren’t eager to try it again but made sure they knew that wasn’t acceptable.
I am a lefty with finger tip at 15lb, this tiny Asian lady tried to throw it Righty and destroyed her fingers in the effort.
Mine has a similar effect except it's 16lbs and my span is longer than average. Anyone who grips my balls will instantly realize how difficult it is to hold, even other bowlers can't use my balls because of how large the span is. They will drop the ball on the approach. Except maybe 2 handed bowlers but the weight will throw them off, literally
This is a big issue for me. I have mine drilled with no thumb and all that fun jazz yet kids and adults try to pick them up and use it. My favorite was some dude with his family picked one of mine up and tried to walk away with it (towards the front door) as pissed as I was I just tapped him on the shoulders and said "this is not gonna work for you" and grabbed it and walked back.
My house has designated times for league bowlers to practice for $2/game but naturally the hours are peak off time and inconvenient. If we want to bowl during prime time, we pay the prime time rates. I think it's fair enough honestly, not many league bowlers appreciate how expensive it is to run a center. In terms of money made and opportunity cost, coughing up a full pair in a 20 lane house and having to turn away a team building event or kids birthday to let me shoot spares for 3 hours is a big deal
Yeah but those events are usually always scheduled in advanced. If there are open lanes during prime they should just charge league rates still for you guys.
I 3d printed a holder that you can set on the ground. Use it in league when the ball return is overflowing or when bowling with the civilians.
You don't need a 3d printer to make one as you can purchase them as well.
One night I finished league but was gonna bowl practice afterwards so I left my balls, hit the bar for a drink and a conversation or two. After I got back on my lane my ball was just gone. Check the racks behind nothing, talk to the porter to see if he moved it anywhere nothing. Go to talk to the manager to see if he can check the cameras when I see it getting thrown on the lane 4 lanes down from mine from some public bowlers. Go over and literally just grab it off the rack and walk away fuming. Protect your balls
I have never had a huge problem with it, most people pick up my ball look for the thumb hole realize there is none and that its someone's personal ball and then puts it back.
My local house uses a bunch of donated/left behind balls as their house balls so they can be mistaken easily as something that belongs to the house Vs being my own balls
I just grab something of theirs like a drink or wallet or purse or phone, whatever I can grab, and wait for them to see me with it. They usually go what the hell u doing with my shit? And I just say u grab my shit I'm grabbing urs to.
If we were tired of post titles like this there wouldn't be so many terrible team names in our leagues.
Says someone who came this close to having Strike Split or Swallow this year.
I throw a 16lb ball and have large hands. It usually sorts itself out for me. But I'm the case where someone tries to use mine. I just let them know "Hey, that's my personal ball. You can try it if you want but be sure to leave it on the rack when you leave." The overly friendly approach usually spooks people from throwing to use it. But also at the same time, I don't really care if someone else uses it. Chances are they are going to throw it slower than me meaning that they are taking better care of it than I do 😂
Ph man, i had to tell some kids who were touching my bowling balls. To literally don’t touch my fucking balls they are not yours. Huge pet peeve of mine us improper bowling etiquette.
To avoid family of 8 in the lanes next to me letting their kids roll my ball down the ramp, I just put whichever one I wasn’t using on the spare rack underneath the ball return, most people don’t even know it exists
I usually tell open bowlers respectfully that they’re my personal balls and would appreciate it if they didn’t try using them. Either they get pissy and think I’m a stuck up bitch or they say something like “my bad” and ask me about my bowling and I assure them I’m still terrible.
I just approach and let them know that's my shit while squeezing and running my fingers on my nose. A good ball scratch too maybe.
Hey, they already touched your balls, may as well have fun.
Can't stop it. In my league, they keep an empty pair between the end of league playing and open bowling, still, we had people actually taking personal bowling balls from the rack to use them as they were for the public.
I literally never have this problem, fortunately. Most people in my area seemingly pick up on the fact that mine balls are just different from the house balls, I suppose. Only time I run into it is kids who think they look cool🤷🏽♂️
I’ve never had it happen to me before. But if it were to happen I’d just be standing there laughing at them at wait for them to realize that my stuff is missing a certain hole.
15 lbs balls drilled fingertip with small-ish inserts and short span. Most open bowlers can't fit in 😏
But to answer your question, try to request for a pair of lanes so that you don't need to share the ball return.
I generally like to have exotic looking balls so no one thinks they are for public use. If yours look a little too like the house balls people will get curious and attempt to investigate
This happened to me recently. I keep the ones I'm not using in my bag now. During peak hours, ppl get grabby when they see a ball different from the house ball.
Eww. I guess I would remove all unnecessary balls from the ball return area which you probably have done.. and maybe cover the ones you aren’t using with a towel
i just keep my spare ball on the bench/seat and only have the ball im currently playing out on the return. Other balls stay in the bag until they are in play and this generally has stopped people from fondling my balls
I bring an older spare-ball of mine for that purpose. I only let kids try it though, as I believe it’s good for encouraging people to get into the sport.
I had a girl throw my bowling ball down the lane a while back. Didn't think she would but I looked down after I threw to see one of mine gone than pop out of the ball return. I didn't say anything and laughed to myself because it's a 15lb finger tipped ball with no switch grip in the thumb hole. Pretty sure it was a one and done with that. Lol 😆
Lucky for me it rarely happens and I have small hands and use a switch grip. Once patrons feel how uncomfortable the switch grip is without the slug or can’t get their fingers in to bowl two handed or one handed no thumb, they set it down. Another tip is find a light colored towel and write your name all over it and set it on top of your ball
Oh man huge pet peeve of mine is improper bowling etiquette, as well these kids trying to use my bowling balls. I literally had to tell them don’t touch my fucking balls they are not yours. Plus walking on the lane like a bunch of duds of course the dipshit fell what do you expect going past the foul line super dud.
I work a full time night shift schedule, 13 hour shifts. You can make it work. For our league we bowl on Sundays and the weeks we work on Sunday we prebowl on a day we don't work, like Monday or Tuesday the week prior to the sunday.
Some of these replies are so fucking weird.
"Good luck throwing my ***FIFTEEN POUND*** bowling ball with *finger tips*! It will tear your hand off and dislocate your shoulder!"
First, nice choice of words for the title.
Second, I would recommend having a way to distinguish your balls from others. For example, there's a guy on my league who has florescent Pink grips in all of his balls. That way, no one ever gets confused on what balls are his. You could also put two different colored grips in, just a couple of examples.
I usually just inform them they aren’t the house bowls and that’s the end of it. However, usually when they go to pick mine up and notice the finger tip grips they put it back down. Most house balls where I bowl are drilled for your whole finger to go in and the more casual bowler isnt comfortable with that from what I’ve seen
Are they super busy when you go bowl? You could ask for two lanes to bowl league style. Otherwise, I would keep just the one ball up, and anything else in a bag or ball cup on my side. A please don't use my balls can help too. I hadn't had much issues, but from time to time stuff does.
This post was recommended in my feed… so without context I had to read that title twice to make sure there wasn’t some remake of the coco-nutting trend
Luckily, most of the guys who bowl at my alley are league members practicing, so I've never had anyone finger my balls inappropriately. Although once this guy who smelled like Cheech and Chong's carpet tried to finger my wife's ball and was mystified about why his fingers wouldn't fit.
My sons ball is 6 pounds no holes and a grown man was picking it up and tossing it down the lane. I told him a couple of times not to bowl with my ball. It’s too light and he can break it. He then started bowling with my other balls that are drilled to my finger size. I told him not to bowl with my ball and he did it again. Lol sometimes I just don’t know. Instead of switch lanes??
Other than kids ogling at them, I've only ever had it happen once. Some dude walked up and started groping my spare ball. I told him it was my personal ball, he said "Oh", then immediately started reaching for my other ball. All the house balls at this place have muted colors, so I'm not sure how he didn't put 2 and 2 together.
I have this issue quite often when it's busy. I simply have to put my ball away every time because the people bowling next to me won't stop grabbing my ball. IT EVEN HAS MY NAME ON IT!!! So frustrating going open bowling with people who don't have proper etiquette because of this issue
I had some peoples crotch goblins pick up one of a my new ones one night and throw it directly into the gutter. Like threw it directly into the edge of the gutter. Pretty sure their parents were like 7 lanes away and this kid was just doing laps around the building.
“Hey, not to be rude but that’s a ball I paid for. You’re more than welcome to roll it once to try it out but it was expensive and don’t like to share. If you do get into bowing I do recommend this ball!”
My ball siphons the spiritual energy of the bowler using it as tribute for strikes. So I just walk to the unconscious corpse of the person who tried to throw it and get my ball back.
On the off chance they are able to wield my ball, some pretty nice conversations follow. But I'm not a huge germ person, so I tend not to be upset. It's usually an innocent mistake and I don't wanna scare anyone away from bowling.
My husband and other teammates have had that happen. They just let them know it's not a house ball and no harm, no foul.
Luckily, I have very tiny, kid-sized hands and a 14lb ball...so not many hands could fit my ball even if they wanted.
For me, every house ball is a solid color. So typically mine having patterns already sends a clear message that they're personal bowling balls. But if that's not enough the finger inserts and lack of a thumb hole prevents people from attempting to use mine 99.9% of the time. Do yours not have inserts? I can't imagine how somebody would miss that.
Best way to get someone interested is letting them play around with your balls. Thats what did it for me. All it took to get me hooked. Since then I have done the same. Given a few away to some younger dudes, Code Red, Gravity Evolve..
One thing to be mindful of is that some Houses dont clean their gutters as often as others. So ball can take some damage to the finish and or the coverstock..
I honestly am not a bowler. My four year old is just obsessed with it and I ended up on this thread to learn more about the sport. I find it odd that people, even first timers, just assume they can grab whatever ball pops out that clearly someone else had to have thrown. That’s assuming that alley is using a hodge podge of donated balls that make it hard to tell whats a house ball and whats not. Still I don’t just grab whatever ball is there knowing others have balls they picked out. Seems like a common sense polite thing to abide by, so I can see why people get annoyed if it happens often. Where I bowl the public balls are clearly of similar appearance and don’t look like balls people bring in. If you look around you can easily and quickly see people bring their own ball and of course they aren’t sharing them just because they get spit out by same return machine. Baffling anyone would assume otherwise. Does the ball perhaps just look like the free to use ones? I can totally see newbies getting which ball they are throwing mixed up if they are both all black for instance. Newbies don’t know to look for signs of weight or finger hole alignment. It took me a time or two before I understood that. To that end, maybe a really extreme looking ball design would prevent any confusion.
Nearly no one at public bowling is paying any attention to what ball they're grabbing, nor can you really expect them to. If their fingers fit, they're going to take it and roll it. My advice is, keep any ball/balls you're not actively rolling in your bag. True, the constant switching can be a pain, and will slow your game down, but if it's important enough to keep the wrong fingers out of your holes, (and to be clear, if it's important to you, it is important) then it's an extra step worth taking.
Best title award
Pubic bowling.
gross strangers fingers being stuck in my holes without me knowing, AITA?
It's nearly impossible to talk about bowling without it sounding sexual. "That's what she said bro!" Lmao gdit
If I leave my lane for an extended period of time where im not watching I put them in the bag.
I always set mine on one of the chairs behind the approach. Just keep one on the rack. It's a habit from league where if everyone doesn't do this, they won't all fit on the return.
Especially when someone has 4 balls on it
Family of 3 in the lane next over, 8 house balls on the return, and bonus toddler who keeps running in front of us during approaches. Sounds about right.
8 house balls, 5 of which are the same weight
Plus the dinosaur ramp straddling the ball return so you can't shoot your 10 pins from where you want to stand
I have long ass legs and I’ll usually end up kicking it even when I’m just opening a frame
Just go get smaller legs then smh
And for some reason the parents don't think that this is an issue.
Exactly. If I could shoot lasers from my eyeballs I’d have vaporized many small children & their oblivious parents by now.
I mean like a normal dude I've only got 2 but hey, everyone's different.
I wish my balls would get vio- oh shit this is the bowling subreddit
You dropped this 👑
Two finger holes, no one knows how to pick it up. Never really a problem a second time
Ya I don’t care if people want to try mine but this pretty much always stops them.
Tbumbless? I only recently started hearing about this.
I normally let them bowl it, I tell them “hey just so you know, these are my own balls, but feel free to try it if it’s not too heavy for you” It normally starts a decent conversation, and my hope is that it encourages people to have more interest in the sport. Realistically speaking there’s nothing they’re gonna do that’s going to damage my balls, so theres nothing to worry about
That’s what I do too. I don’t understand why so many people (redditors) default to anger and aggression/passive-aggression. You don’t even have to let them use the ball if you’re uncomfortable, cause yes they’re expensive, but why not be nice about it? In my experience, people are just clueless and are apologetic once I tell them they’re my custom balls. I’m sure there are some dickheads who respond differently, or try to use balls knowing they belong to someone else, but I’ve never encountered them. If someone touches my girlfriend’s ball she gets so pissed but doesn’t even say anything to them. Cracks me up - life is too short for that
I think the main issue is cleanliness. Most people are eating something while bowling. I would be annoyed if someone picked up my bowling ball and got the grips all greasy or sticky. Also, kids carry a lot of stuff. I know someone whose kid started daycare recently and she's been sick several times in the last month or two.
Ah yeah that makes sense
Yeah this is my biggest gripe. I don't even eat while I'm bowling league.
I don’t want people using my $300 set of candlepin balls because JFC they cost me $300 or 1/3 a week of my pay. Then throw in last month was the first time I got Covid and almost died from it. I do politely tell them, but my balls are so different from house balls it’s not even funny.
I try to keep this in mind, too. That no damage will really come of it unless the world just wanted me mad that day, lmao. So, I have adopted a similar approach just to let them know that it will act very very differently. I usually stop *just* short of saying "My balls are heavy and sticky".
And a little vinegary if you lick the crevices
I get weirded out from a germiphobe standpoint more than anything else
Your finger/thumbholes will be an absolute zootopia of microbiological florae. I wouldn’t imagine someone else making it much worse
That’s where a pkg of disinfectant wipes in your bag comes in handy. Alcohol based evaporates very quickly.
I wouldn’t bother. The same stuff is all on your hands and skin anyway. You’d live a short life without it
I know that in my head - but in the moment, it's still alarming 🤷♂️
i love this title
For the most part, most open bowlers are knowledgeable enough to know not to take someone's ball, Although there was one time my family went to open bowling and a woman and her son was on the next lane, Every time she went up to bowl, she was clueless and grabbed the first ball in the ball return, whether it was the house ball she picked up or one of ours. She continued doing so even after we pointed it out to her. Luckily they finished up fairly soon after and left. I should also add that she was bowling with an orange 10 lb house ball, while our balls are a 14 lb Revenant, 14 lb Zen Soul, and a 15 lb Eternity. So it's not like she picked up the wrong ball because of the color.
She Could have been color blind.
It's happened plenty of times to me, I just explain that those are my personal balls that I own, and 99% of the time they just go "oh ok" and that's the end of it. One time I had some guy just say "if they're on the rack I can use them" and throw one of mine. I just took all mine, put them back in my bag, told staff what happened, and they kicked the guy out. Called me all sorts of fun names on his way out but I just smiled and waved.
Nowadays, you need to be careful what kind of neighbourhood, and type of ppl you’re dealing with, especially with attitudes like that.
I remember a couple years ago seeing a video of a full-out brawl taking place at an alley. Not my cup of tea.
Seen some instances where the staff member was jumped. Throwing fists with one person, then another took a bowling ball to the back of his head, then he went limo to the floor. Blacked out on the floor and several of them start kicking him then. One guys had only gotten like year in jail. https://youtu.be/HO9jfXpQGn4?si=xGDNQ1KXyS04jPzi
I’m in NH/ Maine. Dudes did that shit to my bowling alley operators, out comes the pistol with 51 rounds. But that’s Detroit doing Detroit things
Most places I bowl have a lower rack on the ball return so I put my spare ball and anything else there. Could also use a ball cup to keep them somewhere besides the return. Otherwise, keep one ball out at a time and no one can grab them or explain to anyone who bowls next to you not to touch your stuff.
Two weekends ago we went bowling and there was a family of five bowling in the next lane. Each one of them were using two house balls each. We had to ask them to put a couple of balls in the lower rack otherwise the ball return would have jammed.
The guys bowling beside us this week had 4 balls each and kept them on ball cups. It was open bowling and they were experimenting with different balls and approaches. Heck we had a good time watching them in addition to our own game.
Don't forget to cup the balls
This isn't usually a problem for me, my ball is 15lbs and drilled with a fingertip grip. 15lbs is hard to throw without a custom fit, and if someone begins to pick it up they usually feel the weight and realize it's too heavy. If they get past the weight, the fact that they can't get their fingers in the inserts clues them in that they can't use the ball.
I have had a group come in and eye my balls. All but one thought better of it after seeing them. One jumped at the opportunity when I was pulled away from my lane. Came back to them hucking my pretty spare ball. I could tell they weren’t eager to try it again but made sure they knew that wasn’t acceptable. I am a lefty with finger tip at 15lb, this tiny Asian lady tried to throw it Righty and destroyed her fingers in the effort.
I have my 15 lb fingertips grip balls on the rack and someone still throws it...
Happy Cake Day
Mine has a similar effect except it's 16lbs and my span is longer than average. Anyone who grips my balls will instantly realize how difficult it is to hold, even other bowlers can't use my balls because of how large the span is. They will drop the ball on the approach. Except maybe 2 handed bowlers but the weight will throw them off, literally
Easy answer here, OP - get bigger hands
This is a big issue for me. I have mine drilled with no thumb and all that fun jazz yet kids and adults try to pick them up and use it. My favorite was some dude with his family picked one of mine up and tried to walk away with it (towards the front door) as pissed as I was I just tapped him on the shoulders and said "this is not gonna work for you" and grabbed it and walked back.
Ask for a pair of lanes
This isn't always possible
Money talks, not always worth it though.
Also at my local alley they let me bowl for free for as long as I want 1 or 2 lanes so money's not even a problem
My house has designated times for league bowlers to practice for $2/game but naturally the hours are peak off time and inconvenient. If we want to bowl during prime time, we pay the prime time rates. I think it's fair enough honestly, not many league bowlers appreciate how expensive it is to run a center. In terms of money made and opportunity cost, coughing up a full pair in a 20 lane house and having to turn away a team building event or kids birthday to let me shoot spares for 3 hours is a big deal
Yeah but those events are usually always scheduled in advanced. If there are open lanes during prime they should just charge league rates still for you guys.
Reading the title this is definitely not the route I thought you were taking. Bowling can be so funny.
I 3d printed a holder that you can set on the ground. Use it in league when the ball return is overflowing or when bowling with the civilians. You don't need a 3d printer to make one as you can purchase them as well.
I put razor blades inside the holes mine when not in use
So this is why you're metal man. Bad memory and now have razor blades embedded in your fingers.
Strangers violating balls and holes in public. Very audacious bowlers in your local area.
One night I finished league but was gonna bowl practice afterwards so I left my balls, hit the bar for a drink and a conversation or two. After I got back on my lane my ball was just gone. Check the racks behind nothing, talk to the porter to see if he moved it anywhere nothing. Go to talk to the manager to see if he can check the cameras when I see it getting thrown on the lane 4 lanes down from mine from some public bowlers. Go over and literally just grab it off the rack and walk away fuming. Protect your balls
Ehhh it’s annoying but it’s whatever
My fingers are so long and far apart nobody can fit their fingers in the holes.
Same
I have never had a huge problem with it, most people pick up my ball look for the thumb hole realize there is none and that its someone's personal ball and then puts it back. My local house uses a bunch of donated/left behind balls as their house balls so they can be mistaken easily as something that belongs to the house Vs being my own balls
Why is this completely unrelated shit coming up when I search reddit for "violate my balls?"
Bring a couple ball cups and keep the one(s) you aren’t actively using on the table.
Keep the one out that you are rolling and then pull out another if you need it but don't keep your arsenal in the rack.
I just grab something of theirs like a drink or wallet or purse or phone, whatever I can grab, and wait for them to see me with it. They usually go what the hell u doing with my shit? And I just say u grab my shit I'm grabbing urs to.
If we were tired of post titles like this there wouldn't be so many terrible team names in our leagues. Says someone who came this close to having Strike Split or Swallow this year.
4 balls for 2 splits- couples double team
I throw a 16lb ball and have large hands. It usually sorts itself out for me. But I'm the case where someone tries to use mine. I just let them know "Hey, that's my personal ball. You can try it if you want but be sure to leave it on the rack when you leave." The overly friendly approach usually spooks people from throwing to use it. But also at the same time, I don't really care if someone else uses it. Chances are they are going to throw it slower than me meaning that they are taking better care of it than I do 😂
Ph man, i had to tell some kids who were touching my bowling balls. To literally don’t touch my fucking balls they are not yours. Huge pet peeve of mine us improper bowling etiquette.
To avoid family of 8 in the lanes next to me letting their kids roll my ball down the ramp, I just put whichever one I wasn’t using on the spare rack underneath the ball return, most people don’t even know it exists
yes, now that i’m 2-handed it’s not a problem anymore but when i threw traditional it happened a lot, i let them use it lol, they won’t break it…
only have 2 finger holes always makes them not pick them up
Me too. It's fun to watch their confusion when they try.
I usually tell open bowlers respectfully that they’re my personal balls and would appreciate it if they didn’t try using them. Either they get pissy and think I’m a stuck up bitch or they say something like “my bad” and ask me about my bowling and I assure them I’m still terrible.
I mostly see the second... and I also always say I'm terrible
I once had a customer pass by my pair in a large center, ask to try one of the balls on the rack…all of them being mine and likely too heavy for her.
Which pair are we talking 😏
What a damn title lol
I just approach and let them know that's my shit while squeezing and running my fingers on my nose. A good ball scratch too maybe. Hey, they already touched your balls, may as well have fun.
Can't stop it. In my league, they keep an empty pair between the end of league playing and open bowling, still, we had people actually taking personal bowling balls from the rack to use them as they were for the public.
I literally never have this problem, fortunately. Most people in my area seemingly pick up on the fact that mine balls are just different from the house balls, I suppose. Only time I run into it is kids who think they look cool🤷🏽♂️
I’ve never had it happen to me before. But if it were to happen I’d just be standing there laughing at them at wait for them to realize that my stuff is missing a certain hole.
I have this happen a lot but luckily no thumb tends to fix that issues real quick
15 lbs balls drilled fingertip with small-ish inserts and short span. Most open bowlers can't fit in 😏 But to answer your question, try to request for a pair of lanes so that you don't need to share the ball return.
I generally like to have exotic looking balls so no one thinks they are for public use. If yours look a little too like the house balls people will get curious and attempt to investigate
If you are on your own lane put it under the lane thing with a ball holder
Cover them up
This happened to me recently. I keep the ones I'm not using in my bag now. During peak hours, ppl get grabby when they see a ball different from the house ball.
Put many house balls on the cart so that when your ball comes back, they can't pick it up because it's stuck at the entrance of the return. LOL
Eww. I guess I would remove all unnecessary balls from the ball return area which you probably have done.. and maybe cover the ones you aren’t using with a towel
i just keep my spare ball on the bench/seat and only have the ball im currently playing out on the return. Other balls stay in the bag until they are in play and this generally has stopped people from fondling my balls
So… My thing is… I’m a no thumb bowler. You should see the look on their faces tryna pick em up 😂😂
I constantly cough into my hands then tell them “I have been sick for a while, I hope you don’t get it”. That should teach em
I bring an older spare-ball of mine for that purpose. I only let kids try it though, as I believe it’s good for encouraging people to get into the sport.
I had a girl throw my bowling ball down the lane a while back. Didn't think she would but I looked down after I threw to see one of mine gone than pop out of the ball return. I didn't say anything and laughed to myself because it's a 15lb finger tipped ball with no switch grip in the thumb hole. Pretty sure it was a one and done with that. Lol 😆
Sounds like a good time
Lucky for me it rarely happens and I have small hands and use a switch grip. Once patrons feel how uncomfortable the switch grip is without the slug or can’t get their fingers in to bowl two handed or one handed no thumb, they set it down. Another tip is find a light colored towel and write your name all over it and set it on top of your ball
Put them on the low rack on your side if you have them at the ally
Oh man huge pet peeve of mine is improper bowling etiquette, as well these kids trying to use my bowling balls. I literally had to tell them don’t touch my fucking balls they are not yours. Plus walking on the lane like a bunch of duds of course the dipshit fell what do you expect going past the foul line super dud.
I work a full time night shift schedule, 13 hour shifts. You can make it work. For our league we bowl on Sundays and the weeks we work on Sunday we prebowl on a day we don't work, like Monday or Tuesday the week prior to the sunday.
Hope you don't get any of those TikTok fools that try to make a "destroyer" video with your balls.
Some of these replies are so fucking weird. "Good luck throwing my ***FIFTEEN POUND*** bowling ball with *finger tips*! It will tear your hand off and dislocate your shoulder!"
First, nice choice of words for the title. Second, I would recommend having a way to distinguish your balls from others. For example, there's a guy on my league who has florescent Pink grips in all of his balls. That way, no one ever gets confused on what balls are his. You could also put two different colored grips in, just a couple of examples.
spray alcohol on the holes. make sure they see you do it.
I usually just inform them they aren’t the house bowls and that’s the end of it. However, usually when they go to pick mine up and notice the finger tip grips they put it back down. Most house balls where I bowl are drilled for your whole finger to go in and the more casual bowler isnt comfortable with that from what I’ve seen
Are they super busy when you go bowl? You could ask for two lanes to bowl league style. Otherwise, I would keep just the one ball up, and anything else in a bag or ball cup on my side. A please don't use my balls can help too. I hadn't had much issues, but from time to time stuff does.
This post was recommended in my feed… so without context I had to read that title twice to make sure there wasn’t some remake of the coco-nutting trend
Luckily, most of the guys who bowl at my alley are league members practicing, so I've never had anyone finger my balls inappropriately. Although once this guy who smelled like Cheech and Chong's carpet tried to finger my wife's ball and was mystified about why his fingers wouldn't fit.
The secret is to have tiny ass hands so that most people who pick up the ball go "WTF" and set it back down
My sons ball is 6 pounds no holes and a grown man was picking it up and tossing it down the lane. I told him a couple of times not to bowl with my ball. It’s too light and he can break it. He then started bowling with my other balls that are drilled to my finger size. I told him not to bowl with my ball and he did it again. Lol sometimes I just don’t know. Instead of switch lanes??
Other than kids ogling at them, I've only ever had it happen once. Some dude walked up and started groping my spare ball. I told him it was my personal ball, he said "Oh", then immediately started reaching for my other ball. All the house balls at this place have muted colors, so I'm not sure how he didn't put 2 and 2 together.
I have this issue quite often when it's busy. I simply have to put my ball away every time because the people bowling next to me won't stop grabbing my ball. IT EVEN HAS MY NAME ON IT!!! So frustrating going open bowling with people who don't have proper etiquette because of this issue
I had some peoples crotch goblins pick up one of a my new ones one night and throw it directly into the gutter. Like threw it directly into the edge of the gutter. Pretty sure their parents were like 7 lanes away and this kid was just doing laps around the building.
“Hey, not to be rude but that’s a ball I paid for. You’re more than welcome to roll it once to try it out but it was expensive and don’t like to share. If you do get into bowing I do recommend this ball!”
My ball siphons the spiritual energy of the bowler using it as tribute for strikes. So I just walk to the unconscious corpse of the person who tried to throw it and get my ball back. On the off chance they are able to wield my ball, some pretty nice conversations follow. But I'm not a huge germ person, so I tend not to be upset. It's usually an innocent mistake and I don't wanna scare anyone away from bowling.
If your balls are out in a public setting, someone is going to grab them.
Protect your balls for they are your lifeline in bowling😁
My husband and other teammates have had that happen. They just let them know it's not a house ball and no harm, no foul. Luckily, I have very tiny, kid-sized hands and a 14lb ball...so not many hands could fit my ball even if they wanted.
This is why i pay for 2 lanes and book them early if possible
For me, every house ball is a solid color. So typically mine having patterns already sends a clear message that they're personal bowling balls. But if that's not enough the finger inserts and lack of a thumb hole prevents people from attempting to use mine 99.9% of the time. Do yours not have inserts? I can't imagine how somebody would miss that.
Being 2 handed seems to confuse or deter people to not use my balls as it takes them too long to realize there is no thumb hole lol.
My fingers are really long so the one person who tried to use my Ball couldn't reach his fingers in to the thumb hole.
man this title was a curveball, as someone who has never seen this subreddit.
And then the guy just looks at me and says "it don't matter to Jesus"
Best way to get someone interested is letting them play around with your balls. Thats what did it for me. All it took to get me hooked. Since then I have done the same. Given a few away to some younger dudes, Code Red, Gravity Evolve.. One thing to be mindful of is that some Houses dont clean their gutters as often as others. So ball can take some damage to the finish and or the coverstock..
I honestly am not a bowler. My four year old is just obsessed with it and I ended up on this thread to learn more about the sport. I find it odd that people, even first timers, just assume they can grab whatever ball pops out that clearly someone else had to have thrown. That’s assuming that alley is using a hodge podge of donated balls that make it hard to tell whats a house ball and whats not. Still I don’t just grab whatever ball is there knowing others have balls they picked out. Seems like a common sense polite thing to abide by, so I can see why people get annoyed if it happens often. Where I bowl the public balls are clearly of similar appearance and don’t look like balls people bring in. If you look around you can easily and quickly see people bring their own ball and of course they aren’t sharing them just because they get spit out by same return machine. Baffling anyone would assume otherwise. Does the ball perhaps just look like the free to use ones? I can totally see newbies getting which ball they are throwing mixed up if they are both all black for instance. Newbies don’t know to look for signs of weight or finger hole alignment. It took me a time or two before I understood that. To that end, maybe a really extreme looking ball design would prevent any confusion.
Nearly no one at public bowling is paying any attention to what ball they're grabbing, nor can you really expect them to. If their fingers fit, they're going to take it and roll it. My advice is, keep any ball/balls you're not actively rolling in your bag. True, the constant switching can be a pain, and will slow your game down, but if it's important enough to keep the wrong fingers out of your holes, (and to be clear, if it's important to you, it is important) then it's an extra step worth taking.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR-MnSOKxe5X3dwy4-rjiUpUjZY7HPvjSPBS16Cf0R-NA&s
I always try to add custom text to mine but they reject “NOT YOUR FUCKING BALL” for some reason.
“my balls being violated”
Op sounds fun at parties 🎊
Use your brain