BATON ROUGE - There were more than a few people asking me Thursday night at my bowling league if I would be offering some thoughts about the United States Bowling Congress’ announcement regarding “Bowling Ball Hardness Governance.”

It’s a topic that USBC probably took too long to address and has made it more confusing than ever.

First of all, let me say I have thrown urethane a few times in the past. I didn’t seem to be able to get the hang of it and never bowled particularly well with it consistently. Maybe I didn’t soak the ball in chemicals or solutions that appears to be one of the prevalent things that has been alleged over the years.

I loved how USBC used the terminology of “slow-oil absorbing high performance” balls for the urethane equipment.

So if you have a urethane or a slow-oil absorbing, etc., bowling ball that was made before Aug. 1, 2022, you may be out of luck unless its just a regular Thursday league at the local bowling center or a tournament that isn’t one of the biggies so to speak.

As of Jan. 1, urethane will not be allowed at the U.S. Open, the Masters, PWBA national events, U22 Masters and Queens and USA Bowling Championships.

But those urethane balls that are manufactured after Aug. 1, 2022 and can pass the 78D hardness test on the meter can be used in events like the USBC Open and Women’s Open, the Bowlers Journal, and several USBC senior events.

Now here’s where it gets really sticky.

We mentioned the women’s tour above but nothing about the PBA.

The PBA apparently got tired of waiting on the USBC and made their own rules two years ago that all PBA Tournaments would be contested under a uniform 78B hardness rule for that category of ball.

“The PBA’s 78D rule addressed the most pressing concerns and has served our players, events and partners well. As the parameters of the sport continue to evolve, the PBA will continue its research, testing and evaluation to determine if any additional changes are needed for our level of competition.

“While we respect USBC’s decision, for now and the upcoming 2026 season, all PBA events will continue as is by allowing “urethane” bowling balls manufactured at 78D hardness and not dropping under 73D after time and/or in use.”

What is most baffling to me is after rumors or soaking bowling balls and parents trying to find the chemicals to do it without blowing up the garage, the USBC has gone with a modified rule for the Junior Gold event that doesn’t make a lot of sense.

This coming summer in Junior Gold 78D slow oil-absorbing high-performance balls will be allowed for qualifying only. Beginning with match play and through the finals, no slow oil-absorbing high-performance balls (regardless of hardness) will be allowed.

So basically you can use urethane to get you down the road in the championships and probably earn a nice scholarship but when it comes to the championship round, you might want to know how to throw something in the reactive resin category.

Part of USBC’s rational was that it was too drastic a change to put on the youth bowlers all at one time by next summer. Not if you tell them in September as the bowling season is starting in my opinion.

There were four tenants to all these recommendations, against quoting from USBC:

• Lane pattern integrity
• Competitive fairness
• Player development concerns
• Governance and integrity challenges

I’m intrigued by “player development concerns.” The USBC point is that player versatility and skill development is damaged using urethane especially among younger and developing athletes. That makes the Junior Gold decision a little fuzzy.

Heck, I just want a ball I can pick up the 10-pin with. I don’t care if it’s a sanded rock.

Look, go to bowl.com and make your own decisions on right, wrong, fair, unfair. It’s a subject we could write on a for a month and never cover all the angles. But we needed to bring it in front of the local crowd.

Back next Monday.

                  Until then, good luck and good bowling,

                                           (unless you are using a slow-oil absorbing high performance bowling ball.)

                                                                                                 Kent Lowe