Getting older, been league bowling for about 40 years. Switched from 16 to 15 lbs about 9 years ago. Bowling shoulder is starting to bother me especially the first few balls in practice. Notice a clicking in the joint when working out. Was considering a switch to 14lbs (or switch from lefty to righty). Haven't seen a Dr. yet but will soon. Anybody who has switched notice a drop off in strikes and score ?

Hey John;  I switched from 15 to 14 about 4 or 5 years ago and I do notice some loss in carry with resulting lower scores.  I changed thinking it would give me more speed but I'm not sure that it did.  Keep in mind, however, that I'm past the 80 mark so the loss in carry and scores could be the result in just getting OLD. 

I disagree with Bergman. In my experience when going to 14, the arm swing is faster, therefore the feet move faster to catch up. Probably a mechanics issue, but it is real. Not saying it's good, bad or ugly, but it's an observation based on personal experience. On the other end... going from 16 to 15, no difference in carry. 15 to 14, yes, a difference most nights. I'll avoid it as long as I can, but I also note, if my memory serves, that Bryanna Cote's standout year involved, among other things, dropping to 14....

Hum!  I was of the assumption from many you tube videos and known gold and silver, coaches that ball speed was a direct result of foot speed.  Would like to hear more why arm swing trumps foot speed. Anyone?
Regardless, I would like to congratulate John N. who's post displays a realistic evaluation of his limitations based on his age of 80.
One of my teammates is 80 and he blames everything and I mean everything for his poor performance (from a 170 average to a 115 average) and the fact he has dropped from 14 lbs. to 12 lbs.  We (the rest of us) know age has taken over, and we're all ok with where his level of performance is, but he is driving us all crazy with his denial excuses.
Bottom line 12 lbs., does not increase speed or carry anything close to 15, 14, or even 13 lbs., from what I have seen.

Hum!  I was of the assumption from many you tube videos and known gold and silver, coaches that ball speed was a direct result of foot speed.  Would like to hear more why arm swing trumps foot speed. Anyone?
...

My 2 cents.

If one actually and truly relied on the weight (actually the mass)  of the ball in a true pendulum armswing to accelerate the ball down the lane, I think we'd all be shocked at how slow the ball will go. Like it or not, we all use muscles in the shoulder ad the back to accelerate the ball. That's the physics of the body and of actual objects it's using.

When coaches say, "Don't muscle the ball", they're not using English to truly describe what they want to say. One cannot NOT muscle the ball. I believe the true concept behind the statement above is to not use excessive muscles when accelerating the ball. Of course, "excessive" is relative to the person bowling and their muscle structure body design and their bowling mechanics. EVERYONE is different and "excessive" means different amounts to everyone.

A foot speed increase implies, for most people, that they will/must take longer steps. (Note small great bowlers, like Norm Duke, Chris Warren and Pete Weber, all stand pretty far back and still take around 5 steps. To do that they all must take, on average, longer steps. To keep things in balance, when a human takes longer steps, their armswing must be  faster, than when they take shorter steps, and many times, it is also longer. (Look how high Weber's and Warren's backswing is!)

So, unless you force some other part of your anatomy to counterbalance your increased ball speed, it should produce a faster armswing, which, in turn, will produce a faster ball speed.

I dropped to 14lbs 2 summers ago. I've been able to do more with 14 than I ever could with 15. The gains definitely outweigh the losses. Carry may have gone down on some hits, but it has gone up on others. Overall, I'd say it has improved. Ball speed is up, rev rate is up, and I'm able to manipulate my release more than I could with 15.

My previous high average was 206. Went up to 214 the first year with 14, and 215 last season. In fact, in that first season I bowled 4 leagues. My low league for the year was 207. I had only ever finished above 200 about 4-5 times prior to this. I've also shot my first 300 and 800 with 14 (and with urethane, which should be even harder). Set my new personal bests multiple times over the past 2 seasons actually.

I may be the exception, but don't automatically assume carry will go down. I decided to move down after seeing some other really good bowlers do so. They did not seem to suffer either.

Great discussion. It remains widely believed that dropping a pound in weight will result in an increase in ball speed and an increase in revs off the hand. The reality though, is different (in the majority of cases). It is definitely true that a freely swinging armswing
(absent any applied force by the bowler) will not result in any increase in ball speed. However, this is also true in the majority of cases where force is applied in the swing cycle. 

If the bowler applies acceleration in the backswing, a higher arc is created. Unless the swing "flattens" on the downswing, any acceleration applied will be directed INTO the lane and as a result, any excess acceleration will be absorbed into the lane, resulting in an actual LOSS in ball speed. However, it is true that an acceleration which is applied to the ball PRECISELY at the point when the arm is perpendicular to the approach, and especially if the acceleration has a slightly UPWARD direction, will result in a small increase in ball speed.

Also, balls that have mass removed from OUTSIDE the core WILL roll faster
than a similar ball that is overall, heavier than the ball that had the mass removed, even if rolled by a bowler who relies completely on a gravity-fed armswing. However.
ball manufacturers already know this. This is why there are different RG and differential values for balls that come in a variety of weights.  If you look at most ball specs, you will see that in general, RG values INCREASE as ball weight drops. As a ball's RG increases, it becomes harder to "rev-up", because the center of mass has been moved farther out from the axis of rotation. Yes, a lighter weighted ball might seem"easier" to rev up, but it has to rev up a core that is..... actually harder TO rev-up. This is especially true when dropping from 15# to 14# in weight, for reasons that would take even longer to explain on this post. So, in summary, there is most often, little if no, difference in the amount of RPMS than can be generated by dropping down a pound in weight. But there is a much more realistic explanation on why dropping a pound in weight can in some cases, improve a bowler's performance, but increased ball speed and the ability to generate more revs are not among the reasons.

The real reason why some bowlers experience an improvement in performance by dropping in welght is because just a single drop in ball weight (a pound), has more
effect on the body's LEGS and their ability to carry a load, shot after shot, game after game, block after block.  It is precisely due to leg fatigue that will often cause a bowler to increasingly rely on using their upper body to control and propel shots downlane. As the legs tire, bowlers increasingly resort to more muscle in the swing.
A muscled swing is a SLOWER swing. It also allows for more "grab" in the release, resulting in LESS revs being applied to the ball.  A lighter ball will delay the onset of leg fatigue, allowing the bowler to rely on a more relaxed swing and grip as time goes on. Our legs begin to tire LONG before we feel it. It shows up when we begin to use our upper body more and more to execute shots.

Also a side note on the belief that a lighter ball can result in an increase in foot speed. Going to a lighter ball will also not normally have any effect on ball speed. In fact, it is often quite the opposite. A heavier ball will actually cause a slight INCREASE in foot speed when any of the following conditions apply:

1. The bowler utilizes an extended pushaway (vs. a hinged pushaway)

2. The bowler's legs are not conditioned enough to "carry" the ball's weight
    throughout the approach.

In both of these instances, a bowler's foot speed will actually INCREASE--more so than if the same bowler was swinging a lighter-weighted ball.

When I worked in a proshop we primarily looked at how much weight a bowler's body could handle. It is why we had measuring balls in 3 weights, 10.5, 12.5 and 15.

If a weight caused a bowler to drop their shoulders then we went lighter.

If possible we wanted to get a person into at least 14lbs. At that point carry improved significantly. But if 14 lbs. caused their form to breakdown and/or caused pain then we would go lighter. 

Before urethane 16lbs had some carry advantages. Now with resin urethane and some of the technology of the cores 15lbs seems to be a better match up.

Many of the professionals in the late 80's thru the mid 90's went to 15 lbs. A large part for less wear and tear on the body given how many games they were bowling but also as resin balls with more friction came into the game, ball speed was more important than the extra power of 1 lb. in weight.

Bowl with what feels comfortable and doesn't break down your body. 1 lb. less may or may not increase ball speed but if it allows you to bowl pain free it is the right choice.

Bowling should not be painful.