If you've spent any time around bowling, you've probably heard that professionals use 16-pound balls and that you should too. Like many pieces of bowling received wisdom, this is partly true and significantly more complicated than it sounds. Here's the full picture.
The Short Answer
The vast majority of PBA Tour professionals use 15 or 16-pound bowling balls. The 16-pound ball is the maximum weight allowed under USBC regulations and has traditionally been the standard for competitive men's bowling. However, a meaningful number of competitive pros — including some high-level women's players on the PWBA Tour — use 15-pound balls, and in some cases lighter.
The trend over the past decade has been a gradual shift toward 15-pound balls among male professionals, primarily driven by the rise of two-handed bowling and high-rev players who find that the slightly lighter ball allows them to maintain higher revolution rates and ball speed over the course of a long tournament.
Why Pros Typically Use 15-16 Pound Balls
Kinetic energy and pin action: Heavier balls carry more kinetic energy into the pins, which produces better pin action — the way pins scatter and collide to knock each other down. A 16-pound ball hitting the pocket at the correct angle with good entry will carry corner pins more reliably than a lighter ball with the same delivery.
Oil penetration: Heavier balls press through the oil on the lane more effectively, maintaining their intended ball motion more consistently across different oil volumes and pattern lengths.
Momentum through the pins: A heavier ball deflects less when it contacts the pins, maintaining its trajectory through the pin deck better. This is particularly important for high-entry-angle deliveries that need the ball to continue moving after initial pin contact.
The Case for 15 Pounds
The argument for 15 over 16 has gained real credibility at the professional level:
Rev rate preservation: Generating and maintaining high revolution rates over multiple games in a tournament requires physical energy. Many high-rev players find their rev rate drops significantly toward the end of a tournament with a 16-pound ball but stays consistent with a 15-pound ball. Over a five-game block, that consistency is worth more than the marginal additional pin action of the heavier weight.
Injury prevention: The cumulative physical stress of a 16-pound ball over hundreds of games per year is real. Some professionals have switched to 15 to manage chronic wrist and shoulder issues.
Speed maintenance: Higher ball speed produces better pin action and covers the lane more consistently. Players who can generate faster ball speed with a 15-pound ball will often produce equivalent or better results compared to struggling to maintain speed with a 16-pound ball.
What Weight Should You Use?
The common advice to use the heaviest ball you can comfortably swing is not wrong, but "comfortably" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. The right weight is the heaviest ball you can:
- Swing freely without muscling or tensing your arm
- Release consistently from delivery to delivery
- Maintain the same speed and rev rate on game 3 as on game 1
- Bowl with for extended sessions without pain or discomfort
| Bowler Type | Recommended Weight Range |
|---|---|
| Children (under 10) | 6–10 lbs |
| Youth / lighter adults | 10–14 lbs |
| Average adult recreational | 14–16 lbs |
| Competitive adult (male) | 15–16 lbs |
| Competitive adult (female) | 14–16 lbs |
| High-rev / two-handed players | 14–15 lbs often preferred |
The old "use 10% of your body weight" guideline is a rough starting point that has limited real application for most adult bowlers. A 180-pound person doesn't need an 18-pound ball (which doesn't exist and would be illegal) — but they also won't get much benefit from a 10-pound ball. The guideline caps at 16 pounds regardless of weight.
Practical advice: If you're currently using a 14-pound ball and feel like you have room to go heavier without straining, try 15. If you're on 15 and feel physically comfortable over three games, consider 16. If you're on 16 and your game feels worse in game 3 than game 1, going down to 15 might actually improve your total series.