10 Best Bowling Balls For Hooking

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Bowling is a fascinating game – one you can enjoy with other enthusiasts on any lovely evening or weekend. You need a ball with excellent hook potential to go along with your speed, perfect angle, and speed techniques as you level up your bowling skills.

The best bowling ball for hook will help you bowl with a great angle that hits the pins at high power. Choosing the best hooking ball can be challenging. You have to consider factors like coverstock material, weight block, and much more. 

This is why we’ve rounded up our ten best balls for hooking to level up your game. 

So here are MY 10 Top Balls for Hooking

RankHooking Bowling Ball
#1Motiv Jackal Ghost Bowling Ball
#2Motiv Venom Shock Bowling Ball
#3Hammer Black Widow Legend Bowling Ball
#4Michelin Storm Omega Crux
#5Motiv Jackal Ghost
#6Motiv Trident Nemesis 12lb, Teal
#7Brunswick Bowling Twist Reactive Ball
#8Roto Grip RST X-2 Bowling Ball 13lbs
#9Pyramid Path Rising Bowling Ball
#10Brunswick Rhino Bowling Ball

MOTIV Jackal Ghost Bowling Ball

Motiv Jackal Ghost is a rock-solid, high-performing ball every bowler wants to have. If you’re one of those speed dominants with a low rev rate, this is the hooking ball for you.

The Jackal Ghost works best in heavy oil lanes. It has a great quality build, allowing you to up your bowling game once you get used to it.

It features a Coercion HFS coverstock, 3000 grit LSS finish, and differential and low RG. Its asymmetric design helps you produce plenty of track flare.

Pros

  • Superior quality
  • Excellent mid-lane performance
  • Strong backend hook

Cons

  • Not suitable for heavy lanes

Motiv Venom Shock Bowling Ball

Motiv Venom Shock is a versatile, high-performance ball with a reactive solid Turmoil MFS reactive coverstock that ensures high hook potential. The Gear symmetrical core ensures consistency.

This ball covers more boards efficiently. It reacts very well to surface changes and oil pattern transitions. It also produces strong, consistent motions to the backend and much explosiveness with the click of a shot.

The steady motion down the lane builds energy, transferring well through the pins. This ball works with different oil patterns. The Motiv Venom bowling ball also features a 4,000 grit, making it reactive to different oil patterns.

Pros

  • High performance
  • Versatile on the lanes
  • Great for beginners


Cons

  • Struggles with dry lanes

Hammer Black Widow Legend Bowling Ball

The Black Widow Legend is a high-potential hooking ball to use on heavy oil lanes. It is loved by elites who need a ball that’ll hit pins like a real hammer. 

The ball has a Gas Mask core inside an NBT Hybrid coverstock with a 1000-grit Abralon finish. Hammer Black Widow shouts ‘durability’ wherever it goes. 

Not to mention, it will give you the length you require with its optimum hook and enable you to take your game a notch higher.

Pros

  • Durable
  • Great for elites and pro bowlers
  • High hook potential

Cons

  • Not the right ball for dry lanes

Michelin Storm Omega Crux

The Storm Omega Crux is an aggressive and very colorful ball with plenty of hooks. It has a 3000-grit Abalone finish with a cinnamon fragrance. And this high-speed bowling ball hits pretty hard to the pins. 

Storm Omega Crux offers high performance too. It has a standard weight level and can cover 39 feet distance with a smooth stroke. Its mid-range rolling feature ensures the ball touches the ground instantly – an excellent lane reader this one is. 

Pros

  • 300RPM rev rate
  • Excellent friction response
  • Prevents absorption of oil

Cons

  • It’s expensive

Motiv Jackal Ghost Bowling Ball

The Jackal Ghost premium bowling ball is known for significant motion and excellent hooking, hitting maximum pins.

It is built with a Predator V2 weight block core, which provides total strength that ensures excellent results. The coverstock is made with high friction solid, which improves your overall performance.

This ball works well for both beginners and advanced bowlers. It’s excellent on heavy oil lanes. If you prefer a low rev rate and high-speed balls, then this is it. You’ll have a ball with excellent hook potential due to high radius gyration and will hit maximum pins instantly.

Pros

  • Durable ball
  • Solid friction for heavy oil lanes
  • Has extensive hook potential

Cons

  • It May not be suited for dry lanes.

Motiv Trident Nemesis 12lb, Teal

This hooking bowling ball is another one of Motiv’s creations. It’s built with infusion high volume reactive cover techniques and designed according to Sidewinder asymmetric style. It’s an excellent option for medium to heavy oil lane conditions. It offers powerful continuation and excellent backend motion. 

Trident Nemesis has an aesthetically pleasing coverstock with outstanding simultaneous performance. The weight block helps to expand the range, giving the driller optimum control of the ball movement. 

The ball will keep up the down-lane motion as it handles heavy oil conditions, creating the proper angle for you. With fast speed, you are assured of significant volume. 

Pros

  • Great angle
  • Weight block offers reasonable control
  • Designed for heavy oil lanes

Cons

  • The pin is short

Brunswick Bowling Twist Reactive Ball

The Brunswick Twist Reactive is an undrilled ball. It plays well on dry lanes and will help you level up your bowling skills. This tame ball works perfectly on dry lanes and has high hook potential. It also has a soft cover and low flare. It’s consistent and predictable – one of those balls that skids when it hits the oil, leaving an excellent finish when dry.

Pros

  • Does well on dry lanes
  • Predictable and consistent ball
  • Great for newbies

Cons

  • It doesn’t cover release mistakes.

Roto Grip RST X-2 Bowling Ball 13lbs

The Roto Grip RST X-2 big footprint ball comes with an eTrex Plus pearl reactive coverstock. The ball is ideal for medium to heavy oil lanes and will maintain a reaction to friction on the backend. It has a Roto Star Tour Core (RST) and a 1500-grit polish finish. 

Roto Grip also hooks well and performs excellently on the lanes. If you are up for a ball that delivers strong mid-lane motions and a tremendous angular backend, RST X-2 will do you justice. It can also handle high oil volumes on medium and longer patterns. 

Pros

  • High levels of core toque.
  • Hooks well
  • Strong mid-lane motions

Cons

  • Not suitable for dry lanes

Pyramid Path Rising Bowling Ball

The Pyramid Path Rising Bowling Ball is for both professional, intermediate, and new bowlers. It provides consistent performance.

The ball is ideal for dry to medium oil lanes and comes in different weight and color options. It also comes with New Era 139 Symmetrical Core for the outstanding balance to control different lanes.

The 1500 grit polish delivers a powerful backend reaction on front lane moves. It comes undrilled so that you can customize holes to your preference.

It is a versatile bowling ball for every lane condition. Its reactive coverstock ensures a high hook potential to hit the pins hard.

Pros

  • Used for different lane conditions
  • Powerful backend reaction
  • Excellent lane control

Cons

  • It can be challenging for beginners.

 .

Brunswick Rhino Bowling Ball

The light bulb core shape, Rhino Bowling Ball, offers excellent pin action and ball motion that leads to more strikes and high scores. It’s created with R-16 reactive coverstock with backend hook motion – great for dry to medium oil lanes.

If you’re an occasional or first-time reactive bowler, you’ll find this ball very comfortable. The ball comes in different colors and weight ranges. It offers you control and balance for consistent performance. 

Its versatility is unmatched too. It delivers a continuous and robust arc on both dry and oily lanes, especially when bowled without too much sensitivity.

Pros

  • Outstanding performance through the robust and continuous arc
  • Excellent hooking potential
  • Versatile ball

Cons

  • Not ideal for advanced bowlers

Hooking Balls FAQs

Which is the ideal weight for a hooking bowling ball

The ideal weight hooking ball should be convenient. You should be able to throw it repeatedly without exhausting your energy quickly to avoid losing your shot effectiveness or peak-hitting power.

What does hook potential mean?

Hook potential is the bowling ball’s flare potential. It is measured by the number of hooks the bowling ball is capable of providing.

How do you select the best bowling ball for a hook?

To pick the best hooking bowling ball, you must consider factors like ball weight, right coverstock for your skills, oil lane, drilling position, and skill level.

Which one of the coverstocks can hook the most?

The coverstocks that offer the highest hooks in medium and heavy oil lanes are reactive resin coverstocks. For dry lanes, urethane coverstocks have the highest hook potential.

Summing Up

Becoming an expert bowler is a learning curve supported by the best hooking ball you can get in the market. We have given you the facts and features for all the aggressive balls and hook patterns in this review. Now, it’s time to select the most reactive, most suited ball for your individual needs and preferences.

Picture of Shmulik Dorinbaum

Shmulik Dorinbaum

I play bowling almost daily, and on the days I'm not? I'm writing about my day and what I need to do to improve myself as a better bowling player.