Footprint Research

The USBC Equipment Specifications staff has developed a new tool and standard operating procedure for measuring the footprint of bowling balls – the area where the ball touches the lane. The footprint of bowling balls has been correlated with the amount that a bowling ball will hook. Now, we have an objective tool for measuring that contact area, we can continue to research how this metric impacts our sport.

Click HERE for the 1976 Surface Hardness of Bowling Balls report that discusses the relationship between hardness and trackwidth..

Click HERE for the Historical Hardness/Footprint Research Report that discusses the findings from the 1976 Surface Hardness of Bowling Balls report.

Click HERE to review the footprint research report (updated November 2023).

Click HERE to review the footprint measurement SOP.