Hammer Bowling Balls – A Complete Review

Who Makes The Hammer Bowling Balls – A History Of Hammer

Hammer is a brand of bowling balls and accessories that manufactures mid to high end bowling balls. They are the perfect bowling balls for beginners to intermediate to pro bowlers. Hammer was established in 1981 after its founders created the second ever urethane ball. Not only that, but they put their logo on the ball and changed the game forever. Hammer is currently a brand associated with the Brunswick Corporation since they were acquired in 2019 along with Ebonite International. Hammer balls manufactured after November 15th, 2019 are made in the Mexican Brunswick plant. Balls produced prior to this date were made in Hopkinsville, KY.

What Is A Hammer Bowling Ball

Hammer bowling balls have continued to innovate and create some of the most advanced bowling balls in the industry. As mentioned previously they were one of the first to start utilizing urethane for the outer coating of the ball. This led to an additional option for bowlers to add to their arsenal and advance their play style. The introduction of urethane balls increased the grip on the lane and began allowing players to master the hook shot.

Innovation with hammer bowling balls continues to this day. They focus on advances from the outer coating to the inner core of the ball. Most recently they announced “Hammer Offset Technology” or “HOT” to their ball cores. This allows them to combine pin carry, control, and hook into a single ball.

But what is the most defining feature of a Hammer bowling ball? What makes a Hammer ball a Hammer ball? It’s simple: toughness and power to strike with advanced technology. All balls in the Hammer lineup utilize carbon fiber within the outer core of the ball. The exception is the thick shelled urethane balls.

The carbon fiber allows a little more shock absorption and reduces the chances of cracking. It also binds the inner core and the coverstock stronger than other materials. This means all Hammer carbon fiber outer core balls last longer and come with a 3 year warranty. The thick shelled urethane balls have a 1-year warranty. Hammer has also started introducing carbon fiber infused in some of their coverstocks. This creates more ridges and valleys on a molecular scale. This in turn, gives more grip with the lane, even in oily conditions. The result is maximum hook potential.

How To Choose The Right Hammer Bowling Ball For Me

With a wide variety of balls to choose from you can find one of the highest quality balls for any lane condition or pin setup. Next we’ll go over the Hammer lineup and help you choose the perfect Hammer bowling ball for your play style whether you are a beginner, pro, straight shooter, hook shooter, or anything else. We’ll break this up into several sections based on the lineup and categories so if you’re looking for a high performance ball, a ball for picking up spares, or you’re interested in a particular lineup then just jump to that section. You can also see all of these Hammer balls side-by-side with other balls on our other page: Bowling Ball Stats – Comprehensive List.

Hammer Bowling Balls For Picking Up Spares

Hammer OTB Black Widow Black Spare Bowling Ball

The Hammer Black Widow Spare bowling ball features a polyester coverstock so is ideal for straight shooting down the lane due to the low friction with it’s shiny cover. It doesn’t have a strong reaction and is also the ideal Hammer Bowling ball for picking up corner spares, very dry lane conditions, and can also manage to move in a straight line through oily lane conditions. The Hammer Black Widow lineup also features as a gas mask core so it does sport some flair potential. If you’re a new bowler or have slow ball speed this is an ideal choice.

Hammer Tough

This is another Hammer bowling ball that is good as a spare ball for those corner tenth pins. This ball features a dual coverstock of urethane and polyester also called polythane. This gives the ball an intermediate to true straight polyester covers and urethane covers. Because it doesn’t have a core, just the simple pancake, you won’t see a lot of flair potential on this one. Like the Black Widow Spare, this ball is great for dry lane conditions. The Hammer Tough is cheaper than the Black Widow spare and thus is a better choice for new bowlers looking to add to their ball roster without breaking the bank or something that will last a long time.

Hammer Vibe Series Bowling Balls

Hammer Cherry Vibe

This is a medium hook ball like the other two balls in the Vibe series. This one features a pearl finish which will gives it a little more roll and less hook. It’s an ideal Hammer bowling ball for light to medium oil conditions. This is one of the best looking bowling balls that Hammer manufactures.

Hammer Vibe Orange

Like the Onyx Vibe, but unlike the Cherry Vibe, the Orange Vibe features a solid coverstock that gives it a mid lane hook that you can count on. Like all balls in the vibe series this is going to do well in light to mid oil conditions. You choose the Orange or Onyx over the Cherry if you want the hook to be in between the down lane of the cherry and the pure mid lane of the Onyx.

Hammer Onyx Vibe Bowling Ball

The Onyx Vibe is a beautiful solid coverstock ball by Hammer with its simplistic design and vibe core you will see consistent results over the life of this ball. This is the cheapest ball in the Vibe lineup and gives the earliest, a mid lane hook with its controlled backend. This is the ideal Hammer Bowling ball for beginners on a budget that want to add consistent hook to their arsenal of balls. Again, this is best suited for light to mid oil lane conditions.

Hammer Mid Tier/Intermediate Bowling Balls

Hammer Ruthless

This ball has a solid Juiced coverstock which creates strong ball motion and is best for those medium to high oily lanes. It has a 40W light bulb core which is more of a traditional style core. This is a good performance bowling ball for mid lane conditions because the solid finish will start to react with the oily conditions.

Hammer Urethane Bowling Balls

Hammer Black Widow Series Bowling Balls

Hammer Black Widow Urethane Bowling Ball

The Black Widow Urethane is similar to the Hammer Purple Pearl Urethane Bowling Ball except that it has an asymmetrical gas mask core as well as a thin outer core on the coverstock. These two changes drastically change how the ball performs on the lane. The thinner outer core allows for a higher rev rate and more flair potential than you see in the purple urethane ball. The asymmetrical gas mask core will create a stronger break and thus more hook potential – anywhere from 1-3 more boards than you’ll see in the purple urethane ball.

The Hammer Black Widow Urethane bowling ball is the perfect bowling ball for someone who wants the high hook potential of a urethane ball but has lower rev rates. On the flip side, if you are a bowler with high rev rates, say 450-500+, then you would be better suited with the Hammer Purple Pearl Urethane bowling ball.

Hammer Bowling Black Widow Gold Bowling Ball

Like all Hammer bowling balls in the Black Widow lineup the gold features a gas mask core which due to its asymmetrical design creates a very strong break. This is a great mid-lane ball but has a lot of backend motion. The overall strength of this ball is due to its incredible hook potential. It comes with a hybrid coverstock making it the ideal bowling ball for medium to heavy oil conditions. This is a higher tier than the previously mentioned Black Widow Urethane ball and so is best for someone with lower rev rate and needs some help with hook and has a little more money to spend on the best gear.

Hammer Web Series Bowling Balls

The Hammer Web bowling ball lineup uses the spheroid core with a pancake which gives a medium hook to the ball as well as control and predictability. The outer coverstock is the aggression hybrid which gives a large footprint allowing the ball to have some really strong control on the front and mid lane and continue that all the way in the back to the pins. This ball is ideal suited for medium to heavy oil conditions and short oil patterns. Generally speaking, if you have really difficult lane conditions, then this is the best Hammer bowling ball to choose.

Hammer Web Tour Bowling Ball

Like the Hammer Web the Hammer Web tour features the spheroid core so you get less flair than the regular web and a tons of control. Additionally, the Tour features a powerful TourV1 coverstock which was designed to be the most forgiving coverstock on the market. If you are aiming for consistency in your bowling this is the ideal ball for you. The versatility of this coverstock allows you to sand it down in heavy oil conditions, or you can shine the ball for dryer conditions making this an excellent addition to any arsenal. This is the best Hammer bowling ball if you’re looking to add versatility and you have the time to sand or polish your ball last minute to accommodate the lane conditions.

Hammer High Performance Bowling Balls

All three balls in Hammer’s higher performance lineup would be the best Hammer bowling balls for heavy oil conditions. So keep this in mind when you’re heading to the lanes, if you think there will be heavy oil these will help you get the job done and throw consistent shots even through that thick oil.

What Is The Best Hammer Bowling Ball – The Last Word On The Subject Of The Hammer Bowling Ball Lineup

If I was going to create an arsenal purely out of Hammer products and I was limited to just three balls I would choose the Hammer OTB Black Widow Black Spare Bowling Ball for getting those pesky 10 pins. I would choose the Hammer Web Tour Bowling Ball for starting out during the majority of my gameplay. Lastly, when lane conditions started to degrade pull out the Hammer Web Pearl to finish up. This would allow me to cover all possible options. I can sand or polish the Web Tour based on the oil conditions. And, I can maintain a consistent throwing pattern since they use the same core and have similar RGs. These also have the carbon fiber outer core which gives me the durability to spend a little more knowing the balls will last longer while not breaking the bank.

So what do you think about Hammer bowling balls? Do you own a Hammer? Which is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below.