Bowlers wipe their bowling balls off after every shot or ball throw to clean off the ball and wipe off the oil that the bowling ball picks up. Keep in mind that plastic bowling balls does not pick up oil from the lane but it pushes oil down the lane. Plastic bowling ball may pick up oil over a long period of time but the oil should not change the ball at all. When you are using a active resin or hook ball, that’s when the oil comes into play.
Should you wipe off your bowling ball after every shot?
For me it depends on the condition of the bowling floor. For me if the lane is has heavy oil, I would wipe my ball off every shot. If the lane is dry or very light oil, I will not wipe my bowling ball off. Bowling in heavy oil is tough and having oil already on your bowling ball is not going to help. Wiping the ball off may help you bowl on heavy oil. I tend to wipe the ball if there is a lot of oil on the floor. Your bowling ball will over time soak up the oil from the floor and have less hook.
On the other hand, if you are playing on some dry lanes with little to no oil, than I would not wipe my bowling ball off every shot. I may wipe after 4 to 5 shots maybe but with dry lanes you will pick up less oil from the floor. You may need that oil on your ball on dry lanes. If you think about it, wiping off your ball on dry lanes, you are not wiping off anything or just a little bit of oil.
To sum this questions up, if the lane has heavy oil, I would wipe every shot but if the lane is bone dry, I would not wipe it off and read in-between the lines. It’s up to you have you want to. If you are looking for a good bowling ball towel you can click here for the towel I use from amazon: click here