First off, I must say that I very seldom review a ball because, well, most of them just aren't that different from any of 20 others. But the Clutch....wow. Background on me: righthanded power tweener, as versatile as a bowler ever needs to be, fairly consistent regional player and owner of a career 100% cash ratio in majors.
The last few years I've been predominantly storm/roto, but have been noticing a hole in my arsenal that apparently Utah doesn't make. So I began reading manufacturer propaganda and thought the Clutch sounded exactly like what I wanted. First use was on shark on newish pro-anvil out of the box. The clutch just laughed at the best I could get out of my Cell or Rogue both at 1000. Next came the world championship pattern on a very worn surface, I expected it to be too much on this since it handled shark so well but much to my surprise it smoothed out those nasty looks we all love on a fresh sport pattern where you miss by half a rev and either 2-10 or big 4. Even better, when it was time to put it away for something with more length it told me in no uncertain terms. Ease of decision making is a good thing. Next up was scorpion again on the newish pro-anvil. Scorpion has traditionally been my weak spot with the increased volume down lane. The Clutch rolls right up and shows off that continuation better than it was even promoted. It allows me to turn the corner like the 450+ rev guys can do on downlane volume or even provides an amazing look off the gutter.
Now I realize this review is not filled with technical numbers that we are so fond of now. There was a time I based all my ball changes and layouts off of all that too, but I've found for me going with the feel approach and what I see rather than what I'm SUPPOSED to see works so much better. I tried 4 different balls, all of which you will see on tv and all of which were supposed to be strong, smooth & continuous, but at best they could only get 2 of the three. The clutch has them all. This is hands down the ball of the year if more people would just throw it. Back to my feel approach, for the most part I go with only 2 layouts now, this one is pin above and right or ring, stacked, mass bias just above thumb, low x hole. One other note of interest. It took until the 6th frame of game #12 on the ball before it left a "tap". The pins stay very low with this ball, no wasted energy by flying....but that would be expected with the continuous roll all the way through the pins this ball generates.
Congratulations AMF you have an incredible piece.
