Bowler’s Stats:
18.5 mph
450 rpm
7 degree tilt
35-45 degree tilt
Layout:
50 by 5.5†by 30
No hole
OOB Surface
Purpose:
I really wanted the Aura to let me wheel the lane on medium to medium-heavy conditions. This is an area of my game that I routinely struggle with due to low tilt and somewhat lower rev rate and expected this ball to fill that necessity. The layout used is something similar to what I use for all of my asymmetric equipment. However, it was slightly tweaked for a little more pronounced backend move.
On the lanes:
I’ve thrown this ball on 2 conditions at my home center with Pro-Anvils: 44’ WTBA London and our medium volume 39 ft house shot. On both, the Aura turned heads and gave me a great look to the pocket that is different than anything else I’ve had on these fresh patterns.
I’ve bowled on the London pattern in a local sweeper and twice in practice. In each instance, I was well inside of others around and had more miss room than expected. Even with my tilt and rotation, I could easily start out at throwing over 4th arrow on the fresh, send it out to 10-11-12, and watch it shred racks (provided I slow my ball speed down to about 17.5-18mph). Even the heaviest handed guys were having issues playing past 3rd arrow and getting a consistent reaction. As the pattern broke down from the track wear I could keep making small moves in with my feet. Usually I could make a 2 and 1 move inside followed later by a 1-1 move in and repeat the cycle when needed. It’s an awesome feeling having a terrific ball reaction while sliding in the left gutter when others are getting nosebleeds at 4th arrow. Next time we bowl a sweeper on a long sport pattern, I expect to see several Auras on the racks. On this pattern, I had the Nexxxus requiring about a 3 board move outside with my feet while sending it to the same breakpoint. Also on London, the DV8 Marauder Madness covered the same amount of boards. However, it did so by digging in hard in the midlane for more of an arc to the pocket. On this pattern, what really impressed me about the Aura is that even though it is a skid/snap ball, I had no issues with it wanting to scoot past the breakpoint due to the longer length and heavier volume. Typically this fear would lead me to go to a ball with surface for the fresh but the Aura really shined in this environment. This ball wins some major points from me for this reason alone!
On our fresh house shot, I didn’t even think I could really use the Aura just because of how strong it is. Typically it’s easier to score on this pattern with weaker equipment and play further right. That was definitely not the case with the Aura. Normal speed throwing 4th arrow out to 7-8 destroyed the pins. The Aura finishes strong though the whole pindeck and routinely finishes off the deck behind the 8 pin.
The clean cover never checked up early and allowed me to project the ball to the breakpoint with ease and without having to worry about grabbing too soon. Now on this house shot, the Nexxxus was only about a board weaker due to having plenty of friction downlane.
On both patterns, there’s one distinct characteristic that caught my attention more than anything else. My Aura reads the midlane almost identical to how my Wicked Siege would. For me, I had more success with the Wicked Siege than any other asymmetric ball to date. Naturally, any ball that reads the hard of the pattern similar to that is golden in my book. While the midlane roll for me is very similar, the Aura absolutely unleashes on the backend whereas the Wicked was more of an arc in comparison. It was a sad day when I had to put away the Wickeds so I’m very excited to see if the Aura eclipses that type of performance for me. If so, I’m going to end up getting a case of these and stashing them away!!!
Overall:
The Aura is going to be a smash for virtually every bowler. Consistent midlane reaction with a ton of recovery is hard to beat. High speed/low rev bowlers will love the strength off the breakpoint (as I did when piping it up 2nd arrow) while lower speed/high rev players will love the push through the heads while still being able to fill the high end of the arsenal. If you are closer to the medium rev/medium speed type of bowler (or matched with high speed and high revs or low speed and lower revs) then this ball is absolutely a no-brainer. The Aura in all honesty will probably end up being the next ball of the year. Get this ball in your bag before your competition does!
Good luck and good bowling!
