Hey all

Picked up a used green pin Zone Classic recently. Drilled pin above ring finger, PSA just to the right of my thumb. I'm a medium revs bowler with a 5 by 1/2 up PAP. I'm guessing maybe a 5 inch pin to PAP distance. Looks like box finish or very close.

Anyway, I tried it today and was shocked at how mellow it was. Very smooth arc off the breakpoint with not a lot of overall movement. Still had hit though, so it didn't act like it was burning up early or never turning over. Reminded me of how everyone described their red pin ZCs. But this one definitely has the green pin and elipse (before I drilled out the pin and plugged it anyway lol. Too close for comfort to the fingers.)

I have a couple Infernos and have a Vapor Zone as well and they definitely are stronger. I haven't had this drill pattern on a recent ball of mine so I was curious how other Zone Classics here were in strength overall. I don't have this reaction currently so I'm not going to mess with surface yet but still was taken back by the mellowness of the ball.

3 things I'd check, from easy to more difficult:
- Oil volume on the lane. The ZC is a medium condition ball. When you played it on too much or long oil, or carrydown in later games, this will certainly affect its performance.
- Absorped oil - if in doubt, have an oil extraction at your pro shop or put the ball in a hot water bucket to sweat out some oil; the ball might need a new polish theerafter, but it should improve ball performance.
- PSA marker position. Check if the white marker is in your track area or beyond the thumb hole. On stronf mass bias core balls like the ZC, a PSA marker in the track area can -  for some players, especially with a high track - screw up ball reaction, even cause negative flare.
I have a youth player at my club who "inherited" a 2nd hand ZC, and the PSA marker is just under the thumb (not in the track). His ball does not finish well at all - despite high revs, some balance hole corrections and drilling the holes deeper. Here, probably only a complete change in the drilling and some plugging will help?

Good luck!
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DizzyFugu - Reporting from Germany
Team X website & more about me
"Put some make-up on your face
 Make this world a better place!"
Kahimi Karie, 'Good morning world'

Yes, that could be another explanation. If in doubt, I'd just sand the ball, take off the polish and try it "bare". If it does not move much more, then there is something basically wrong with it.

BTW, I bought a used Power Groove Dry/R some weeks ago, from a pro shop and plugged, and it turned out to have the wackiest static weights my regular pro ever encountered. Killer top weight, we had to drill an x-hole and the fingers sop deep that these are interconnected(!) to make the ball legal - and even now the ball flares backward. It just skids, never gets into a roll.

Did you have the ball checked on a do-do scalwe before/after drilling? Maybe there is something wrong in this category?
--------------------

DizzyFugu - Reporting from Germany
Team X website & more about me
"Put some make-up on your face
 Make this world a better place!"
Kahimi Karie, 'Good morning world'


Edited on 10/11/2006 10:12 AM

Thinking about it more, I realized that since the drill pettern is not that aggressive, and that I haven't checked the statics on it, it may just be the way it is. I'm going to weigh it out on Thursday, but I'm not expecting anything too out of whack. I really want to try it on some screaming backends as it could be a very nice weapon when the backends are very clean or the pattern is short with clean backends.

A final update on this. Talked to the guy who had it and he said all he did was hit it with 1000 Abralon.

Tried it last Friday on a condition with fresh backends and the ball made a nice move to the pocket now. Still not a lot of boards being covered and it seems to be a hook-stop motion although the hit is still very good. Not very forgiving in this mode so I think I'm going to but the box finish back on it and see what happens (400 grit with High Gloss)