We were able to test the Columbia Sport ball on regular house patterns as well as the ABC Sport condition. We used one ball, with it's out of the box shell drilled with a leverage pin, 1 1/2" from the v.a.l. with the c.g. on the axis and a large extra hole just past the axis. We went with this layout in order to have a ball that would recover at the break point, especially on shots thrown wide of target.
The Sport ball is one that will do what is needed for most bowlers when the pocket isn't wide open, like the sport condition and that is carry. It's important to make the most of the pocket shots and this ball will do that very nicely. The Sport ball also plays oil well, which is another sport condition need for most bowlers. It does those things on regular conditions as well and is more dangerous when there is some dry to the right, as most balls are.
We were throwing the Sport ball from inside lines with fairly straight trajectories. We played straight up the third arrow and then swung the ball between third and forth arrow with more hand. Both lines of attack were successful with the straight up line carrying slightly better until it broke down. The Sport ball will get through the heads easily in box condition as long as there is a little oil there, we never had to throw the ball harder than 18 mph to get through the heads in our testing. The drilling we used produced a large flare in the track which we liked because there was solid oil both in the heads and down the lane with just enough back end dry to allow the ball to get to the pocket. The heavier handed may be able to get away with less flare but stronger layouts that keep the break point controllable seem to work best on this test pattern. Being honest, we were testing the Sport ball along side the Matrix Dominator, Nu Line Deadly Virus and Navy Quantum. We found the Sport ball to be easily as good a ball as any of these but not necessarily the best. The key on the sport condition is bowler consistency, that certainly includes a repeatable ball reaction but that can be achieved with other balls as well as the Sport ball.
We liked the Sport ball on the house condition almost as much as on the sport pattern. When this ball has some dry to move on from the outside boards, it is a monster as far as carry goes. If we got the ball to the dry too soon, even with speed it hooked early but as long as we were in the ‘area' we were striking.
After our initial tests were complete, we tested the shell versatility by sanding it and re- polishing it. If the box polish isn't enough for you, be assured you can easily shine it up as much as you like. We wet sanded it to 2000 grit and then polished it to a high gloss with Finesse It II. The reaction was still strong on the back end but was a little cleaner through the heads with the new surface. We liked the ball on both sport conditions as well as house conditions but would caution that you can compete on the sport condition with a ball other than this one.
If you have any questions regarding this or any other of our reviews, e-mail us at: proshop@bowlero.com
