I received my Apogee on Monday afternoon. After looking over the very basic drilling instructions that Columbia sends with their asymmetric releases, I decided to go with a 5 (pin) x 4 (mb) layout. This put the pin right above my ring finger (drilled some of the pin out) and the MB about 1" right of my thumb.
Initial reaction to the color and look of the ball is that the ball is dark enough for my liking but the labels were a bit too bright. I took a black ink pen to the bright orange label to diminish some of the color. This left me with just a nice white pin to look at going down the lane.
Anyone else used to do this to a ball? Color in the label black leaving only the pin as a reference point on the ball as it goes down the lane. I get tired of seeing 3 or 4 huge labels on a ball, makes it hard to see how it's rolling, just a huge blurr of labels....
Anyway, the first chance I got to use the ball was on a PBA type shot Regional Pattern #2. This is the shortest of all the patterns so I had to get the ball going right(outside of 5) or it would just hook too much. When I did get it going right it would just stand up and go continuously left, but in a strong arcing type motion not too snappy. This is mostly because I chose the MB placement for a strong smooth reaction and not maximum hook.
I really think this ball will find a place in my bag quite often. I enjoyed its look and its ability to clear the heads flawlessly while revving in the midlane and making its continuous move on the backend.
Pics and video will come soon.....
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Jon Brandon
Columbia Regional Staff 04-06
2003 PBA West Region Rookie of the Year
"You don't score, until you score......"
