Nice commentary Plus.
 I've been doing some experimenting with changing the covers on all three types of balls, urethane, reactive, proactive (aka particle).
 A regular reactive can be explosive when it hits the pocket. The problem is on many conditions (blocks etc) the ball is over/under. There can be a drastic loss of control.You can see it on some of the PBA matches.
 In the old days, one got lined up on the pocket and could play high,middle or low. Today, with many reactives, it is not possible to do that for very long.
 It was interesting at the U.S. open in Reno, when Wolf won with his blue hammer, Denis Horan was lost and out of control with his reactive.
 Moving on to the Particles and urethanes, If you match the cover well to the condition you can get control and pretty good hitting power. But it takes a smart cookie to figure out the best cover for the condition.
 Finally, I have noticed that heavy sanded covers do not deflect much when they hit the pocket. It seems like they dig in through the pin deck. The hit even sounds harder and there is less deflection. If you saw R. Smith's win in the PBA tournament,his first shot - a strike - deflected badly finishing near the right gutter. It was amazing. It was actually a bad shot, yet he got away with it due to the velocity of the ball and revs.
 I do think the friction developed at the pin deck is a key component of making strikes. A perfect strike will see the ball finish between the 8 and 9 for a right hander and sometimes with a good chuck of the 8. Ball deflection at the pin deck shows the ball hitting the 9 heavy and leaving a 10 pin - unless your a 22 mph high rev, thrower.
 So my point is that matching up on a lane should take into account the heads, midlane, backend and pin deck.  
 








Edited on 10/15/2003 5:40 PM