Hey everyone, I’m desperate to find something to combat this shot. Backstory: old wood lanes that were overdue to be refinished like 10 years ago. That’s only a slight exaggeration, but the oil pretty much soaks into the lanes as soon as it is laid down. I’m rev matched, and I cannot get any sort of consistent reaction. Early read, can’t keep a ball from hooking through the beak, it’s ugly. What hits pocket one shot will leave a 6-10 the next. I tried a Spy and it was alright, but it cracked out quickly. I’ve used a raw hammer solid at 3k and that smoothed the reaction a bit, but was too early and too strong to carry. I have a blue coral venom with a 1 inch pin that is my best reaction, but is again too much.

 I know you generally want a little more surface on snappy shots to control the back end, but when you don’t have hardly any oil, would I be better off trying to use the old newspaper sanding method to try to get the ball down the lane better? What about finding a polish with a slip agent? (Lol turtle wax anyone?)

Hey everyone, I’m desperate to find something to combat this shot. Backstory: old wood lanes that were overdue to be refinished like 10 years ago. That’s only a slight exaggeration, but the oil pretty much soaks into the lanes as soon as it is laid down. I’m rev matched, and I cannot get any sort of consistent reaction. Early read, can’t keep a ball from hooking through the beak, it’s ugly. What hits pocket one shot will leave a 6-10 the next. I tried a Spy and it was alright, but it cracked out quickly. I’ve used a raw hammer solid at 3k and that smoothed the reaction a bit, but was too early and too strong to carry. I have a blue coral venom with a 1 inch pin that is my best reaction, but is again too much.

 I know you generally want a little more surface on snappy shots to control the back end, but when you don’t have hardly any oil, would I be better off trying to use the old newspaper sanding method to try to get the ball down the lane better? What about finding a polish with a slip agent? (Lol turtle wax anyone?)

Maybe try a different center?  LOL!  Seriously though....if you can get a Twist by Brunswick or Tropical Surge by Storm they might be your best bet.  Dont think of just surface as a way to control the backend.  There are layouts like your 1 inch pin Venom but there are also cores with really low differentials that do the trick as well.  The diffs on the Twist and Surge are .018 and .024 both in 15 lbs. 

I have a Deep Freeze where the diff is .028 and even though it is a shiny reactive; it quickly became my favorite ball because I could square up in the track with it and even with my 500+ rev rate; it had a nice easy controlled motion (almost urethane like).  Best part is that it worked extremely well on both house and tournament patterns.

The Twist and Surge will be a step down from the Raw Hammer but give you similar controllability as the Spy. 

When I see shots like you describe, the older the ball the better. The more oil soaked the ball is the better.

A one inch pin also would be a good way to go or a barbell drill with a little surface on a ball.