Juggernaut, After seeing your videos, you and I roll the ball in a similar manner: Some loft, hit up on the ball, and get around the ball during the release. I've tried some urethane with mixed results: Controllable but give up carry in and near the pocket. What works for me on lighter and/or shorter house patterns are weaker core,solid coverstock reactives. The Radical Rack Attack Solid works well for me. I hit mine with a 2000-grit abralon pad every couple of weeks to combat lane shine. Polished surfaces are not my friend as they tend to squirt in conditioner and go sideways out of the dry. 4000-grit, 3000-grit and 2000-grit surfaces work better for me. The Lane Masters Hornet (a Lane Masters Buzz with a Shure D surface hardness of 80 or so) is another terrific ball for me. Another excellent ball for me is the MoRich MOjave. You may be able to find the Hornet or MOjave used on eBay or elsewhere. The Hornet in particular may last forever due to its materials and construction. Newer stuff (and more available) include the Roto Grip Hustle Ink and Storm IQ Tour Edition (Solid). Use 4 1/2" to 5" pin to PAP distances for asymmetric cores and 3" to 4" for symmetric cores. Use 1:1 to 1:2 ratios for drilling angles to the angle to the VAL. My Rack Attack Solid is drilled 45 x 3 3/8" x 45 with excellent results. One of my better scoring strong core asymmetrics was a Radical REAX 2 drilled pin under: 30 x 4 1/2" x 65. Good IQ Tour Solid and RG Hustle Ink both drilled 40 x 4" x 60. Hornet is 50 x 4" x 50. P1 holes reduce flare: More length but can go sideways when they read dry. Same with low flare drilling (Pin to PAP distances of 2 1/2" or so). Tropical Storm, Tropical Breeze Hybrid, Graffiti Tag also have worked well for me. Look for balls with RGs in the 2.5 to 2.55 range and differentials between 0.02 and 0.04. Hope this helps.

From what I saw in videos labeled  1, 2, 5, and 4 the ball reaction looked pretty smooth down lane.

That being said, I recently bought a black Columbia 300 Scout on clearance and was pleasantly surprised by how smooth the ball reaction was down lane. Pancake weight block with a lightly sanded reactive cover.  It is a very low flaring ball.  Clean with a manageably move down lane. Seems more consistent in oil then urethane.

 Yes, that ball is smooth, but it’s because it is an original V2 that has 16 years worth of games on it, is laneshined pretty well, and is drilled to be a smooth arc.

On the recommendation of the shop where I bowl, I bought a new Impulse solid last season, drilled it the same way, and polished it up, but it is way more ball than we expected it to be. It is pretty smooth, but on our league shot, I have to start out nearly sliding in the left gutter, playing around the fourth arrow, and that is on the fresh before it burns.

 Hate to plug a brand new ball (it only has about 4-5 games on it) and redrill, but may just have to do it. That, or get something with similar specs and just a weaker cover.

Why would you buy another mid performance ball and expect it to be any different? . All have similar cores and cover strengths.

 That’s it, I didn’t want it different. The V2 is smooth enough, even with my normal release, that I usually don’t end up fighting with it. Was simply tying to update with a similar spec’d ball. We guessed wrong, and it was much more aggressive than we hoped for.

 I wish now that I had gotten something weaker. My mistake.

 Maybe I need a weaker core more than a weaker cover?

Oddly enough, last night I went, all prepared to learn to “lay off” the release, and wouldn’t you know it, the lanes were flooded.

 My urethane met its limits, and I could never get it to roll up. I got it to the pocket, but it had tons of deflection, and NO carry. I actually HAD to use resin last night.

 With little to no room for error, it was a struggle. Miss out and it hung there, get it to the pocket and it was tenpin city. You had to throw it real sweet to strike, and I didn’t do that too much.

 To make it worse, the other team prebowled on good conditions, and shot at least 100 pins over every single game.

 Pretty frustrating evening. On the good side though, I did get that Robby ordered.

What's "wrong" with a GB2? Seems like people don't recommend them when someone misses their V2s.