The cover on the Decree is the base solid from the Composite Fang cover on the Pitbull series. For me I had to let it lanshine a bit, I got the same basic thing hook stopping that you are seeing. Once I let it laneshine some, it was definitely more useable on house shots. One thing ive learned since being on staff, is these balls with stronger covers need some break in time, I always get 10-15 games of shine on the oob surface before I do a surface change. Hope this helps!