The ball: 16 pounds, 3-inch pin, 4.28 oz. top
The drill: Pin over bridge, CG kicked out towards the VAL 1.5 inches, weight hole just inside and below left of the PAP, very near the VAL. Finish is box.
Me: PAP 4 over 3/8 up, tweener revs, good speed, good circumference coverage
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Got this ball cheap off eBay ($21), NIB. I bought it because I've got an original Dyno-Thane Cure solid that I love, and is absolutely one of the most aggressive bowling balls I've ever thrown in my life.
So I figured the Cure Pearl, which is a particle pearl, would be a good complement. I selected a drill pattern that would give me some aggressiveness, but with the pin over the bridge I thought it would allow the ball to lay off just a little bit in the backend.
Well, not quite. This ball barely moves. It moves less overall than a couple of balls I've drilled specifically to be dry-lane balls.
This ball's best attribute is that it is smooth off the spot. No matter how it's thrown, there's almost no snap in the backend of this ball to speak of. In fact, the ball the Cure Pearl reminds me of the most is my Visionary Slate Blue Gargoyle, which is a urethane pearl.
I tested this ball on two shots. The first was a medium- to medium-heavy, mostly flat shot with decent volume outside 10. I tested it late in a test session after having already burned a spot with some more aggressive equipment. This ball still didn't move. In fact, I had with me an old AMF Pro XS II pearl that I threw back-to-back with this ball, and the Pro XS II may have actually moved more.
Shot No. 2 was a modified THC with decent volume outside. Again, no real movement. The ball was dead inside and had trouble turning the corner from outside. I was surprised to see no real change of performance despite the change in shots.
Carry was good on full, high and Brooklyn hits (don't ask), but light hits into the pocket produced strange leaves. A light-pocket 2-4-6-10, for instance.
It's almost like this ball has either no core, or it was from a batch run of severe blems. There have been a lot of Cure Pearls hitting eBay lately and I'm beginning to think this ball has something wrong with it.
The best thing I can say about it is that it gives me a true dry-lane ball. Unfortunately, I have several of those already. I was hoping for something that would do well on mediums but medium oil is far too much oil for this ball. The summary follows:
Positives: Good dry-lane performance from outside angles, nice looking coverstock, since they're still being sold new on eBay this is the last chance to own a Storm-poured Dyno.
Negatives: Substandard performance all around except on very dry conditions from outside angles, doesn't respond to changes in hand position well, carry on light hits is abysmal.
Overall: Something may be wrong here, but if it isn't, this ball either needs a major surface adjustment to be playable or it's limited to dry lanes only.
Jess
