The ball: 15 pounds, 2.5-inch pin
The drill: "Tommy Jones" layout, pin high above the fingers (somewhat between over-bridge and over-ring) and 1 inch off the VAL, CG virtually between the fingers, MB directly above the thumb. Works out to around a 5.5 x 4 x 4 drill for me. Finish is box.
Me: PAP 4 over 3/8 up, tweener revs, good speed, good circumference coverage
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Bought this ball cheap off eBay about three months ago and drilled it with the "Tommy Jones" drill as an experiment. I had no idea what to expect from it for several reasons, including not only the layout but also the fact I'd not yet thrown a Columbia-poured Dyno-Thane ball.
The first thing I noticed about this ball was that it seemed to have a different move through the pins and I definitely attribute that to the layout. The ball is super-strong, one of the strongest I've thrown in years. Leaving the surface in box finish, which is a matte, made the ball pick up right in the middle of the mids and once this ball starts moving it doesn't quit.
There is no deflection at all in the pin deck, and while that's often a good thing, it's not always the best thing. The ball leaves a lot of 4-pins and even 4-7s on hits that other equipment easy punches out. The good news is that, literally, in 10 games I've yet to leave a 10-pin with the ball. That's some kind of personal record for me.
The unfortunate side effect to this is that this ball is a dud on high hits. Any excuse it can find to leave a 4 or 4-7, it's going to use.
The cover could stand a little polish, therefore, as the box finish leads to such an early pickup that it's hard to get the ball to the breakpoint without throwing it through the breakpoint.
Even as strong as this ball is, it's not an endless strength. Moving way left and throwing it further out than I'm comfortable with didn't yield automatic hook in the back. Also, due to such a strong move in the mids yielded by the cover, the backend in this ball was just average to a tick above.
This layout and cover prep would be ideal for higher-speed bowlers who have medium or higher revs. It's a great choice for playing slight swings on up the boards on lanes that have unreliable mids or sketchy backends. The summary:
Positives: Strength to spare, ignores problems and/or oil in the mids, eats through carrydown, great continuation.
Negatives: That great continuation leads to strange move through pins, cover needs attention unless you're bowling on complete soup, rev-dominant bowlers need not apply.
Overall: A good ball that has taken the place of a Track Machine in my tournament arsenal due to its ability to handle higher oil volumes in the mids, but not a benchmark piece.
Jess
