Everybody on the boards here knows that I am not a big Ebonite fan but every once in awhile I will run across something I like....Tidalwave Wipeout Sparkle, Playmaker, Turbo X are about all I have REALLY liked.
After going to the Mission seminar I decided to drill my seminar ball for myself to see what all of the hype is about....well I think I have another ball to add to my "Ebonite likeables" list.
I was hesitant to drill this ball since it has such a high hook potential but I figured I didn't have any heavy hooking pearls besides my Curve which has a skid flip" layout. I wanted something I could just throw right and let the ball work. I decided on a 60 x 4 x 60 layout.
Based on what I saw in Mo's layout directions this should rev up further down the lane, still flare strong and have a moderately slow reacting backend. This layout put the pin basically in my ring finger with the mass bias near the strong position. Weighthole is 2" below my PAP on the VAL...3/4" diam x 2-1/2" deep. I added a VERY light coat of polish just to smooth out the coverstock.
Well, all I can say is, NICE JOB EBONITE!!!!! The ball performs exactly the way I wanted it to and I could not be happier with the results. I have been struggling a bit lately with some tendinitis in my elbow so I have not been able to get the ball reaction I was looking for out of my "weaker drilled" balls. Well the Mission is perfect.
I bowl in 2 houses and one house I bowl 2 different nights where the shot is allegedly the "same" but I have not been able to use the same ball both nights due to differences in ball recovery.
The one house is synthetics and I will be honest...this is not the ball for there. I need to start the night out around the 4th arrow swinging to the 10 board if I want to use this ball. The ball is just too strong.
The other house (my home house) is wood with a decent volume in the center, lots of dry outside 10 and clean backends. I can throw 15 to 10 all night long with this ball and just strike my brains out. The Mission gives me a few board margin for error both ways as long as I get out of the ball cleanly. If I choose to up the rev rate and swing the ball, the Mission is up to the task with a very strong midlane read, smooth transition and a continuation through the pins like I have not seen since the C2 line of Buzzsaws was in production. Just tonight I was not feeling well so my ball speed was down a bit. I just took out some hand and played the ball up the boards and the ball recovered and carried VERY well. Normally I leave a lot of 10's and 7's when I try to play the "Duke" shot here but not with this ball. I left a total of 2 corner pins all night (1 of each) and shot 730. I had 652 with the Mission last night at the same house after finding my "happy place" with my release to help control the backend....we have 2 different lane men on the 2 nights and the one guy mixes the cleaner stronger than the other guy so the backends are different.
I will give credit where credit is due...Bill Scheid deserves a bit pat on the back for this one. He told his R&D boys to not even consider bringing him a ball to release unless it was better than the competition's hottest pistol (The Virtual Gravity). Well the extra R&D has paid off and I feel they have a huge winner on their hands. I have drilled a few since doing mine anda everybody says the same thing....responds well to hand position and ball speed changes, reads the midlane VERY well for a pearl and the continuation through the pins is 2nd to none.
Again great job Ebonite....the extra R&D paid off, now time will tell how LONG the reaction will hold up....will XL1200 be the answer to their "Ebonite balls dies after 35 games" issue?
? We shall see.....
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Doug Sterner
Doug''s Pro Shop
Owego, NY
http://dougsproshop@aol.com
www.dougsproshop.net
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