LANE CONDITION
Length: 41'
Volume: 18
Type (THS, Sport Pattern etc): THS
COMMENTS
Likes: Low diff means I have to rely on my hand and speed control. Allows me to be aggressive with the hand, but still keep my speed and angles down. Lets me stay in good tempo this way. It abides to what the lanes give me. No funny stuff.
Dislikes: I hope someone from EBI/Hammer reads this because they need to put this core with other (stronger) shells.
First ball drilled in February with 70x5x75 drill. Put a small P3 hole to get it going after realizing how clean this ball is. After a long layoff, bad habits come back easily and I turned to this ball to get me going in the right direction. I like how I can really unload on the ball and keep my speed slow, while keeping my angles up front tight. With stronger equipment, I find myself wanting to get fast with my feet and bend the wrist to get balls to go long enough and strike. This is, unfortunately, a bad habit for most house shots, and can mess with a player's ability to make a good ball motion with their physical game when there's more oil out there. For house shots, this ball and layout combination allows me to stay sharp with my fundamentals, keep angles tight, keep the speed low, and keep strong with the wrist position. I have also been able to use this on sport shots when I am weary to chase it left with stronger equipment. Basically, it's an option for me to stay in the burn longer and trick it with my hand to get it to wrinkle in the back.
Since I liked my first one, and it was so clean (maybe a little too clean), I wanted to drill a stronger one and put some surface on it. I figured it would be a formidable "shell up" from my first one and give me some more area while still trying to keep my angles tight up front. Since the first one was so clean with what I consider with one of my "stronger" low pin layouts, I opted for a 70x3.5x35 drill with a P3 Hole. My favorite surface prep is 500-2k. I pretty much can use this on almost everything I want, playing in the track and outside, keep my feet slow, and trick it with my hand. If I have to chase it left from where I started, it doesn't transition too crazily, and I can just trick it by chasing in with less speed and more hand, or chasing it right, keeping my wrist position stable, and throwing it a little faster.
I like these so much, the downside is when I run into more oil and I wish I had something that gives me this motion that can handle a lot more oil. I hope EBI/Hammer considers continuing this product with a stronger, solid shell, for those players who prefer to throw it on the slow side or those players with hand who want to keep those angles up front tight.