Well I decided to take the plunge and drill up the Backlash blue/silver I had ordered in for the shop. It was a tough decision...Midnight Vibe or Backlash....the Vibe looks just fantastic but the Backlash was supposed to have the ball reaction I wanted so the Backlash won out!!

Why the Backlash?

Wanted a ball for when the lanes started to go away. I am not comfortable playing a real tight inside line and I am not skilled enough to take 2 giant steps left and wail on the ball either so I needed a different piece of equipment. The "Designed for medium dry to dry lane conditions" monicker intrigued me so...

Ball Specs
The ball my supplier sent in was a 3-4" pin with 2.5 top weight and a gross weight of 15# 5 oz.

Surface will remain at OOB until further notice.

Layout Choice
Knowing this ball was supposed to have great length and a smooth reaction, I had to be careful with the layout. I decided to lay it out like my Mission and hope that the weaker core/cover combo was enough to tame the ball down.

So 60*x 4" x60* was the chosen layout. Weighthole was placed 5" from grip center on the line through the CG...25/32 x 2-1/2".

Ending weights...7/8oz thumb, 7/8 oz side, 1/2oz top wt. I am not thrilled with the thumbweight but it doesn't seem to hurt the performance any and I don't really want to make the weighthole any bigger if I don't have to.

Performance
The only lanes that had been oiled were the ones the league was using so I was stuck with a 5 day old Scorpion pattern. Well this ball performs exactly as advertised....great length, easy off the spot and good power at the pin deck. I was able to play multiple areas of the lane...the track area, up the 5 board, tight inside. If I took some speed off the ball and got around the ball a bunch I could bank it off the gutter but that's not what the ball is designed for.

Overall I see this as a great addition to Hammer's line up and can see it definitely being competition for the Freeze and Tropical Heats.

Great performing and looking ball at a great price...should see a lot of them around the late blocks at tournaments.
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Doug Sterner
Doug''s Pro Shop
Owego, NY
http://dougsproshop@aol.com
www.dougsproshop.net
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