Ball is has a 2.5-inch pin and about 2.5 oz. of top weight...

* pin under ring, about 3.5 inches away from the PAP
* CG swung out to the right (right-hander) just a hair; about 3 inches away from the PAP
* Surface adjusted to 4000 Abralon
* Three different polishes applied

Aside from the fact that the ball looks like it's got a six-inch-deep shine on it, you ought to see the reaction you get. Great for taming a league shot with a ton of oil in the middle, zilch oil outside and a breakpoint that varies so much from frame to frame that it's a guessing game.

Jess

Del Warren says I'm "very speed dominant," Ron C. estimated my revs lower than the figure I list, but my coach estimated them higher than that, and I have no CATS info to nail it down so I'm basically guessing. I will say that Ron C. watched me before I finished PT for a wrist injury, ditched my wrist brace and changed my release to something with a little more snap.

Probably my best attribute is my adaptability; I can play very fast, very slow, many speeds in between and I can adjust my tilt, rotation and rev rate, and play a lot of different areas on the lane.

What I can't do is repeat shots ad infinitum. When I win, I win by outthinking my opposition, not by locking in and just zoning the same shot over and over. When I lose, it's because my body can't pull off what my mind is telling it to do.

With the YB, where I got the idea to do this was looking at a picture of a ball a very speed-dominant, one-dimensional guy had where he'd shined it up so he could play medium lanes. I was about to get on a PBA Regional Pattern league at the time and thought this drill with some polish and surface adjustment might be what I needed, after looking at the YB's core design.

It turned out to be a great guess. This ball handled Regional 1 and Regional 2 very well, and did a good job on Regional 3 but I had better options for that pattern. I tamed it too much to use on Regional 4 or Regional 5.

For league, I'd been fighting a condition the last two weeks with my Roto Grip Retro Resurrection where the breakpoint got to be unpredictable given the temperature/humidity conditions inside the house and angularity of that ball due to its drill. So I went back to the YB tonight and was +25 after two games before the heads and mids burned completely up and I actually moved to a Visionary Slate Blue Gargoyle for the third game.

I'd love to test other L/LM equipment, but honestly, most of the stuff I have now is way too strong for the conditions I'm seeing. I'd love to get a NS, NS2 or Satisfaxion but I'd basically have to drill them with a negative pin in order for me to use them in my current house.

Jess