Just got ball drilled-up today, December 18, 2009. First of all, let me thank Tony Martin of Lane Masters for sending me the ball. Ball came 15-0, 3 TW and 3" pin, ball is laid-out 50* x 3 3/8" x 35* which placed the pin about 2 0''''''''clock from RF and a small WH placed 1" down from VAL/Centerline. Ball was left in box condition for it''''''''s initial test.
I used the ball for the first time in league tonight. Let me point out that I usually don''''''''t throw a ball in sanctioned competition immediately after drilling it, but this ball fit perfectly after drilling. Usually I have to work on the thumb for a bit, but I''''''''ve recently been experiencing some thumb swelling issues so we drilled the thumb 2 drill sizes larger and just added a full piece of tape.
Out of box, 1st game threw front 8, then a solid 4 pin for 279, then got a little sloppy in game 2 and wound up shooting 211 while missing an easy spare in the 6 pin. Game 3 got head removed from rear-end and proceeded to shot 259 for a pretty good series of 749. Not bad for something that was not routine for me, hopefully it''''''''s not just "New Ball-itis."
The Xtreme Damage reminds me of my pin-down drilled Black Diamond, in which the ball is very aggressive in the back end and just obliterates the pins. The drilling allows the ball to easily clear the heads but it can easily be seen starting to rev-up in the midlane just waiting to be unleashed on the dry backends. The ball had excellent recovery when missing right(yes, it did happen a couple of times tonight), but wasn''''''''t as forgiving when I missed a little inside. Let me also state, the good scores may be attributed to the pair of lanes I was bowling on. Lanes 3 and 4 in my house in recent weeks has been the high scoring pair, evident by my own 300/768 series a couple of weeks ago with a Black Pearl Reactive and preceded by a friends 804 just the week before that. I personally average 255+ on that pair after 6 games bowled on that pair for both leagues I bowl there(12 games total).
In my opinion, another awesome piece from Lane Masters!
I have another one to drill-up, most likely it will be drilled pin-down or label leverage. I will post updates within the next few days if I decide to tinker with the coverstock.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/PatPatterson1/Bowling%20Balls/PC190001.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/PatPatterson1/Bowling%20Balls/PC190002.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/PatPatterson1/Bowling%20Balls/PC190003.jpgUpdate as of 1/3/10:
Got to use the ball a little more this past week, utilized the ball in box condition. The XD in this condition has a little too much midlane bite for the house condition I bowl on. I decided to throw a light polish on it using Legends polish. The ball in this condition allowed me to get the ball through the mids alot easier than before. I used the ball in league this past wednesday evening with the polish on it and proceeded to shoot 233-235-259=729 with 2 opens, 1 in each of the 1st two games. Didn''t have to make a move until the end of game #2, just made a basic 2-n-1 move and was fine the rest of the set. I believe the XD with this surface prep is much more livelier than the box prep. I really didn''t lose much board coverage with the polishing, maybe a board to start but by nights end it was still quite aggressive.
Hope this review is helpful,
Edited on 1/4/2010 9:06 AM
