Sort of confused by the couple of references in this post indicating that a urethane ball is not permitted to be manufactured in the U.S. I've never heard anything about this. And it's always been my understanding that urethane is the base product for reactive resin balls; they just have more additives in them.
A urethane ball has its use. If one cannot get it to work, there are several reasons:
1. It's not being used on the right condition.
2. It's not being thrown in the right spot on the lane.
3. It's motion, and it's limitations, are not understood by the user.
4. A combination of these.
Personally, I find my urethane (Natural) works best on a fresh wall shot on a higher friction surface. Once the shot opens up, usually resin is the better option.
I don't understand the reasoning in fancy layouts in lower end balls. You have your urethane balls and you have your resin balls with a low diff. (say a Breeze). A simple strong drill (say a 4x4 or 4x5)would seem the most logical approach. Most current urethanes have a week cover/medium diff. core. The Breeze has a moderately strong cover (reactor if I remember right) and a low diff. None are going to hook out of the building.
One other thing, we can't compare today's urethane to the 1980's equipment. The main reason is the length of the oil patterns and the lower friction surfaces. Even today's shortest patterns, around 35', are at least 5' longer than most put down 25 years ago. So comparing a Blue Hammer from 1990 to the current Blue Hammer is apples and oranges.
