Part of it is learning to play the right line on drier lanes, and this is something that I still struggle with. Often times, lanes that we see as dry, really are mostly dry in the track, far outsides and backends. Sometimes there is still quite a bit of oil in the middle of the lane, and if you can play more of a deep inside line, without swinging the ball, and keeping it in as much oil as possible, you can use a slightly stronger reactive. Sometimes the lane just doesn't have enough oil on it even for that line.
That being said, I totally agree with you that "dry lane balls" often hook way too much for what the customer wants. I've gone through the way too many balls, and finally have found the one you may be looking for, and it was mentioned earlier by Ragnar....the Buzzsaw XXXL. A lot of people are scared of plastic for various reasons....if there's a little carrydown you're going to struggle with it, people are also not used to a plastic hitting like this. When I throw it on dry lanes, people are shocked that it's a plastic, everyone thinks it's urethane. And yes, because it's by Lane #1 it's way overpriced. But if you really want a truly dry lane ball, this is the one to go for.