I bought this ball at the end of last season. As warmer weather came around, the lanes in my leagues seemed to be drying up and I wanted something better matched to light oil conditions.
I layed the ball out with a 4.5" pin to PAP, above my fingers, cg above and right of thumb and a stronger weight hole right of thumb. I wanted a stronger layout to try and get the ball started. Little sooner and smooth out the backend reaction some and allow me to play straighter. My initial testing was with box surface.
Like the saying - sometimes the best plan go awry. On my fresh condition, this ball is almost unplayable for me. It is so clean through the front, that when it touches the dry boards, it makes a very strong turn on the backend. Although it may not be stronger than my other equipment, it definitely covers more boards on the backend. I'm forced to start deeper on the lane to account for the backend reaction, which gives me the classic over /under reaction - miss inside in the oil and the ball under reacts (2,8,10s, buckets, etc.) and miss outside a little outside and it over reacts off the dry (4 pin if I'm lucky, otherwise splits). When I throw it just right, I get so much length and angle that I come in behind the head pin and leave 10s. Clear sign that the cover isn't matching up to what I'm seeing.
U decided to out a little more surface on the ball to react a little sooner and a little smoother on the backend. I hit the ball with a new 1000 grit abralon pad on the spinner, then lightly went over the surface with a 4000 grit pad by hand. For me, this is a lot of surface - something I might use on a fresh heavier oil pattern.
With the new surface, Im still seeing a similar type of reaction - lots of length and a strong move on the backend. Now, I'm getting a few boards more of overall hook! This makes the reaction interesting - further inside than previously to start on the fresh. If I keep the ball inside in the oil, it seems OK, but it's not a great angle through the pins to carry for me. If I get the ball outside early, it dies on the backend and doesn't recover with enough to carry. So far, this ball has been a bit of a bear for me... I don't think I currently have the right lane conditions to get the best performance out of it. Maybe my perception of dry lanes isn't really as dry as I thought... Or I just don't seem to match up with this ball - or possibly I was expecting a different reaction than what I'm seeing? I think going forward I'm going to return it back to box finish and save for the end of tournament blocks and/or fourth game of summer leagues. Or like a few other balls, try to get a few $$$ back out of it and write it off as a bad decision/fit for me. I could see this reaction working for someone needing a little more angle on the backend, or someone with slower ball speed and lower revs.
Not the typical review (hit like a truck, must have for everyone, first out of bag, etc.), but hopefully worthwhile.
