So the latest addition to my arsenal was the bluest of them all: The Neptune. I was looking for a ball to fit the drier/shorter conditions, and I think I may have found a pretty good piece.
I have this bad boy drilled identically to my T-Road Pearl: 6 inches pin to PAP, ~3.5 CG to PAP. Looks something like this:
---*---- <- Pin
--o-o---
-----*-- <- CG
---o----
My PAP is 4.5 inches over, I'm a stroker with medium speed and a very forward roll.
So far I have kept this ball OOB for all shots I have thrown, and if there was one word to describe this ball: "Long" Length is never ever a problem with this piece. It can go long as day and probably then some. I have bowled on a variety of shots with it.
House #1: Fresh THS, about 41 feet in length and WET. Yeah, don't use a Neptune here.
House #1: Not so fresh THS (after about 10 full games) When my other stuff began to check up too early, I could throw this Neptune up the boards without a problem. It got down the lane ~45 feet and made it's smooth move into the pocket. I must say that it was a beautiful move too, nothing too drastic or wild in the back.
House #2: Cheetah pattern. This 5 game tourney on the Cheetah was very different that my other experiences on this pattern. Outside of 5 was out of bounds, and the back of the pattern was VERY flat. I found myself playing straight up 6-7-8 and having relatively good success with my Storm Pyro. By the time games 4 and 5 rolled around, that was checking up too early and I switched to the Neptune and it gave me a beautiful look that wasn't having any problems going too heavy. This was the reason I bought it basically, and I loved it.
House #3: Cheetah pattern. This 3 game tourney was on the DRYEST Cheetah. Ever. I found myself throwing the Neptune from ball one, standing at 20, throwing 15 to 6 and having trouble keeping my speed up. I've never seen people play left to right on this pattern until I went to this little tournament. I had some success, but the Neptune was really jumpy off the spot and I was having control issues. Maybe the Neptune is too strong to handle the dead dry stuff? Who knows.
Back to House #1: State tournament, 3rd shift (they had about 25 games on it by the time I got there). So this shot was absolutely dead. I had good success with my T-Road Pearl, but once that started hooking too early I went to my Neptune, and it was a gorgeous gorgeous look. It had a monstrous margin of error to the right, and it would hold if I tugged it, and this is on SLOP! I was so happy with it! But again, I found it to be very speed sensitive and by the end of my 6th game (31st's for the lanes), the Neptune was wicked off the spot.
All in all, the Neptune is a great ball for drier lanes, but not bone dry (at least in my experiences so far). I may change my thoughts on this after some surface tinkering and playing more with it going more left to right. The hit is always good, the carry is always good. Yes, I've left corner pins with it, but that's partially due to me using it on more oil than is intended. With the right conditions, this ball is a dream come true (like that state tourney I did today, I was the only one not throwing it as fast as possible from at least the 30 board). Despite it's sometimes surprisingly strong backend, this ball does what it's designed for with flying colors. And as a lovely lovely surprise, it doubles as my spare ball. I've actually only missed 2 or 3 ten pins in the 2 months I have this ball, MUCH better than what I usually do.
So all in all, if you're looking for a piece for dryer/short patterns, or if you find your other stuff rolling out or crushing the nose, then go get yourself a Neptune. Just be wary of it's unusually strong backend off the dry. I'm going to give an update after I get it hit with a 2000 pad and maybe a spot of polish. Any questions feel free to PM me!
