Ball NPS Score: 50.00
Description:  The Storm Phaze is a hard-hitting, fast-revving bowling ball that is sure to phase out your competition.  The Velocity Core was designed to produce a lot of ball motion that will take out pin after pin.  The AX-16 pearl reactive coverstock grips a medium oiled lane like no other.
Storm Phaze Features:

- Color: Royal/Yellow/Copper All colors do vary somewhat from the picture shown.
- Coverstock: AX-16 Pearl Reactive
- Core: Velocity Core (14#-16#), Centripetal Core (12#-13#)
- Finish: 1500 Grit Polished
- Lane Condition: Medium Oil
- RG: 2.48 (15# ball)
- Diff: 0.051 (15# ball)
- Fragrance: Lemon Tart

BALL SPECS

Pin Length: 4"

Starting Top Weight: 2.3oz

Ball Weight: 15lbs.


DRILL PATTERN

Pin to PAP: 4 5/8"

PSA to PAP: 3 3/4"

Pin Buffer: 2 1/2"


BOWLER STYLE

Rev Rate: 430rpm

Ball Speed: 16mph

PAP/Track: 4 1/2" x 1/2" up


LANE CONDITION

Length: 42'

Volume: Med/Heavy

Type (THS, Sport Pattern etc): THS


COMMENTS

The new Storm Phaze is perfectly unique. This much anticipated pearl created quite a buzz with all of the videos and social media attention pre-release, and for good reason. First off, yes the coverstock is THAT tacky. However, this ball's motion is what makes it special. It's not the traditional skip/flip pearl that we are accustomed to seeing. The best way to describe the motion would be "pure roll"; meaning that when the Phaze gets to the breakpoint it simply rolls off the friction so effortlessly and so smooth. There's no "jump". No "snap". Just "roll". These are typically motions that are synonymous with solid coverstocks. However, the brand new AX-16 Pearl shell glides this ball downlane and allows the ball to easily clear the heads before making its move. For some, the out of box finish may be excessively shiny and exaggerate the over/under for higher volume house shots. I hit mine with a 3000 pad on the spinner and it gave the ball better teeth in the middle part of the lane and smoothed out the reaction even more. The way that this ball goes through the pins is incredible. I'd like to say that it keeps the pins low, and on pure pocket shots it does, but the pin action that I've seen with light pocket hits has been nothing short of explosive. Messengers galore! Match all of that with its gorgeous color scheme and you've got a ball that is quick to catch the eye and sure to boost your game. #StormNation 

The Phaze is a ball completely unlike any other on the market.  It features both a new coverstock and core, and is one of the brighter and more colorful balls available.  It is both visibly and texturally different, but the biggest difference you will find is its reaction shape.  The Phaze offers a lot of hook, but it is very smooth on the backend.  The vast majority of balls on the market, even very aggressive sanded balls still have sharper motions on the backend.  This can be problematic when looking for control on over/under patterns.  The Phaze's combination of hook and control puts it in play on a wide variety of lane conditions.  The slow response to friction makes it ideal for controlling wet/dry, whether on a house shot or sport conditions.  This also makes it less sensitive to transition which means you will stay in or near the pocket more often.  Another key result is that the ball retains more energy because it doesn't bleed much, if any when it hits friction, so it offers superior hitting power.  The coverstock also reacts more to surface adjustments, giving you much more versatility with just a single ball.  For me, the Phaze is a must have ball!

The Storm Phaze is part of the Master line, it features brand new symmetrical VelocityTM core, as well as the new AX-16TM pearl coverstock.

I drilled my Phaze 5” x 4” with a P3 hole. This put my pin just under my bridge.

Out of the box, the AX-16 cover is very clean and does not overreact off of the dry. I have thrown it on the 2015 USBC Open Championship team pattern, and a few different length and volume house patterns. The early hype of this ball was that it is unlike any shape that Storm has anywhere in its lineup. And it is absolutely true! The roll of the Phaze is unique. The core rolls fast and heavy, but it does not jump off of the dry like its pearl counterparts.

The smooth shape on the back part of the lane, can make the Phaze more sensitive to carry down for speed dominant players. On the USBCOC team pattern, the Phaze was way too clean on the fresh with the cover out of box. Once I hit the cover with a 2,000 Abralon pad by hand, it read the pattern properly and it went through the pins with a lot of power. On the house shot however, the Phaze out of box created some ridiculous amount of area. Much like its solid counterpart in the Master line, the IQ Tour, the Phaze generates smooth ball motion without picking up the front part of the pattern.

The Phaze is a great benchmark pearl ball and will get a lot of use for me on shorter to medium oil patterns as well as on higher friction lane surfaces. Don’t be afraid to play with surface on this ball depending on your ball speed and rev rate. Out of box, I thought this ball was “pretty good”, but after playing with surfaces, I am really impressed with what this ball has to offer.

LANE CONDITION

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PICTURES AND/OR VIDEOS

   Right Handed
   Rev Rate  - 400
   Speed      -17
   PAP   -  3 up 1 1/2
   Layout  60 x 5 1/4 x 50 --- 5 1/4 x 5 x 3 1/2   

 The new Storm release in the Master line is the PHASE.   Phase has the Velocity Core with the new AX-16 pearl reactive coverstock.   The PHASE has very bright colors and great shelf appeal. The PHASE is not your typical Storm ball motion.
 Storm's intent with the PHASE was to create a ball motion that would have a good midlane and just roll continuously through the backend.   The PHASE is great choice to play up the lane as it is very controllable.  It forces me to move right and keep my angles straighter through the heads.  The ball hits with a lot of power and carries extremely well.  A great addition the Storm Master Line.

Brian Watson
Storm Pro Shop Staff

LANE CONDITION

Length: Short to medium

Volume: Medium

Type (THS, Sport Pattern etc): THS


The February release in the Storm Master Line is the Phaze.  The Phaze introduces us to a new coverstock (AX-16) and a new core (Velocity).  The combination of the AX-16 pearl reactive coverstock along with the Velocity core delivers a very unique ball shape.  The Phaze’s ball shape just brings more choices to the master Line.

I had the opportunity to throw the Phaze and several other bowling balls within the Master line to witness the differences.  The first thing that I noticed was how tacky the coverstock and how bright the colors are in the Phaze.  The next thing that I noticed was the reaction at the break point… very continuous.  On medium to short house patterns the IQ Tour was a beast until the heads dry up and then I changed to Phaze.  The Phaze with the pearl coverstock and high differential made it interesting to say the least!  The Phaze will emphasis the DRY… With my coordinates being 5 5/8 over and ¾ up from my PAP, Ball speed is medium, Rev Rate around 300.  When I missed left it would not get over the hump but I had unlimited room to the right!  The IQ Tour 30 had a more mid lane motion than the Phaze but the Phaze had more backend motion.  One other note, the IQ Tour and the IQ Tour 30 are both laid out the same with my favorite layout pin down with cg kicked out with low hole.  The Phaze was drilled slightly different with pin in the ring finger and cg kicked out with a low hole.  The Phaze’s unique ball roll will only add to the already wide range of bowling ball choices that are provided by Storm Products.


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Layout = 75 x 5 x 35 - one of my favorite layouts. This layout gets me a decent amount of flare potential with the weight block at a good versatile angle with potential to weight hole it for more flare if needed. I left it box surface initially.

The Phaze is something different from Storm. If your looking for the go long-turn left reaction, move on to another piece. If you are looking for something that lets you close down your angles and keep your target more in front of you, now you have found the ball. I would use the Phaze on tougher patterns in the medium range or even on shorter patterns. Longer patterns are going to want to push the Phaze downlane a little too far. If you are very accurate you may be able to put something like 1000 or 500 abralon, but Storm has much better pieces in their line for that type of lane condition.