OK, well i used this ball tonight 11/14/01 on my scratch league and i needed to try something new, cuz i had been struggling the past two weeks, and well i found it in my Trauma. First off, its drilled with the pin under the ring finger, and the CG in a week Position, above and slightly to the left of the thumb hole, and the MC2 is below the thumb hole and slightly to the left of the CG. I believe this is a 3x5 drilling or something close to it, but its drilled to give the ball length, and a controllable backend.  Well on my scratch league, the lanes have been flooded 10-10 all year long, and with a fair amount of oil outside of 10, for a OB area.  Well the past two weeks i was struggling with my Trauma ER which is a ball that is very good but the way its drilled makes me hafta be very very accurate or the ball just doesnt work, so i am scrapping it for now.  So i pulled out my Trauma, and hit it with some 800grit sandpaper, to give it a better midlane read.  Well my first game, lol I shot a 300!!  No lie, it was my second one.  Second game i shot 177, the oil, just went bye bye, and i didnt move untill the 6th frame and then struck out, for my massive 177.  My second game was better, i shot 224, and ended with a 701. which is a bit better than my series with my first 300, which was a 696. But anyways, i my faith has been re-newed in this ball, i had put it on the back burner because, on my Monday and Tuesday leagues if i used this ball once there was a bit of carry down, it just didnt get to the pocket. But i shall try it with the ball sanded. Oh and my first 300 was with the Original El Nino, back on 2/10/01

This is the nicest ball I have ever owned. I got the ball drilled to go long and hook big at the back. It definitely does that. In heavy oil the breakpoint is much further down the lane, but the ball will still flip. My average has icreased about 15 pins from a 186 to a 201 since getting this ball. The Trauma is a quality ball with consistent reaction.

I am a 16 year old youth bowler.  I throw medium speed and medium revs. The Trauma is great on every condition with any type of back end. If the backends have any movement this ball explodes.  In the first week I had this ball I rolled a series of 745 and one of 689 in leagues that week.  This ball is a definate must for anyone who is serius about their bowling.

I have had this ball for quite a while and it went off for a while and stopped turning in with any consistency.  However, suddenly within the last week it has developed a very consistent reaction on most conditions in a variety of centres and the carry has improved.

So, if your Trama doesn't seem to react as well as it did, keep plugging on with it and it will come back!  It seems to react more consistency and with more power than it did when new!

By the way I haven't just had it resurfaced and I haven't changed my action.  It's all the ball.

I bought a plugged 14 lb Trauma that my ball driller had been experimenting with over the past few months. It had been drilled three different ways so I was getting it mainly to try out some newer Storm equipment. I had not used a Storm since my La Nina (liked it but probably never took full advantage of the La Nina since I was changing styles from a full roller to a semiroller at the time)

My first experience with the Trauma (pin above ring, cg out a bit) was on a well used lane and everything was a bit squirrely so I stuck to my Vortex II Pearl since I was more confident of it. The second try was on a fresh evening shot... and did I LOVE THE REACTION!!! I was worried that going down to a 14 lb ball would sacrafice pin action... WRONG! I was bowling a Bakers Doubles league so only bowled every pther frame so I do not have a score to report... but in four shared games, I struck all but four times... a split on a tugged shot, and three spare leaves (one I blew when I switched balls to convert it).

I am really anxious to try it out next week in my serious league since it also has a "fresh evening shot" with a bit of dry outside of 8-10 and decent oil in the middle, but not flooded. If I find it to be what I am hoping, I will post a second review.

I throw my 15 lb equipment around 13-15 mph and the 14 lb ball around 14 - 16 mph. I have a high track with medium revs. Lots or equipment can turn and burn early for me since I do not have a lot of speed. THe trauma got through the heads great on fresh oil... but I had to let it flare a couple of boards as the evening progressed to delay the hook. Once it hit the clean back ends... it arced STRONG with GREAT continuation... Anything near flush was a strike. Swishers were generous, but I did leave an 8-pin and a 9-pin of really strong hits... and a strong four pin I probably deserved.

A super ball which taught me that accuracy and a strong finish was WAY more important than weight when it comes to carry.

May well have to invest in one ot this years "Traumas" to see if they are as good!

We tested the Trauma in it's out of the box condition (which is polished) and with a duller shell, 400 wet sanded and finished with a burgundy Scotch Brite pad.  The first ball was re-polished after the first set of tests, which amounted to six or seven games.

We used two testers for the Trauma, one a stroker with medium speed (17 mph), between 19 and 21 revolutions and 45-55 degrees of axis rotation.  The second player is a more powerful release, who achieves 21-24 revolutions at closer to 20 mph.  The power player used both a polished trauma and the dull, while the stroker used only the polished ball.  The power bowler's polished Trauma was drilled with the pin 5 1/2" from the p.a.p. over the fingers with the mass bias just to the right of the thumb hole.  Both of the other two balls we used (one dull and one shiny) were drilled with the pin next to the ring finger in a label-type position and the mass bias under the thumb.

We were bowling on synthetic lanes that had been conditioned using the Kegel Elite machine, patterns three four and seven.  Three and four are similar ‘house shots' with four being especially forgiving with a heavier oil build up in the middle.  Seven is the 2000 F.I.Q. condition, which is a much flatter pattern than most league bowlers see.  All of these patterns include fresh back ends.

The results we saw were almost without exception, positive.  The Trauma is a versatile, powerful ball that produces enough length to create a strong back end reaction that leads to very impressive carry.  While not a dry lane ball, the Trauma will keep you competitive as long as you can keep moving inside and find oil to get the ball to the break point.  Like many other high end balls, once the Trauma can't get down the lane, it becomes ineffective.  

The power player was able to let loose with his speed and turn without fear of over reaction and too much snap.  It was simply a matter of identifying which shell was right for the condition.  He was able to stay with the Trauma after the stroker was forced to switch because of his extra speed, the lanes had to be considerably broken down for the polished shell to react too soon to be effective.  The stroker had much better luck with it on fresher patterns but was still able to move in and carry once the track was broken down.  The break point on the fresh conditions was strong but not overly sharp for either player, which was like having the best of both worlds, strong carry with fewer surprises.  We tried these balls with a few different releases and were impressed with the fact that it seemed as though the weaker releases actually worked better under some conditions.  When the track broke down for example, we tried a spinner release to get the ball through the heads and that's exactly what happened.  The ball skid down the lane as though there were solid oil and then hooked on the back end carrying everything in it's path.

This ball has been around now for a while (this review is being written in August of ‘02) but it has to be one of the very best available.  Great skid cover-stock, large differential and carry that has to impress anyone.

If you have any questions about this or any other of our reviews, e-mail us at: proshop@bowlero.com

this is a great ball. its very versitile, and fits well anywhere(arsenal). what i like about this ball is its great ack-end, and it drills right through the pins.  10 out of 10
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I had my trauma drilled 4x4 with the pin above the ring and the mass bias below the ring.  I had it polished 2000 grit.  This ball is a consistant skid snap mad for lots of backend.  While its power has ben overlooked with all the new trauma series coming out, i think non have acheived the look of consistancy in it's snap.  I throw this ball 24 swinging out to 10 and snaping strong into the pocket.  I recomend this ball for anyone who is throwing a nice controled hook that just wants a little more snap, because this ball has got it, control, snap, and consistancy.