The guys who didn't like it were playing way too deep. After they tried straighter lines through the front the ball did well for them.
I am not a fan of "trick" drillings for most people. A tried-and-true layout will help you know what the ball really does. Otherwise, you might keep asking yourself, "was that the ball, or was that the bowler?"
Norm Duke (one of the greatest, in my opinion) used to keep nearly everything with a similar layout. The pin would always be within a 1" box, so to speak.
Normally, I'm not a fan of trick drillings myself. I have 4 layouts I mainly use (two for asym cores; two for sym cores). There are two drillings that I use specifically for sport patterns only -
For symmetric cores: 45* x 6.5 x 60*. This normally puts the pin down, and under my middle finger. I use this for short patterns only, basically. It gives me easy length, and a very sweeping motion to the pocket. Because this drill kills the flare, I have to use a high diff core to get it going.
For asymmetric cores: I don't even know the numbers - it's something like 70* x 5.5 x 20*. For me, this layout gets the ball down the lane and it stands up pretty quickly, but it still tumbles more than snaps. It's a useful layout for longer patterns after they're beat up a bit. This one is a bit more versatile, and can be used on THS.
I'm hopeful I can use the symmetric layout on the Timeless, and get it to do what I want with surface. And if it doesn't work, oh well. The ball was free, so I'm okay with a failed experiment.