Whats the general consensus here? This ball WILL get to the pocket, but striking is a another story. Flat 10s & ring 10s galore. Much better on flatter patterns. Thoughts?

A decent bowler in my Monday night league rolled 258-300-300---858 will his IQ Tour on a Brunswick Zone "standard" THS (morning strip and oil, afternoon head run only).

My iq tour pearl eats the puddle in the middle up.....it might be the best ball on ths I've thrown ever....covers as many boards on ths as any other ball and when it trips a 9 or goes a little high i can make a move and trust it will make the corner.....

I kinda want the iq tour pearl...i assume the problems on ths wont really exist with the pearl on ths...or will they?

 

The original IQ Tour is a ball designed to help the bowler control and combat tough lane conditions. The combination of strong coverstock and lower diff core allows the ball to roll and not duck hook at the slightest sign of friction.

This is not a THS ball for Joe Average Bowler....lots of revs and speed? Yes....slow speed and revs? Yes....will a conventional pin over ring, cg kicked out layout work best for this ball on THS? NO!!!!!For most bowlers this ball will burn up and puke when playing inside out on a THS. If you can find a straighter line and keep the ball in the soup, you stand a a chance but forget bouncing it outside to read the friction and then head for the pocket....it will hit weak every time.

The IQ Tour Pearl is the THS ball....the pearl cover gets down the lane and then bounces when it hits the dry....

Add some polish to the original IQ Tour if you want to use it on a house shot or better yet use the regular IQ and it's higher diff to help carry better on the THS.

+1, Doug. Or better yet, just buy the !Q Tour Pearl and use it for what it was intended for. When covering boards is necessary, the Pearl is the ball. It's much stronger and flippier than both of my Crossroads and I can get deeper with it and play in more oil than both Crossroads as well. Ive drilled a few of those and no one has been disappointed in that ball.

The regular iq is one of the pukiest balls I've ever seen on ths.....don't think I've seen it look good in anyones hands yet.....I've seen a lot of success with both of the tours. I've seen some people struggle with them too....

The main reason people struggle is because these balls are intended for one specific purpose.  The IQ Tour is strictly more for use as a ball you can play up the boards at its out of box surface.  Kind of like the Virtual Gravity for alot of people; it rolled good when you could go straight and control the backend.  However, once people moved inside, unless there was a major surface change, the ball would really labor on the backend.  Same with the IQ Tour. 

This is where the pro shop operator comes in.  If a bowlers comfort zone is 3rd arrow, then he must let the bowler know the only way to have success with a ball designed to roll like it does, is he needs to play a small fade; not wheel it to the gutter.  A couple guys in my league that know how this ball is designed are very successful when the play STRAIGHT up 8-12.  Once they get inside towards 15, the ball does not have enough angle on the backend to carry the back row.  Someone very heavy handed may be able to help create some angle if it is polished up and the backends are still relatively fresh.  But the average bowler better be content with hitting the pocket every shot and shooting 180 because his carry is terrible.  IMO.........this is as much on the pro shop guy as it is the bowler as it is his job to educate the customer/bowler on the versatility of a given ball and its designed purpose.

I must be throwing and seeing other balls being thrown. I see all kinds of people covering boards with the iq tours.....how can a ball with that low of a diff be pukey??? I could see it not making the corner for a speed dominate bowler but its not going to get in a roll that quick because of the lower flare potential....

It isnt the flare potential.  Its the fact it is a low rg ball.  We are not saying that people cant cover boards.  We are just saying that if you move into and try to cover boards, that the carry percentage more than likely will suffer due to its low flare.  If the ball was a 2.48 rg with a .05 differential, then with the right surface you may be able to get some continuation.  EX:  I have a Violent Eruption that is a 2.4 ball with almost a .05 diff.  With the weight hole at P3, I can wheel this ball all day long and the ball is a beast on the backend.  However, if this ball was a 2.4 rg with a .03, I very well will leave alot of corner pins due to the lack of angle/continuation from a deeper line (4th-5th arrow).

Another thing to add is the coverstocks strength.  Even with the IQ being a low flare ball, if the coverstock is pretty strong, in combination with the low rg, it will still want to read the midlane even more and thus help create a lack of angle on the backend.  So there are more factors than just the flare potential.

I get what everyone is saying. Ive had success playing up the lane with very little left to right through the front. I understand the balls intent and what it should be used for. I can create angle and this ball be "wheeled"  if the fronts are beat up enough or the backends are very clean. Otherwise, this ball is perfect for going really straight or keeping it in "the tube". I was simply saying this ball stinks on OVER-WALLED conditions.