Ric,
You know by now that one ball can be many things to many people depending on
- how they throw the ball,
- the condition on which they evaluate a ball,
- how they drill the ball, etc, etc.
A benchmark ball does NOT have to be a mild ball. In fact, it sholdn't be. A benchmark ball is one whose use allows the bowler to get his best read of the lanes and how to play them and will tell him very quickly whether he needs a stronger or weaker ball.
Be careful, be VERY careful about taking any review's word as law. BTM is very good because of all the different factors they employ, but you still have to read the words very carefully and you MUST only take them in relation to other ball's evalutions and numbers.
The Roto-Grip SUper Sonic also had that large number for backend, 16. I don't that believe that will be the particular average for every user.
Some balls react better to certain drillings and certain releases on certain oil patterns.
If you're looking for a maximum backend on certain oil handling capacity balls, I'd suggest youlook into asymmetric cores drilled for the most hook. Morich, Track and Storm fall into these categories, as well as some other specific balls from some other companies (Anomaly, Yeah Baby, Oracle, and possibly the new Veolicity.)
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"We get old too fast, and too late, smart."