I have a Phenom and Unleashed I have used all year and I have not seen any loss of reaction or cover problems. I clean them regularly and bring them in out of the cold as well, which could lead to problems too.

Clint
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Clint Daley-Owner
Lets Go Bowling Daley
Salem, Ohio 44460
TRACK ADVISORY PRO SHOP STAFF

Goof,

Could there be 2 factors at work here?

1. Most coverstocks, not just Track's, suffer reduced performance over time. Your customers may be experiencing this. Your re-adjusting their balls may bring them back close to stock performance, then step #2 happens ..

2. Your/their house adds extra oil that night/week/month, and your customers don't see this immediately. Then they take their newly re-adjusted ball to these lanes and it hooks less because there's more oil, not because it has lost performance (which you've mostly just restored).

This scenario just occurred to me and it could be one possible reason.


Edited on 2/11/2005 10:23 AM

The best ball I have ever thrown, pure performance, was the Freak Out.  It's not even close.  I had two.  After 80 games, one hit with less authority than my spare ball.  The other ball lasted about 95 games.  Hook Again, warm water, voodoo incantations, sacrifices to the bowling gods...nothing brought them even part way back.  I have had similar problems with Holoflex coverstocks, in that they become less consistent and can't be brought back to anywhere near box...
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"I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like them myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings."

I have a Phenom with well over 400 games, and it still hooks great!  At about the 300-game mark, I did the Ebonite Hook-Again treatment and a resurface, and the ball still hooks and carries very well.  Sure there's a loss in performance compared to out of the box, but it's expected, and the performance loss is very minimal.  

I did leave a 7-10 with it recently while shooting on a sport shot, but c'mon now, the shot was hard and the oil was pretty heavy...that doesn't mean the ball isn't working anymore.  Chris Barnes and Mike Devaney left 7-10's on TV and their pin carry wasn't awesome; that doesn't mean the Inferno and Big Bully are bad balls whose coverstocks don't hold up - the condition was maybe just tougher and/or heavier.

I also have a Rule with over 100 games and an Animal with over 70 games, and these balls still react awesome!  The balls obviously don't hook as much as the day I first tried them, but that's expected.  On the same sport shot as I left the 7-10 with my Phenom, my Animal wasn't picking up its roll as hard and pin-action wasn't the greatest.  At another house on a heavy-oil THS, the Animal just murders the pins.  Some balls just match up better to different lanes and oil patterns.  

These are just my experiences and thoughts; not balls are made 100% equal, so there may be some discrepancies, but I don't believe that balls lose reaction THAT fast.
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-Dino

Goof,

More than anything you may be dealing with bowlers that know the shot is heavy....BUT do they move their feet/target? So many bowlers seem to get locked in to one part of the lane, and get locked into staying in one spot with their feet.

I have had each of the balls you listed, I did not see a loss in performance, but I keep my stuff clean. I stress cleaning to every bowler that buys a ball from my shop. If they do not keep it clean...and NO, rubbing alcohol is not going to do the job good enough...then if the ball loses reaction that is their fault.

The only ball that I have thrown in the last several years that has lost reaction even with me cleaning it was a Raging Inferno, Brunswick covers do not seem to hold up well to use and they definately track up alot.

-EX-
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C-G Pro Shop (owner/operator)
Youngstown Ohio

Track Intl.-Amateur/Pro Shop Staff