Drrrev... usually people consider the short sport shot patterns dry.  even though in reality theres a bunch of oil on the lane, its just not very long and the balls have a tendency to hook early.  For instance, I rolled on a 33 ft Sport pattern last year, and I could have sworn that they either stiped the lanes and forgot to re-oil or that the lanes were just really dry.  In actuallity there was actually 22ml of oil accross the entire pattern but it was just so short that it seemed extremely dry.  its the same way with some of the longer patterns.  There was a 50 ft pattern that everyone was calling extremely heavy oil and everything but in actuallity there was like a total of 19 or 20 ml accross the entire shot.  Just seemed like there was more because of the length of the pattern.

As for the Slate Blue,  I play a lot like you from the sounds of it Jess.  My SBG is way too much ball for the toast I encounter,  mines drilled pin above ring cg stacked below,  If I were to redrill my SBG for dry lanes, I'd probably put the pin above middle finger or MAYBE even in the track.  Another option you have, if the lanes are just getting too flippy and you need something to roll earlier and smoother is if you were to try putting the pin maybe an inch away from your PAP, that will promote an extreme early read but will cause it to NOT over react on the dry backends.  

I really don't know how you bowl so I can't suggest anything super accurate to you, what would work for me may not work for you.  In all honesty I'd go and talk to your proshop guy about it, so that he can take you out on the condition your bowling on and go from there as to how to drill it (assuming the pro shop opperator knows what he's doing )

Hope this helps you
Jeremy
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"Strive to be perfect,  that is afterall the only way to become perfect."

"If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans."

Taken from Desiderata

Proud user of Columbia 300 and Visionary Bowling Products

Edited on 5/31/2006 2:30 AM

Jess,

As Raven said, I believe if most people are using a SBG on dry-ish lanes, the pin needs to be relatively high. The problem as I see it, is that urethane tends to grab the lane earlier than resin. This is the case even with polished pearlized urethane, like the SBG. Unless your release has higher ball speed than rev rate, or you intend to use it on medium-light to medium oil, a higher pin is required to get a comfortable ball length.

I rarely use pin above the ring or bridge level, but I do have it on my SBG. I works well in that configuration.

The SBG, due to its cover and core, should work well on a drier sport condition. I'd be inclined to kick the CG out slightly, that is, closer to the PAP than the pin, but not by a whole lot: maybe a 4.5"x3.5" type of drilling.

FYI I wouldn't recommend sanding this ball, as urethanes react a WHOLE lot differently than resins do to changing the coverstock surface.
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"None are so blind as those who will not see."

Any results yet?

I like mine a lot, but it's still a little strong to play down and in on a dry league shot.  The drilling is in my profile.  I'm trying an experiment tomorrow.  I applied two coats of Neo-Tac's Delayed Reaction to my base 2000 grit polish.  Unlike a regular polish, it has a slipping agent that not only gives more length, but reduces the back end as well.  I'm really interested to see what kind of reaction it has on a urethane ball.  I don't think there will be a middle ground.  It will either be a huge success or a monumental flop.
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Penn State Proud

Ron Clifton's Bowling Tip Archive

My driller has been out of town this week. I'll have it drilled up Tuesday evening but if it's like it was last week in league, I won't need it. Last week was a soup.

Jess

Tested it today on a THC...very pleased with this ball. Moves smoothly, doesn't skid forever but doesn't over-react, and it carried very well, as I suspected this core would. I won't have a chance to use it in sport league for a couple of weeks, but I'm very pleased with what I saw from its first run.

Jess