I treated myself to the XV and a Gryphon G-3 for the new season, both in 14-lb. I've been using 15 for years, but thought I'd try the lower weight, and it seems to be working out fine--no noticeable loss of power at the deck, and I've effortlessly upped
my ball speed from 12-14 to 14-16. Using a higher backswing, seems to lock into place unlike with the 15s (and 16s).
I've got the G-3 pin down and the XV pin neutral, both at 4000 Abralon, no polish.
My league house has switched oiling machines this year, and averages are down across the board by 10-15 pins. Carry a real problem, especially 10s in 3rd and 4th games of a set. Last week I finally topped 800 in my 4-game Trios league--shot 878 with a 256, using the Warlock XV. Turns out the new oil machine was out for repairs, so they used the old one. Yesterday morning, back to business as usual--173, 175, 176 with a whopping total of 2 doubles in the set. Used both balls, on this pattern they acted very much alike--neither one faced up strongly enough when I stood far enough left to prevent early read. I'm thinking of putting some surface on the XV--out of box is 2000, so I'll try that, and maybe I'll be able to cover fewer boards and conserve some ball energy. The problem is extreme carrydown, coupled with heads that dry up fast. One teammate yesterday, who typically averages 10 pins less than me, shot 242-259-198 while I struggled for measly 524. He was using the Blue Hammer remake, and he carried everything! So what's the lesson? Earlier read with the urethane? (Actually the remakes had some reactive resin in the covers.) Less angular at the break if you accidentally send one a little wide and/or set it down a little early? Yeah, I know, sour grapes!