This time we had the chance to try the new Honey Badger from 900 Global. This ball joins the Drift and the Boo-Yah in 900 Global’s Tour Preferred line. We used our house shot pattern to test it (Kegel Main Street, 41’) and the ball does exactly as advertised. It is an angular monster.
When I use this kind of balls, pearls with a high RG and medium differential, I usually stand close to my comfort zone, throwing the ball around second arrow and about 6 at the breakpoint… I couldn't do that with the Honey Badger. This ball is one of the most angular balls I’ve ever seen. All my warming shots ended up in hitting high or going Brooklyn, so I had to move 6 boards to the right and play inside second arrow, while moving my breakpoint from 6 to 3 or 4 to keep the ball on the left side on the lane.
This ball never hooked too early for me. It has great length and it has a FAST response to friction. As soon as it exits the pattern the ball makes a strong move to the pocket. For me being a low rev bowler with medium speed, seeing this kind of shape down the lane is something I don’t see that often. The ball offers a lot of recovery and it comes back from almost anywhere. I was able to play close to the third arrow and still got some light pocket shots with good carry. For me to do that with a medium oil ball on a fresh pattern is quite an accomplishment!
I felt like I had a good margin of error using the Honey Badger on fresh. However, when I missed my target farther left or when my ball speed was slower than usual, the Honey Badger hooked too much and left some unpleasant splits, while misses into the oil caused too much skid, resulting in flat 7 pins most of the time.
As soon as the pattern started breaking down, the Honey Badger reaction just got better and better. I was able to swing the ball more to the left and see a lot of recovery. Even on a broken down pattern, this ball never wanted to read the lane early and saves most of its energy for the last part of the lane.
I feel like this ball will be a great option to bowl on fresh for the power players, providing them easy length and an angular backend motion. While for speed dominant or low rev bowlers, this ball definitely will come into play when you need to ball down, when bowling on the transition or on broken down patterns or when you need to get more length and strong angular motion at the breakpoint.
For the tournament bowlers, this ball might be a little unpredictable or over/under if you bowl on fresh, flat patterns. To get a better reaction you can always adjust the surface of the ball to match up with the pattern. But once the pattern starts breaking down and you created a hook spot, this ball will be a great option to move in and create more angle.
The guys at 900 Global definitely delivered with this ball. It does exactly as advertised. If you are looking for a ball with a skid-flip reaction and a STRONG angular motion at the backend in most medium oil conditions, then the Honey Badger is the ball for you.
Thank you for watching!
