About the nine-pins -- In my opinion, a shot showing a solid nine can do two things:
1) Show the amount of entry angle created by the ball
2) Show the amount of contuation through the pocket
To say that "leaving solid 9s" detracts from the ball is almost silly, to some extent. How many 9s can you really leave, that you don't make up later in "off" hits, carried by the increased angle into the pocket, etc? A ball that hits this hard might leave a stone nine-pin on a "perfect" (not very common, by the way, for anybody)...but it also might trip a four-pin, knock the six into a "shoulda been soft" ten, mix the bucket, etc.
Just my thoughts...then again, I love the feeling of leaving a nine...there's something painful about it, yes, but also something quite wonderful (like, holy s@$#, that hit hard!).
