Ball: Brunswick Massive Damage

Layout:

Pin 5” from PAP, above ring finger

CG on midline, ¾” to right of grip center

No XH

Initial Surface Preparation:

Box finish

Purpose:

It was a sad day for me when the Anaconda was discontinued.  The Anaconda was my bench piece, as it gave me both a nice predictable read from front to back, and enough power through the pins to where I could usually stay with it on most medium conditions.  For me, the Damage is too pushy through the midlane to be used as a read ball, while the Karma Solid and Karma Pearl are not strong enough overall for me to use as benchmark balls.

Observations:

I wanted to do a side-by-side comparison of the Massive with the Anaconda, so I chose one with a 3 ½” pin-to-CG distance, so that I could drill it with the pin 5” from my PAP, above the fingers.

After drilling, I took the Massive Damage and Anaconda out for a spin at a center with Pro Anvilanes, on a house condition with some play on it.  I warmed up with the Anaconda, and I was getting a nice look at the pocket.  The Anaconda read the midlanes well, and went into its usual moderate arc down lane.  I then switched to the Massive, and while I was able to use the same starting position and the same target, the Massive was noticeably cleaner through the front part of the lane, and had more of a continuous arc down lane, with a stronger back end overall.

I liked the reaction of the Massive enough to put it in the bag as my bench piece.  The Massive has done a very good job with the house conditions that I’ve seen.  Like the Anaconda, it handles the fresher conditions very well, although it does have a sharper move at the break.  The Massive really begins to excel when the condition blends and breaks down, as the added strength at the break gives me better recovery from inside lines.  The Anaconda had a bit of an inside limitation for me, but I’m finding that I can continue to use the Massive as I move left during transition.

I’ve also thrown the Massive Damage on a few Kegel patterns.  On the freshly oiled flatter patterns, the Massive wasn’t quite as easy to control as the Anaconda was, as it wanted to push a few feet further down the lane and make a more pronounced turn when it came off of the end of the pattern.  However, as the condition broke down, the reaction of the Massive became much more favorable, as I could move left and feed the ball to the track area, and have confidence in its ability to recover enough to carry the corners.

Conclusions:

I must say that I’ve been pleased with the reaction of the Massive Damage.  It has the good midlane read of the Anaconda, but a downlane reaction more like that of the Damage.  The overall reaction of the Massive reminds me quite a bit of the Rattler, although with a more defined change of direction.  The stronger break makes the Massive Damage more useful to me on deeper conditions than its mid-priced predecessors.

NOTE:  The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer and not of Brunswick Corporation.