I'm not sure how you guys apply this stuff, whether it is by hand or with a buffer. I never had any success applying Hook-It by hand, so I went to Sears and bought a 3-D Sander and some buffing pads. I buffed a generous amount into the ball until it was dry, the whole room smelled like cherry! If that ball were any lighter, I could have palmed it. When I took it to the lanes, I got a reaction that I never could buffing it in by hand with a paper towel. The ball was mega aggressive!! On a house shot, the ball started to move mid lane more than it ever did brand new, and when it got to the backend, it was flying! Also, the ball didn't readily absorb oil, it seemed much easier to wipe the oil off with a towel than it had been before, and I think I know why. A couple of days after buffing Hook-It in the ball, I left it in the trunk on a hot day. When I opened the trunk, I was welcomed by a sweet cherry smell. Upon opening my bag, I found that the ball had bled Hook-It, instead of the usual oil. And it was about as thick in consistency in the bottom of the bag as it had been when I squeezed it out of the bottle(mine is a gel)! No wonder it didn't absorb oil, the pores were clogged with Hook-It!
The 3-D Sander is regular priced at $49.99, but through Father's Day it is priced $29.99! Don't miss this deal if you are tired of applying compounds to your ball's cover by hand.
For reference, the balls I tested was a Columbia Wicked(first one) dry sanded to 600 and a Messenger Ti Red/Blue at 1000. The Wicked moved much earlier and stronger and the Messenger later and more snappy, but both moved as though treaded when they did.