just an update on this ball. i finally got to try it out yesturday on an oily shot in my league on really old synthetic lanes. at first the i had to move way right with the ball about second last dot (which i never usually play there) and play about 10 to get it to react. and shot 278 the first game lanes started to break down and i was to stubborn to move untill the 8th frame and shot a 237 but the last game i had the first 10 and left a rock solid 8 pin for a 289. i shot my first 800 with it, best $200 investment ever.

I JUST BOUGHT THE BALL ABOUT A WEEK AGO I AM 15 I JUST STARTED BOWLING IN NOVEMBER AND MY STUFF GOT STOLEN LAST WEEK SO I BOUGHT THE BIG ONE. BEFORE I BOUGHT THE BALL I USED AN ICON 300 AND MY AVERAGE WAS 129, NOW THAT I USE THE BIG ONE I HAVENT BOWLED A GAME UNDER 140 SINCE I GOT IT AND IT IS GREAT. THE SCORES ARENT THAT GOOD BUT ITS A HUGE IMPROVEMENT FROM LAST WEEK I'VE BOWLED LIKE 30 GAMES ON IT. THE BALL REALLY IS LIKE AN AUTOPILOT IT SEEMS TO LIKE TO GO TO THE POCKET ANYWHERE I PUT IT ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE LANE(LEFT HANDER)AND IT IS GREAT BUT IT HOOKS MORE IN THE MIDDLE THAN THE BACKEND I DONT KNOW WHY EVERYONE ELSES HOOKS AT THE BACK

You guys were right! I am on the comeback trail after 12 years off. I shot a 300 last month with an Ebonite Puma and retired the ball. I have been looking for a ball with a strong backend finish to be able to maximize scoring at one of the houses I shoot at. I wanted to give Ebonite another try. After reading the positive reviews on this site I had "The Big One" drilled and tried it for the first time this past Monday. I shot 268 my first game out of the box and 246 the first game in the next series when the lanes really weren't suited for it. I couldn't be happier with it's performance and am looking forward to Summer leagues and several PBA regional events.

Cheers!

After reading the reviews on this board that were already posted, and looking at the vidoes available on the Ebonite site for this ball, I was really excited to get this ball.  I bought it from Bowling.com, and took it down to my local Pro Shop to get it drilled.  First thing the Pro Shop employee said to me was that buying a ball online is very risky because the retailer will send you a lower quality ball that a Pro Shop would not select to sell.  He was not knocking The Big One, he said it was a great ball; he was knocking the quality of the ball that is sent to the buyer.  He proceeded to point out as proof that the pin, Mass Bias, and CG Area are not properly laid out, and that this would have an effect on the drilling of the ball and the roll to it.  I also noticed that from looking at my ball, it did not resemble the same characteristics of any of the 4 drilling instructions for this ball.  He told me that he was going to drill the Drilling #1 layout, because that's what most people go for.  Being my first ball ever purchased, I agreed to it, although I liked the Flare potential for Drilling #2 and #3.  (I could provide you with a picture of my ball if you would like to see what I am referencing to in terms of the 'defective' layout, just email me).

I purchased this ball because I wanted a ball that would hook and have a noticeable flare.  All the reviews stated that this ball has a mean hook, and just shatters the pins on contact.  Great, that's what I'm looking for.  So today I got in 5 games using this ball, and all I can say is that I am disappointed, as my expectations were much higher.  This ball is a monster when it comes to smashing the pins and making them fly.  But I was extremely looking forward to witnessing a wicked hook with this ball.  When I roll this ball, it does not move off course wit any type of hook.  The ball has no hook to it at all, it is just a straight roller.  If I wanted that, I'd of just gotten a cheaper ball or used a house ball.  Please keep in mind, that I have yet to determine if the problem lies in the actual drilling, or with the ball itself and its layout and alignments.  I had my uncle try the ball out as he uses a ball with a great flare to it, and even he couldn't notice any type of flare with this one.

I will keep giving this ball a try and hopefully find out the reason for which I am not experiencing any type of hook/flare.  I'll write an update in the near future.

I got my first Big One from online too and was drilled by not my favorite driller.  I just told him, I want to get the ball to an early roll but strong angular move in the pocket.  I have my own measurement and everything so all he did was just drilled holes and I did the rest of fine tuning the grips.
I was so satisfied with the overall performance of my new Big One. It flares, it rolls early and hit strong that makes all pins flying.  I only use this when there's enough oil.  The drilling looks like this:
 
       o o
           *
             cg x
         O    mb

This is my choice ball when there's heavy oil on the first part of the lane.
All I have to do is send it out to where the dry board(brkpoint) is and results is amazing(my scores were all over 200's sometimes high 240's)
When the oil gets a little lighter, then comes my Ebonite One or Classic Zone.

P.S. - There's no such thing as will hook on oil, They all slide because no friction.  As a bowler, you have to find where you can create friction.

BALL: 15 LBS 4-5 inch pin, 3 oz top.  OOB finish
             Pin: 1 inch 2 o'clock of ring. approx 4.25 inch from pap
             mb : 1 inch 4:30 of thumb

PLAYER:tweener, approx. 16-17 mph, 280-320 revs. high tracker.

LANES:Brunswick Pro anvil lane (about 6 years old)

Oil pattern 1:LANE 2L8, R8 dry
                     Zone 1: 10' 65 units
                     Zone 2: 18' 60 units
                     Zone 3: 26' 50 units
                     Zone 4: 35' 30 units
                     Zone 5: 43' 0 units - buff area
Oil pattern 2:LANE 1Standard THS oiled to 33' buffed to 38.  L8, R8 dry. (this was done on the adjacent lane, and sorry forgot to get the units of oil, but to the best of my approximation it was about the medium range, leaning towards med-heavy, specially in the center area.)

Backends on both lanes was good.  
Oiling machine: Brunswick Authority 22.

With the out of box finish, playing on lane two, any shot inside of the 8th board that is straight up or swing out would usually not make it to the pocket squarely.  13th board straight up shots resulted in a bucket leaves usually.  I didn't try putting it down on board 15th as this is a line I would normally never use even in extreme cases, I would be shooting from outside in first.  With this pattern the only shot for me, was the twig.  For me the Big One, in OOB finish just couldn't cut it on this pattern.

On lane one (THS), the ball performed well.  It could be swung (for my shot) from as deep as board 24 on the foul line to break on boards 7-5 @ approx 36-38' and still have enough to get to the pocket and carry.  The only thing was, I could also do this with my Tiger and Savage Flips.  So I didn't really see the advantage of the Big One.  I also didn't observe a sudden move as most have described.  If I were to recall, I think my pantera and apex intensity had a more violent reaction at the breakpoint when they were new.  (however, memories aren't really precise, and the center was new at the time so backends could have been different.)

PIN REACTION/BEHAVIOR:As noted by most people here, pin mix was good and kept low.  If forced to describe the hit with one word, I would use "solid".  However keep in mind most new balls do this.

SOME THOUGHTS:

* perhaps a finish of 1200, would produce a better reaction on the heavy oil pattern ( I will try to ask the center to oil this again and try the Big One out together with my other heavy oil balls - apex obsession, intensity, pantera rev-lev.)

* Ball gave an impression of sure-footedness at the breakpoint, even with the heavy oil pattern.  However not enough games was played on it to cause carry down yet.  So this is another future factor to be reviewed on.

For me, the "The Big One", is not for really heavy oil patterns with OOB finish.  I do plan to drill another one up stronger and finish it @ 1200 grit to see if it can handle the pattern used on lane 1.

Hope to have provided some insights, and please PM me if you have any questions suggestion re this review.

regards
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DARK BEER IT IS THEN!

This Ball is awesome! I have always loved the Hammer bowling balls, but I wanted to expand my arsenal. Out of the box on a house shot- I came out with a 255 & 279.  I took it to Nationals the next day and threw some 230's+. Of course the shot is EXTREMELY tough. This was my first experience at Nationals And I AVG 191 for the Tourney. I waited too long to make adjustments!
 
This past season, my average floated between 205-210. My two new summer  leagues, since I bought the BIG ONE, my average is 225 & 227. And I have shot (4) 279's in this month and all my series have been in the 700+ except for nationals.

For light oil, great for slight swing shot between 3-10 board. If lane dries, out move left and swing the ball between 3-15 board( there is a lot of room to adjust and play with- Very Forgiving). For oily conditions move left, and play swing shot inside around 3rd arrow. At Nationals, I move over to the 1 board on left side of the lane threw cross lane inside swing shot over the 17 board and played the oil, which works awsome too! This ball is so veritile, it is SICK! You can  throw every type of shot you can image with this ball. This BIG ONE, is the ONLY ONE!
 *
00

O    Pin above finger hole aprox 3/4in.   Top weigth 3 oz. Pin 3-4 inch

This ball has already paid for itself from all the cash I've been winning! Good Luck!!

Pin to PAP Distance: 5 1/2"
Preferred Spin Axis to PAP Distance: 5 3/4"
Balance Hole: None
Surface Preparation: Box Condition

What I Was Looking For in this Ball and Layout:

I wanted a ball that allowed me to play straighter angles through the front portion of the lane while still retaining a "pointed" or sharp looking breakpoint. If you read my ball review on the Big Time from June 3rd, you'll see in this review how planning out a desired reaction can be the difference.

What I Ended Up With in this Ball and Layout:

The Big One is exactly what I expected in the front part of the lane. The ball is a very aggressive coverstock from Ebonite and needs sufficient head oil to get through the front. With my physical game, this matches up great anyway. No way will you see me going straight through the front if there is some friction available. In this layout, I'm using a moderate pin position to control the early track flare. By combining pin position with my knowledge of the coverstock, I know exactly what I'm going to get in the front part of the lane.

I chose to use a 5 3/4" PSA distance from my PAP. By placing the preferred spin axis in this position, I still get that quick move when the ball begins to lose axis rotation. Notice that I was even lucky enough to get a center of gravity that lined up to the right of the pin-psa line. By placing the center of gravity closer to my axis, I tend to get a quick move at the breakpoint followed by a lot of controllable forward roll. This gets the ball into a heavy end over end roll, which is great for playing straighter angles with my game.

The overall hook of my Big One ball is similar to my One ball. The main difference is the front end look. By using a stronger cover with a lower pin height, I've created earlier roll on the lane. My partner Jesse may not have liked my intent with this ball, but this layout gives me exactly what I was looking for when I went to the drill press.

Length from 1-10 (Early to Late)
3.0

Breakpoint Move from 1-10 (Smooth to Sharp)
7.0

Overall Hook from 1-10 (Low to High)
8.5

A picture of this ball and the layout can be seen on our website if you are interested in seeing them.



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Jeff Ussery
Powerhouse Training Clinics
www.proshoptraining.com