BallReviews
Equipment Boards => Hammer => Topic started by: Jesse James on June 12, 2019, 02:26:30 PM
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What are the top 5 favorite balls currently in use in your arsenal.....and WHY??
Some balls are versatile; some balls are condition specific; some balls hit hard; some balls carry well; some balls just have a different motion than what everyone else is throwing...there are a million variables for sure.....but what's yours?
My top 5 are:
Hy-Road Nano
Phaze 1
Paradox Black
Gauntlet Fury
X-2
The Hy-Road is special! For a dull ball it allows me to play inside of most bowlers and open up the lanes. Even though it's dull, it just naturally pushes down lane and maintains energy for a big hit at the pocket! Great for heavy oil and med heavy.
The Phaze is special. Again, here's a ball that clears the heads extremely easy, pushes down lane and gives me superb angularity with minimal effort. I can play up the boards or inside with it.....it's very nice on medium conditions.
The Paradox Black is my heavy oil monster! Gives me great recovery at the pocket on heavy mediums or heavy oil, but with a skid/snap smack that no other ball I own does!
The Gauntlet Fury was a ball I didn't even like at first. It gets down lane nicely but it gives me great carry and recovery on light mediums that other bowlers don't get. I can actually play outside of the track and still get excellent recovery to the pocket along with good carry. It's angular, but the angularity happens in a different part of the lane than I'm used to seeing.
The X-2 is special! This ball is for broke down patterns; dryish patterns or light oil patterns. On regular mediums, it's just okay, but when the patterns start breaking down this thing turns into a monster! Good ball to have in any arsenal for sure!
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Since almost exclusively on THS right now.
OG Hy-Road
IQ Tour Solid (for no tap)
Green Gargoyle
Ogre Urethane (pretty spare ball)
AMF Purple Sumo (sentimental choice but only use in one house)
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I have a Savage and Savage Life with about 10 games on each that I'm liking a lot. First impressions are very strong with them and there's enough separation where I can probably hit most conditions with those two.
Then I'd say Vapor Zone, Boost, and Badger. Those 5 get through the pins the best. Flat tens are rare.
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I have a Savage and Savage Life with about 10 games on each that I'm liking a lot. First impressions are very strong with them and there's enough separation where I can probably hit most conditions with those two.
Then I'd say Vapor Zone, Boost, and Badger. Those 5 get through the pins the best. Flat tens are rare.
That Savage Life is a nice piece.
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I have a Savage and Savage Life with about 10 games on each that I'm liking a lot. First impressions are very strong with them and there's enough separation where I can probably hit most conditions with those two.
Then I'd say Vapor Zone, Boost, and Badger. Those 5 get through the pins the best. Flat tens are rare.
Badger gets thru the pins nice, you need a Claw. Just saying.
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BW pink
Web Tour
Orange Vibe
Hammer Sauce
Triton Elite
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Hammer Black Widow Pink
900G Honey Badger Claw
Storm Match Up Black Pearl
Storm Pitch Black
900G After Dark Pearl
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white hot badger
amf pure adrenaline
eon pearl
ebonite impact
hammer statement solid
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Radical Intel Pearl at 2000: Best all-around piece in my bag. Rolls well on a variety of patterns.
Track Paradox Black at 1500: Terrific on longer patterns. Excellent carry for me.
Ebonite Game Breaker 2 at 2000: Another piece that works well on many conditions
Radical Katana Dragon at 2000: My biggest surprise. Carries great for me on medium and heavier patterns and provides more miss room (hold in and recovery out) than I usually have
Radical Rack Attack (solid) at 3000: Terrific on short patterns and on sport patterns.
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Hammer Statement Solid - great on higher volume and longer patterns, really strong and continuous piece
Hammer Black Widow Pink - great assym pearl, has some pop downlane, but not terribly flippy, really strong for a shiny ball
Roto Grip Idol (solid) - really good benchmark piece, really strong front to back, not really left to right for me, but absolutely tells me if I need something stronger or weaker, and really controls the lanes
Storm Hy-Road X - I still believe everyone needs some form of a Hy-Road in their bag, the X works great when theirs some friction and you need to open up angles, ball just booms on the backend
Roto Grip Hustle Ink - best low end ball i've drilled in ages, it's like a weaker IQ Tour Solid, just strong, but controlled piece on drier conditions
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Hammer Statement Solid - great on higher volume and longer patterns, really strong and continuous piece
Hammer Black Widow Pink - great assym pearl, has some pop downlane, but not terribly flippy, really strong for a shiny ball
Roto Grip Idol (solid) - really good benchmark piece, really strong front to back, not really left to right for me, but absolutely tells me if I need something stronger or weaker, and really controls the lanes
Storm Hy-Road X - I still believe everyone needs some form of a Hy-Road in their bag, the X works great when theirs some friction and you need to open up angles, ball just booms on the backend
Roto Grip Hustle Ink - best low end ball i've drilled in ages, it's like a weaker IQ Tour Solid, just strong, but controlled piece on drier conditions
If you like the Hustle Ink, try the Match Up Black. I have the Hustle 3TP, and the Match Up Black is better. It's like a weaker Idol.
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No Rules Pearl
Covert Revolt
IQ Tour
Venom Shock
Hustle Ink
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Brunswick Vapor Zone, great colors. Clean through the front and strong downlane.
Radical Squatch, great colors. Step down version of the Vapor Zone
Hammer Rebel, Get out of jail free card on tough conditions. Very consistent reaction from multiple parts of the lane.
Ebonite Warrior Fierce, great colors. One of the strongest balls I've thrown. Great for heavier oil with surface. With less surface on medium conditions it is still a great option. The ball just doesn't want to stop.
Hammer BW Spare. On tougher conditions having a great spare ball/spare game is a must. When compared to a non core spare ball the difference was more then expected. The BW picks up a little sooner and gets into a roll faster. When using other options they go much straighter and even with added surface just go a little too straight/too long for what I was looking for. The BW spare maybe hooks 2-3 boards more, but it's where it does it on the lane that suits my eye best for spares. Previously I used the Track Spare Plus for the same reason.
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Hammer Black Widow Pink
900G Honey Badger Claw
Storm Match Up Black Pearl
Storm Pitch Black
900G After Dark Pearl
Man! I LOVE this line up for sure! This is a THS-killer line-up!!
Leftybowler70's is not too shabby either!
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DV8 Creed
Brunswick Melee Cross
Motiv Tag Cannon
These 3 have done most of the work for me in the past year. Im hoping to resolve my grip issues soon as my Absolute Nirvana was money on anything tough but I haven't been able to use it at all and I like what I've seen from the Kingpin Gold
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Crux Prime
Hypercell Fused
Idol Pearl
IQ Tour Solid
HyRoad
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Original Paradox
Vandal
IQ Tour
Magnitude 035
BTU Pearl
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Hammer Black Widow Pink
900G Honey Badger Claw
Storm Match Up Black Pearl
Storm Pitch Black
900G After Dark Pearl
Man! I LOVE this line up for sure! This is a THS-killer line-up!!
Leftybowler70's is not too shabby either!
Thank you!! I've tried a lot of balls.... This hobby isn't cheap!
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Hammer Guantlet Knight
Brunswick Edge Solid
Hammer Rhodman Pearl
Motiv Venom Shock Pearl
Hammer Purple Pearl Urethane
Thought about Rip'd Pearl too.
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Track Legion Solid- somehow this piece is still going strong, might be my favorite piece ever
900 Honey Badger Claw- hits extremely hard and handles oily shots very well
Hammer Phobia- IMHO the best Hammer I've owned since the Road Hawg, a house shot killer
900 Blue/Yellow Hook- another oldie but goodie that handles broken down shots well
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Roto Grip Idol solid
Motiv Forza GT hybrid
Roto Grip Hustle Ink solid
900 Global Boost Cardinal Red pearl
900 Global After Dark solid
These five gems keep me covered between two houses with completely different THS.
Storm Mix Blue/Black for spares at both centers.
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Hammer Black Widow Pink
900G Honey Badger Claw
Storm Match Up Black Pearl
Storm Pitch Black
900G After Dark Pearl
Man! I LOVE this line up for sure! This is a THS-killer line-up!!
Leftybowler70's is not too shabby either!
Thanks. All of my bases are covered here. With this arsenal, there is NO way I can miss the pocket on the vast majority of conditions .
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Match Up Black Pearl
Covert Ops
Respect
Verdict
Torrent