The Time to Stop thread has me thinking as well as my observations over the past several years regarding surface and high performance balls.  Most should know that there have been no real innovations in covers or cores in several years.   What they are now doing is basically upping the underlying surface to increase surface friction.  Ever notice how 4000 grit balls now seem so dull compared to a few years ago.  That's because the manufacturers are sanding balls at 360 or 500 then to 2000. The cover stock from last year now has a more gritty base so of course it will hook more.  Brunswick did this years ago when their factory surface was 220 with Rough Buff or 400 with Factory High Gloss.  That created much earlier reads than other companies 1500 grit polish.  If you took another companies ball and hit it with 400 then polish you lost a tremendous amount of push.  

Thus, do we really need high performance balls, especially since there is really no new technology (last year's new tech is this year's low end)?  With so many mid-range balls with strong covers and excellent cores, why do we need to spend $160 for a Taboo when a surface tweak and layout can get you similar performance for $80 out of a Midnight Vibe?  If you want to see how much performance you can get out of a Freeze, Vibe, Tropical Heat, Anaconda, etc, drill up one and then hit it to the same factory surface as one of the HP balls and see if that performance difference is worth the price.  I think people will be surprised at how much a Vibe can hook with 360/500/1000.