Do you know what type of pattern and oil they are putting down? I know some centers locally are putting down flatter patterns on certain leagues. Not a sport shot, but something not as forgiving as the THS.

There was a similar situation last season at the start in my league where the people who would normally play in ran into a ton of problems whereas the outside line worked best.  Turns out there was a problem with the oil machine where it was putting down extra volume than it should have.  Either way, it forced everyone to adjust.

+1. We had a problem last year in our league with the lane machine where it was laying oil all the way to the end of the deck. It took the manager a week or two to notice and fix the problem but it was basically forcing everyone to throw darts at the pocket and not even let the ball hook for the first game or two until some people were able to open up a dry spot. I would talk with the owner if you can and find out what pattern they are laying down and that may help determine if it's really a heavy oil pattern or an accident/machine issue that's causing the headaches.

So based on your experience, in what situations should a strong shelled ball be used?

The question that needs to be resolved first is the volume that is out there and whether anything has changed in cleaning the backends...I have seen MANY centers through the years that had a moderate amount of conditioner up front but where the backends were not getting a hard strip.  As such, carry-down was an issue even at the beginning of a set. 

This can hold true on wood OR synthetics...

Of course the other thing that was always fun to watch was the people that expected to ALWAYS be able to cover a gazillion boards instead of taking what the lanes will give. 

Not that i expected he lanes to "hook the world"....all im saying is im using a whole range of balls and seeing absolutly nothing reactuon wise...

Regular house shot...like i said its not just me...theres a guy on storm staff who was 226 last year and so far is only at 195

Regular house shot...like i said its not just me...theres a guy on storm staff who was 226 last year and so far is only at 195

and you still haven't addressed the questions about volume or stripping practices...

The ball surface isn't the entire thing to look at- as others aptly note, changing the roll to get the ball into a roll earlier is a release issue as much as anything else.  The other thing is to not spend so much time getting hung up on numbers- if everyone else is also down average-wise then do the smart thing and don't overthink the lanes.  Take what they will give you and work on spares. 

I still recommend a Sinister.  It hooks as much or more than most of the other heavy oil balls on the market, plus you get a stronger more definitive movement on the backend with continuation and hit.  We've all had several discussions about bowling ball technology and where it's going or not going, but the Sinister still stands out to me as perhaps THE best heavy oil ball on the market right now.  We'll have to see what Motiv's Jackal and Storm's Crux does, but for now, the Sinister outhooks the Mastermind, Zero Gravity, Hyper Cell, Ruckus Feud, etc., with a better transition on the backend, better energy retention, and better continuation.  I have to say I've also NEVER seen a ball that hooks this much that plays this well from extreme angles.  I was playing 5th arrow the other night pitching it to the 5 board (house shot, just playing with it), and it was finishing driving through the 8 pin.  Been a long time since I was this impressed with a ball. 

That aside, I still agree with what several of the recent posters have said.