NO RULES!!! OOB benchmark, ball down with UFO, ball up with 1000K.

Tropical Thunder baby!!! SURVIVE!!!!

I've been thinking about making an Incinerate @500 grit drilled double thumb with a 4 inch pin my benchmark, but it hooks so soon that I actually can't get it out of the parking lot before it goes left. Still trying to figure out how to get it in the building...

I would have to say my Defiant Soul. Pretty much my go to ball if all else fails.

We face around 38 to 40 feet of medium light oil. I start with a Colombia Ti-boss II Grape rolling around the 8th board at 40 feet. That line is usually good for at least one game. Then adjust line or make ball change as needed.

in all seriously, For last year leagues, the Lane Masters Power Strike.

This season I'm still searching for it......

It seems these "Benchmark Ball" surveys should be re-titled as "Current Favorite THS Ball"

The concept of benchmark appears to be subjective to everyone instead of a hard-lined definition.

"THS" is just the same as "Benchmark ball" lol  .... two house close to each other are totally different. The "Brunswick" house my BM ball would be something in the Thunder line. The other house I bowl has a shorter lower volume, SPL surface, and my benchmark ball would be in the HOT line by Storm

Quote from: xrayjay on September 28, 2016, 12:05:52 PM

Quote from: spmcgivern on September 28, 2016, 11:23:40 AM

It seems these "Benchmark Ball" surveys should be re-titled as "Current Favorite THS Ball"

The concept of benchmark appears to be subjective to everyone instead of a hard-lined definition.

"THS" is just the same as "Benchmark ball" lol  .... two house close to each other are totally different. The "Brunswick" house my BM ball would be something in the Thunder line. The other house I bowl has a shorter lower volume, SPL surface, and my benchmark ball would be in the HOT line by Storm

Wait a second......I bowl 2 leagues, one on wood and one on synthetic.  At the synthetic house I use my Snap Lock at 4000 and at the wood house I use a shiny Hectic. 

My arsenal progression is Eternal Cell at 500/2000 down to Snap Lock at 4000 down to shiny Hectic down to MoRich Mojave.

Is your argument that my "benchmark" ball is the Snap Lock at one house and the Hectic at the other?  That your benchmark is relative to the house you're in? 

That isn't very logical.......(if I'm understanding correctly)

A benchmark ball is the ball in your arsenal you use to read the pattern and will ball up and down accordingly.  The ball you end up throwing often on a THS in a house doesn't make it the benchmark in the context of your arsenal.  spmcgivern hit it the nail on the head, this thread should be "Current Fav THS Ball"

I used to get a weird look when I replied to a question asking about which is my bench mark ball when I bowled at several house (3.5 houses) a season. My answer would always be "For which house I bowl?"

The asylum is my benchmark. I ball down from there.

I have a smooth, pin down Match Solid that's great for getting the idea of how lanes are going to play at new houses or on sport patterns. By definition, it's my benchmark.

However, I bowl all of my leagues and usually practice at a single house where pin downs are 10 pin machines for me. So 90% of my bowling (everything outside of tournaments and an occasional practice session elsewhere) is done without even having my "benchmark" ball in my bag. Which begs the question, is it really my benchmark? I know what works there, start with my medium ball of the ones I bring (Double thumbed Radical Jackpot) and ball up or down from that ball.

So yes, I can see how people may have different benchmarks for different purposes. In my case, I have a tournament benchmark and a league benchmark. Each ball's purposes are well understood by me, so it doesn't really matter what label you put on them.