I took my Rapid Fire (solid) into the proshop on Monday looking to get it cleaned up and maybe change the surface a bit.  The ball was tracked up a bunch and it had collected a lot of marks over the 4 months I've had it.  It had also tamed down a bit on the backend, which I liked.  When the ball was brand new it was very angular, and at times uncontrollable when it hit the dry part of the lane.  So my proshop guy recommended taking it to 4000 to smooth it out a bit.

So I get to league last night and give it a go during practice.  And honestly it looked like 4000 killed the ball.  It was definitely smoother, but had lost a lot of overall hook, and the backend was weak at best.  I got lined up and figured I'd keep with it to see if it got better as the lanes transitioned.  First game was a mess for the first 5 frames, I was getting to the pocket, but very weak.  Then in the 7th the ball seemed to come alive.  Magically it started to backend again, not crazy like when it was OOB, but controllable.  I eeked out a 200 on the nose the first game.  At the start of the 2nd game the ball seemed to liven up some more, still smooth but with a bunch of pop.  I buried the first 6 for strikes, caved the bucket in the 7th, and buried the final 5 for my very first 300 game!  I kept the string going in the 3rd game all the way until the 9th frame where I rang a 10 pin and finished that game out with a 275.  775 for the night, and I won the 'strike it rich' pot.

Guys were commenting that I had so much area to work with out there it was scary.  And they were right, the ball is so forgiving now.  I didn't really have any bad shots in the last 2 games, but the ones I did miss a few boards with found the pocket, and carried!


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-Clint