I am trying to convince my brother to build a new arsenal.   My one brother switced to Hammer, the other to roto.    I have been throwing the Thunderstruck Solid and Spit Fire a great 1 - 2 for me.   Some opinions for a good bang for the buck medium to heavy to medium to light arsenal.   He does not want to spend too much, I even suggested duplicating my 1 - 2 punch, but hey I also have a Diablo...

Well he has been struggling with the Road Hawg and the Doom.   I told him to have both balls layout changed, he did that and they just do not seem to fit his game.   Big time power player, high revs, high ball speed, high axis tilt, aka Robert Smith so he has been called.   I guess it help when you play Div I college football as a D-Tackle at Nebraska.   He says the balls might be to aggressive at the breakpoint, hence he went with weaker drillings on both and now he just seems to be overpowering the ball(s).   I guess the equipment just does not fit for him.   This is a 205 average bowler over the past 5 years and a 197 average on a sanctioned sport league shot.    Now he cannot even hit a 600, lots of 180's and 190's with alot of single pin spares on a fairly easy THS, to say the least he is frustrated.

Which pins is he leaving ?  If he's leaving the back row (7-8-9-ringing 10)than his ball is driving too hard on the back end.  Too much power is just as bad as not enough in terms of results.  Before you go and blow 300-400 on a new arsenal, I'd recommend taking up the surface on one of them (probably the Doom) and see if that smooths out the reaction enough to carry.  The problem is that the Thunderstruck Solid will probably  flip just as hard as the Doom or the Road Hawg does and maybe a little bit more. The Spit Fire is a little smoother, but from what I've read, not much.  If he's having trouble with the ball turning the corner too hard, he probably should avoid cores with a flip block like both the Spit Fire and TStruck have.  For that reason, I'd probably recommend something from Storm's sister company Roto Grip.  Balls like the Epic Saga, Horizon, Venus or Saturn probably fit his game a little better.

Edited on 10/26/2006 10:26 AM

He is consistenly leaving back row, 8, 9 and 10's.   Last night started off the set with 2 ringing 10's and back to back solid 8's.   He actually has brought the surface up on the DOOM.   But thanks I never thought about the cores, he is kinda of pig headed, he likes the flippy stuff but now he has stuff that drives so hard even with the tamer drillings they still flip hard.   Funny thing was he went to a big Hit Solid in the 3rd game last night and went for 277.   So i told him, why not a Jolt or something from Roto.

Well my immediate thought is a Vapor Zone with a rolly drill to it and sand the cover, OR get a PAIN leave it factory, that ball is AWESOME in the hands of a power player.  But I would say the first step is take the Doom to ~600 abralon and use it as a medium shot ball, it will change the look dramaticly and in a great way for carry I suspect.  I don't know much about the Road Hawg but I would think that adding surface will smooth it out and give him less angle which is the key to power guys carrying.  How do I know this.. haha I MAY have been having the same issues, O and if that is his problem please keep him AWAY from storm, nothing against them, but unless you drill to kill these balls have TOO much angle and IMHO too much power built in for the power player.  I have to side with either Brunswick, Dynothane (their stuff is SMOOOTH) or Hammer as the compromise between storm and totally rolly equipment.