Hi all. I'm a newbie so forgive me if my terminology is a bit off. Is it true that a pin down layout is no good for slow bowlers on drier lanes? I have a Frantic (pin location is 2.5 - 3 inches) which has been drilled with the pin just under my fingers. I'm a left handed hook bowler and my ball speed is about 12 mph. I've had one good outing with this ball about 3 months ago but haven't been able to do anything with it since. I can't keep it left of the head pin.

A pin down drilling will tend to make the ball hook sooner on the lane. Dry lanes will also make the ball hook early. Slow speed will make a ball hook early as well. That's three factors compounding on one another to make the ball hook too early.

A pin up drilling, a weaker cover, and a ball with a higher RG will all help the ball get down the lane further, and are probably what you need for drier lanes.

Thanks Champ - as I suspected. I have a Crossroad, an IQ Tour and I Tropical Breeze which are all drilled Pin up (well actually the pin is out by my pinky finger) and they roll in beautifully on our lanes. I really am diappointed because I love my Frantic but looks like I'll have to get it plugged and redrilled pin up if I'm going to get anywhere with it.

Why do you suspect that you have a bad layout? Do you know your specs? Pin down by itself is fairly meaningless, what is more important is the layout angles.

You can try adjusting the cover before changing the layout, in most cases it has a bigger effect then changing the layout.

I agree with B-Hammer. I have 3 balls drilled with pin down differnt angles. 1 polished, 1 oob, 1 1000 sanded. My favorite drill on fresh oil, so i can read the ball better coming out of the oil better. (Length)

I only have one ball thats actually pin down, thats just because i want it to be smoother off the dry, its really good for short, just because a ball is pin down doesnt mean that its going to hook so much for flooded oil, my strongest ball is a hellraiser revenge thats pin up, i would suspect your driller wanted your frantic to be smooth and continuous instead of jumping off the dry, in all honesty with your ball speed the strongest ball you would probably ever use on house conditions is the tropical breeze

Pin down layouts generally transition slower than pin up balls, so they can work well with slower ball speeds and short patterns. You'll need a shiny surface to help keep the ball from rolling out too soon, but at 12 mph, rollout is almost unavoidable.