I am not a fan of any one ball manufacturer - I do have 2 Brunswick balls that do what I bought and drilled them to do.

I could have filled those holes in my arsenal with another manufacturer - the Avalanche was probably going to be a Street Rod until my terrible Demo Days experience. The Total I got because I entered a pro-am and it was $100.

The straw is there to locate the mass bias and hold the core in place during the manufacturing process. The drill bit must have hit it when drilling the thumb hole and tore it out, it is only about 1/8" piece of solid plastic rod, not a straw, and shouldn't bother your ball reaction in the least. I didn't post to your other thread because if you don't like it send it back, what am I going to say to change your mind.

I have seen drillings that have hit the pin and the same thing happens, sometimes it cracks out, sometimes it doesn't, but the mb indicator pin is not as detrimental as having the locator pin drilled out, the worst thing that will happen is the remaining mb pin or "straw" comes out and you have a vent hole to your thumb.

I was like cgeorg. I had balls that did what I wanted them to do, and I got balls as prizes. but, I am happy that my Pro Shop recommended the ball that started my allegiance to one company. Although, I still find that One Company does not fill all the holes, and other brands still are needed.

Another part of it is that some companies tend to have certain characteristics that carry over their whole line. Lane Masters - longevity, better through carrydown, even hook, etc. Their particle balls are tough to beat. MoRich makes very aggressive cores, and tend to have good heavy oil balls. Brunswick - earlier, even rollers. Both the Avalanche and Twisted Fury are in the 7 or 8 range on sport shots as rated by BTM. That is really good, and is why I went with the Avalanche. However, one other hole I am trying to fill in my arsenal is a very aggressive pearl ball, to go long and snap hard, but from a pretty deep inside line. For that, I will most likely be going with Storm, because they tend to do that sort of ball very well.

Buy a reaction, not a brand. The brand can influence the reaction, and should be taken into account, but it should not be the main reason.

Granted, cgeorg. I still use my Scorchin Inferno from Brunswick on longer, heavy oil patterns, and I rely on my Storm Shift for medium lane conditions. These two just work for me.

But, there others in those lines that don't work, for me that is.

Balls have to fit your game. If that is mostly 1 manufacturer, than so be it. For the most part, different balls work best.

Coach,

When first discussing the wormhole situation with Karl Wolf, my driller, he said that he would be meeting with a Brunswick representative that same week in Buffalo NY. It was the Brunswick rep that labeled the plastic rod you describe as a "straw".

In any case, another reason why I decided to keep the ball was, other than the wormhole, everything else in terms of pin distance and top weight, was to my satisfaction. This hasn't always been so when ordering off of the internet.

The mass bias locator pin is still in place so I suspect that the rod or straw was sheared off towards the bottom half of the thumbhole as the wormhole is on the perimeter of thumbhole in my thumbslug. The edge of the locator pin is a hair over 5/16" or 21/64" from the edge of the thumbslug. The wormhole wasn't visible when I first inspected the ball as it was filled with particles left over from drilling.

Isn't the straw supposed to lead to the pin placement on the surface? Does it in your ball? Can you tell the continuation direction of the worm hole to the pin?