The VP2 is a Particle Pearl, 2.5 RG and .03 diff. Pin is 3 3/8, weight hole on Pap, in line with fingers. On lighter oil, the flare rings have barely any separation. On PBA amounts of oil, the flare rings actually touch, so it is a continuous swath of oil, amount 2 inches wide at its widest point.

Isn't the Gravity a solid pearl, with a high diff? What I like about the VP2 is that it makes a strong move, but it is a very continuous arc. I can play outside with it, more up the back, and I can play inside as well. It is the one I used for the axis rotation video, I ended up being able to play a 30 boards difference between the weak and strong release, and it was controllable everywhere on the lane. The *only* reason I want to replace it is that it is 16lbs. Would I get that from a gravity?

The Total is a 5 1/4" drilling, pin over ring finger.

The twisted Fury is close to the VP2 at least numbers wise. It is not a pearl particle, but it is a pearl textured like a total Nv which might also work. I think the Gravity or the original shift would be closest in Storm's line up. The Gravity is pearlized reactive, but it is Storm's version of the Total NV which has a textured coverstock that reacts similar to pearl particle with a little more punch on the back end.

cgeorg, I'm bowling on the Scorpion pattern first.

I'm not sure if these will be at the demo days, but they are new releases from Storm, but not linked from anywhere yet:

Absolute Domination: http://www.stormbowling.com/products/balls/ball.asp?ballid=281

Fired Up II: http://www.stormbowling.com/products/balls/ball.asp?ballid=280

Mighty Shift: http://www.stormbowling.com/products/balls/ball.asp?ballid=279

Abbreviations:
IO - Infinite One
BO - Big One
TI - Total Inferno

First number is foot, second is target, third if there is what I actually hit. If it's not there, I hit the target.

Ok, here we go:

Game 1

IO
1 X 17/7
2 X 17/7/9 Grabbed it, went Brooklyn
3 X 17/7
4 9/ 18/7 Solid 10
5 9/ 18/6 5 Pin
Switch to BO, IO not getting back strong enough
6 X 14/4
7 X 14/4
8 X 14/4
9 8/ 14/4 6-10, didn't make a note of why. Might have gotten slow
10 X 14/4
11 X 14/4/5
12 7 14/4/7 3-9-10
243

Game 2

1 X 14/4
2 9/ 14/4/5 Fast, 2 pin
3 8/ 14/4/6
4 9/ 14/4 Hung on it, soft 10
5 X 14/4/6 Brooklyn
Switch to IO
6 7- 15/4, 2-8-10
Switch to VP2
7 X 12/3
8 -9 12/3, 10 pin on the second ball
9 X 12/3
Switch to IO, not sure why...
10 72 14/4/6 2-4-10
157

Game 3
VP2
1 81 13/4, 3-6, only got the 6
2 43 16/5/7, 3-4-6-7-9-10, got the 6-9-10. Nearly made it.
Switch to Big One
3 X 15/6/7
4 8/ 15/6 1-2
5 81 16/6/8, 3-10, barely missed 10
6 -9, 21/10, left 2 pin on second shot
Switch to TI
7 7/ 23/12/15 first shot, 19/8 second shot. 1-3-9 was the spare
Switched to fresh pair to finish, only 1 person worth of pratice
Big One
8 7/ 14/4/6 6-9-10
9 X 15/4, light pocket hit
10 X 18/7/8 Brooklyn
11 9- didn't write anything down, except a missed 6 pin
156

Game 4

Ball? My guess is BO
1 63 24/12/13 1-3-6-9, left 9
2 X 27/12/14
3 9/ 29/13/14 Missed it at the bottom, not enough axis rotation. 10 pin
4 X 29/13/14
5 8/ 28.5/13/15 6-9
6 63 22/9 1-2-4-10, left 10
VP2
7 X 16/6
8 9/ 16/6/9 5 pin, Did mark brooklyn but it had to be
9 7- 16/6 2-4-8, tried to hook and it never made it over
TI
10 X 17/6/9 Brooklyn. Something about the finger holes makes me pull that ball.
11 7? 18/6/7, left 4-6-7, might have picked up the 4-7, didn't mark it.
155

Thank goodness for the first game, I finished at a 178 avg. Plenty of room for improvement.

X % = 38.6% 17 of 44 pocket strikes
pocket % = 38.6% same as x %
carry % = 82.3 % 14 of 17
Double % = 30% 4 of 13
Power rating = 151.2 of a possible 300 Power rating = X% + XX% + c%

Spare % = 48% 12 of 25
Split conversion 0% 0 for 5
makable spare %= 60% 12 of 20
single pin spare % = 85.7% 6 of 7
makable multi pin spare % = 46.1% 6 for 13

From these numbers it seems you do pretty well when you hit the pocket, you carry 82% of the time and make 85% of your single pin spares.

From what I can gather from the info you've written down it seems like you changed balls when you should have stuck with either the big one or the infinite one and just increased the speed, as you went farther inside your pocket % went way down.

A release method you might try that worked for me last summer on the cheetah was going from an flat wrist in the swing and cupping through at the bottom of the swing this seemed to help skid the ball through the heads better for me and might work well for you, it will take some practice to get the timing of it so try to practice between now and the next league session.

I also gave away a lot of pins on spare misses, which I was not happy with I agree that I need to stay outside next week. Speed as an adjustment is something I am not used to, so that will be something for me to try/work on.

One of the other things you mentioned in chat (and I didn't have a chance to respond to) was that you were fighting over reaction. My expierence on this pattern was that if you grabbed the ball in the slightest, the ball jumped. If your hand got around the ball a touch more, the ball jumped. However if you could prevent doing that, you could really string strikes.

Your spare % was not so bad, your pocket percentage is what hurt you.

Speed adjustments are fairly easy. There are several things you can do to increase ball speed:

1. Start by holding the ball higher in the stance and let it drop into the swing from higher up.

2. Move your feet back as far as you move the ball up, if you move the ball up 6" then move back 6" because your feet will naturally go a little faster and you don't want to pull up or foul.

3. Look farther down the lane, if it is hooking too soon when you look at the arrows, then look 3ft past the arrows or at a reflection farther down the lane, th

3. If you have already done the above and still need more speed then try the flat to cupped sweeping wrist motion at the release like Steve Wilson if you remember him from the PBA. It is like hitting a pool cue on the top half of the ball it will follow the momentum of the ball past the end of the oil pattern an extra foot or two before turning to the pocket. If you go from cupped to uncupped at the release the ball will hook immediately at the end of the oil.

4. If you have done 1,2, and 3 above and still need more speed, this is where you need to loft the ball and or put a little muscle in the shot after the ball has fallen from the top of the swing as we discussed in other posts. I know you already know these things I am just writing a check list for you to practice on them before league next time.

Sorry for the fragmented post, I meant to comeback and edit it, but my wife came home with a new puppy yesterday, she is soooo cute, half German Shepard and Chow.

Back to the post, I forgot to add looking down the lane that is why it got messed up, but I'm sure you can figure out what I meant and the order it should go in.