Alright, bought this ball for use on burnt lanes or short oil (Cheetah etc.) and so far it has been very unimpressive. The pro I bought it from did not use any of the recommended layouts, instead putting on what he called a label drilling. The pin is located on the line between grip center and the PAP about 2/3 of the way to the PAP. This caused me to raise an eyebrow, but this guy has a good reputation and so I went with it. So far, this ball has been doing a perfect imitation of my White Dot, and I'm less than amused. The only thing it does differently than my White Dot is Track over the the thumb hole to the point of bouncing VERY highly on the way down the lane unless I use my big hook release which just doesn't seem right. I guess I was hoping to see a little more snap on the backend to go with the nice length, so perhaps I bought the wrong ball to begin with. This ball gives me nothing my White Dot can't do, and do better. Was this ball designed with only high rev players in mind, or this just a case of a horrible layout? Worse comes to worse, I can just donate it and chalk the whole debacle up as a lesson learned. Any suggestion of other balls to consider, or how else to proceed? Cheers!

It has NO ENGINE, no core power, no drive. It has little coverstock, which is fine, but it has no drive. Its really not suitable for higher average players wanting high performance on dryer lanes.

If you want high performance on dryer lanes, then get one of many of the initial reactive resin balls, with a core, and polish the snot out of it. Put a mirror finish on it. You can get a Cuda/C pearl, a Tidalwave Wipeout or Sparkle, a Blue Wolf, something that has an older coverstock and therefore less gripy and more condusive to cover changes and still has a powerful core in it. Heck get an older Stinger or Stingray, they still have more core power then the Groove.

The Groove was made for beginner bowlers to enter into the reactive market.

Erin

I bought the same ball with dry lanes in mind. What I found was a weak ball that left a lot of ten pins and I couldnt find a way to get big games out of it. I got tired of horrible series and it well, got retired in my driveway so to speak lol It was an inexpensive experiment of sorts but as Erin stated it's really an entry level ball. I've learned to move left, use less hand or add loft to play on the dry with my stronger equipment.

OK, so far we've got two votes for "donate it and get something with a real core." Anybody else?

If I had a ball like that, I would spray paint it gold and use it as a gazing ball in my garden. I do have one in Copper and another in Silver. They look cool.

My wife makes lawn ornaments out of my old bowling balls. We fill the holes with bondo, then take the big glass beads and use silicon to fasten them to the balls.

In all seriousness, looking at the rest of your arsenal, you should upgrade this ball. There are others that you can get at a fairly decent price that will work MUCH better.

You need a lot of hand to get carry with a ball like this. I have the whole groove series with the exception of the Dry/R because I went with Urethane instead. You may be happier with a weak resin ball with a core as others have suggested. A lot of people are in love with the Avalance balls for the shorter patterns.

Thanks everybody for your inputs. I don't have nearly the hand that D-Dog has, so that would explain alot about why this ball fell flat for me. Avalanche Pearl is one that I'm thinking about, along with: Green Vibe, Creature Pearl, Street Rod Pearl, Wrath Dead Flush. Anything else I should be considering that folks have had success with?

Just my 2 cents but I would HIGHLY consider the Emerald Vibe out of that list. After seeing a couple around here I am very impressed with it and will probably make it my next purchase.

When I was throwing 14 lb balls, I had a Groove Urethane for dry. It worked great for me. I didn't have much of a carry issue unless I was really off my mark. When I was on it was 9s and strikes, and more strikes than 9s. I would use it on fresh patterns as well with moderate success. I guess its just a matter of the ball fitting into one's game.