I've been bowling over 40 years. Strong 190+ average with the occasional honor score. My first "modern" urethane ball was the original Black Widow Urethane from 2018. Very good ball for a person used to bowling with reactive who wanted to learn how to roll urethane. I had decent results with it, but reactive was still my preference. May 2023, I buy a Purple Hammer. I've heard all the hype and I'm two months out from my squad at USBC Nationals. I've never rolled a sport shot, but I understand the differences between house and sport, so I picked one up. The Purple Hammer is a different ball. It didn't help that I was experiencing some elbow tendonitis a couple of weeks before Reno. It also didn't help that my times were 9:30pm Saturday for team, then 7:00am Sunday for doubles/singles. I used the Purple for about half a game, but I still didn't know how to throw it, so I stuck with the original Envy for most of the tournament. When I was done, I was literally done. I couldn't bowl for three weeks because of the pain. (Despite that, I missed the cash in the All Events by four pins...damn.) The only thing that got me through when I came back was the Purple Hammer. The pain was still pretty bad, so I cut my backswing way down, went straight up the back, and just focused on the roll. Ladies and gentlemen, a star was born. Three leagues a week, three different houses, I'm only rolling the Purple Hammer and averaging 5-15 pins _higher_ than when I was pain-free. It ain't hype if it's fact, and the Purple Hammer is all fact. I'm definitely picking up a Black Pearl before this year's Nationals...cha-ching.
I've been bowling over 40 years. Strong 190+ average with the occasional honor score. My first "modern" urethane ball was the original Black Widow Urethane from 2018. Very good ball for a person used to bowling with reactive who wanted to learn how to roll urethane. I had decent results with it, but reactive was still my preference.
May 2023, I buy a Purple Hammer. I've heard all the hype and I'm two months out from my squad at USBC Nationals. I've never rolled a sport shot, but I understand the differences between house and sport, so I picked one up. The Purple Hammer is a different ball. It didn't help that I was experiencing some elbow tendonitis a couple of weeks before Reno. It also didn't help that my times were 9:30pm Saturday for team, then 7:00am Sunday for doubles/singles. I used the Purple for about half a game, but I still didn't know how to throw it, so I stuck with the original Envy for most of the tournament. When I was done, I was literally done. I couldn't bowl for three weeks because of the pain. (Despite that, I missed the cash in the All Events by four pins...damn.)
The only thing that got me through when I came back was the Purple Hammer. The pain was still pretty bad, so I cut my backswing way down, went straight up the back, and just focused on the roll. Ladies and gentlemen, a star was born. Three leagues a week, three different houses, I'm only rolling the Purple Hammer and averaging 5-15 pins _higher_ than when I was pain-free. It ain't hype if it's fact, and the Purple Hammer is all fact. I'm definitely picking up a Black Pearl before this year's Nationals...cha-ching.