No Mercy on Dry lanes

[Parker1028]

As I recently posted, I purchased the No Mercy ball a couple of weeks ago and have been beyond myself with the scores I've been producing with it including my highest series and game ever. 9 games, 6 over 200. That is until this weekend.

Of course, I can't blame the ball totally as I'm only a 150 -160 average shooter and still learning how to make adjustments to lane conditions. But I ran into lanes that had no oil at all on them and I couldn't get the ball to hook one iota.

Is that normal? What should I try next time I run into a condition like that with this ball? I tried shifting to the left, the right, everywhere with very little positive results. I'm a lefthanded shot.

Thanks,

jp

[Rowdy]

No oil and no hook? Somethings not adding up here. What are we missing?

[bluerrpilot]

If there is no oil, that ball will use up its energy too soon and stop hooking. Its actually hooking very soon and then rolling out. When you encounter a condition that has very little oil, the only thing you can do is move deeper into the lane to find some oil or use a ball with a weaker coverstock.

[Rowdy]

A NoMercy? With that coverstock and no oil I would have thought that the ball would have hooked too soon. Same as my BWS does.

[Sin City Hammer]

When lanes are dry, you should make a ball change to one that handles that condition, unless the NM is the only ball that you have so far. Even using a spare ball would be a better option for dry lanes.

Teammate of mine 2 weeks ago during league, after they oiled the lanes and during the 10 minute practice time, the lanes became bone dry some how. He's a lefty cranker and throws a mean hook, and he tried throwing it harder/changing his line for a bigger hook/etc.

Because he only has 1 ball, he couldn't make the change to handle the dry conditions better, and his 245 league average dropped a bit because of it, and didnt even throw a 200 game at all that night.

Sound like you tried to do everything you could to try to handle the dry lanes, but the NM wasn't able to do the same for you.

[Stampy79]

Sin is right, there is no oil for the ball to store up energy, its all gone at the arrows ! I would do 1 thing for sure if I were you. If this condition is going to be common, get another ball. One thing you will do on ultra dry lanes is track that thing up in a big hurry ! They are high maintenance covers anyway so I would find out if it was a mistake or maybe it happens now and again.

[Parker1028]

Thanks.

My other ball is a straighter ball (Ebonite Nitro) with a conventional grip. I didn't switch to it because I, foolishly, thought I might be able to figure the lanes out. I also didn't want to start going back to the conventional grip as I've been getting used to the No Mercy with the fingertip grip that they put on for me. It's my first "performance" ball.

The lanes aren't usually this dry so hopefully all will be better next week. :)

jp

[tjb0621]

I too have a NM and often find that by mid 2nd or 3rd game the ball seems to go dead. I am a left handed tweener/cranker. My second ball is a Columbia U turn partical should I go to that ball or stick with the NM, it always seems to hit harder then the U turn. Normally I am a 160 bowler at best and got my average up to 175 in the first 4 weeks of league. This is truley a bit over my head so when the NM goes dead I am in trouble and the team suffers. Can't afford another ball right now. Am hoping for an Anger soon, I think that will help. Any thoughts?

[TenPinSniper]

Parker, it might be worth getting that ball redrilled finger tip for dry conditions and spares.

TJB, you might better off getting something polished for when the lanes start to get fried, like a Toxic. The Anger seems to be getting alot of press for how well it handles heavy oil. Your NM has that covered.

[Jay/you/el/eye/e]

anyone know what i should clean my no mercy with?
everyone i talk to, they tell me something different. someone said, alcohol another said simple green. have any ideas
email me at artistppb74@aim.com

[Young300]

Certified cleaner is the best. Go for something from the Ebonite PowerHouse chain. They kept around most of the cleaners. Clean and Dull is good, but for the every day cleaner, go for the PowerHouse Power Wash. By far the best cleaner anyone can have in their bag.:D

[bowlkidsdogs]

Parker, I had the same problem as you last night. Lanes were a bit dry, but no big deal, I bowled Sat. on dry lanes. I didn't even take my old ball with me because it is a conventional grip, and 3# lighter. I just got my BWP and wanted (of course) to show off a bit and it came back to bite me in the end. I moved around, and nothing worked. Not even what worked the night before (also, 2 different surfaces...synthetic and wood), but I was ready to hang it up, too. I still have no idea what happened, but the BWP was hooking way too soon or not at all. Hope you have a better time next time you go!

[Parker1028]

It's been a couple of weeks now and I'm in the same boat. My scores are still better than they've been before the No Mercy but they aren't like they were the first few games with it.

Not really sure if it's the ball, me, the lanes, etc. I've given it a bath. Clean it all the time. But this ball either doesn't break at all for me or cuts across the head pin. But I'm thinking more and more that it has to be something that I'm doing wrong.

But still I'm happy that my average has gone up this season and my teams are doing well.

jp

[hbhammerhead]

i have had that problem too. the last few times i have faced dry conditions couldn't throw my black widow solid at all, it would start hooking way too soon from any position. my black widow pearl shined for about 5 games. after that it too started hooking too early, so i borrowed my friends spare ball. it's good to have a ball for every condition and sometimes it really sucks that you can't throw your favorite ball, but what can you do??

[Parker1028]

So I had some free time yesterday and decided to go to the alley and see if I could work on my game. Rented the lane for an hour and at the end of the first game I realized that it ISN'T the ball that's not doing the job. It was me.

Instead of letting the ball do what it's supposed to do, I've been trying to get the ball to hook by rotating my hand. This, as I've come to discover, doesn't work for me and in fact has made the problem worse. I changed to a pretty straight release and the ball just hooked itself right into the pocket.

I wound up throwing my 2 highest games ever (245/235) yesterday. And at one point had 11 in a row. 9 to finish the 5th game and the first 2 in the 6th game.

I threw 6 games and averaged 193 with conditions very similar to the leagues that I throw in. My USBC average for last year was 144. This year, so far, it's 159 and hopefully climbing.

jp

[5chmitty]

big fat bucket of hot tap water and some dawn for a deeper clean. For daily maintainance, any ball cleaner. I recently got some Neo-Tac Hook-it. I've been surprised with this stuff. from just looking at the paper towel i clean the balls with, it gets much more dirt and oil off the ball thatn the ebonite stuff did. also it gives the ball a nice tacky feeling to it, keeping up the hook potential. anybody else use this stuff?

[thegoldenchild]

Instead of letting the ball do what it's supposed to do, I've been trying to get the ball to hook by rotating my hand. This, as I've come to discover, doesn't work for me and in fact has made the problem worse. I changed to a pretty straight release and the ball just hooked itself right into the pocket.


I had the same problem, also with the NM. I wanted to get more out of it so for a couple months I tried rotating my wrist around the ball and I was getting nowhere. I had almost forgotten how I used to bowl and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't hook and my scores were suffering. I had an epiphany one day when I suddenly remembered how I used to bowl. I always kept my hand behind the ball with my wrist cocked to the side. So I tried it and sure enough, the ball rolled beautifully and had its hook back. True story.