Columbia 300 Rival Bowling Balls

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The Columbia 300 Rival is the "New" Columbia's first upper mid performance ball release.

Pin to PAP(5 1/8" over 1/8" up) - 4"
Mass Bias Position - N/A
CG Placement - 1/8" right of grip center
Balance Hole - none

Surface Preparation - 4000 Abralon in Powerhouse resurfacing system.

What I Was Looking For In This Ball Layout:
This ball was drilled with the intention of having a good middle of the night transition ball. I purposely did not use any polish on the surface to keep the amount of backend reaction to a minimum. I was wanting something to arc really smooth and just get me through the second game and into the third game when the lanes really start to open up and I can move in with something that will finish harder. In the house we do our testing at we always have to play pick the right ball int he middle of the night. I was hoping that the pin placement and surface preparation would give this ball motion to me.

What I Ended Up With in the Ball and Layout:
Not what I expected. I thought this ball would be a good transition ball. The reaction I got from the Rival was a strong smooth reaction which I wanted but much more than I thought. I was able to use this ball from the time we started well into the end of the second game. The overall ball motion was what I wanted but it was strong and consistent enough to be a great ball to start with on a fresh typical house shot and it got me through a couple of weird lane breakdown until they started to really hook and it rolled to early.

In the heads from the start of the night I got plenty of good strong roll without an early jump. This is what Columbia has said the ball signature would be since they were purchased by Ebonite.

In the middle once again just as Columbia stated they had a strong mid lane roll and really transitioned well into the back part of the lane. The ball had plenty of forgiveness right and even had a little area to the left if I pulled it a little bit.

On the back part of the lane I was very pleased. The strong ball motion continued right through the back portion of the lane and cleared the pin deck strong as well. In a house where 10 pins are left more than anything else I only had one or two while I was using this ball.

I would say this is a solid new release for the New Columbia 300. If this trend continues with the releases they will be a force to be reckoned with because the Rival is possibly one of the best mid-performance ball releases we have seen a quite a while. It appears to be strong enough to cover most medium-medium heavy conditions and I think this coverstock is versatile enough to handle most surface changes you will have to make for your specific game.

This ball was proof that sometimes we do not get exactly what we wanted out of a ball but sometimes it also works out ok. We were looking for more of a transition ball and we ended up with a ball that may get more games then some of the other balls in my bag.

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