jason_doust
The Bowling Geek
James McGinty has been in my ear about drilling one of these for a while now. I told him that if he had one with just the right specs, (4½” pin and low TW) I’d be interested. A week later, the beggar had one and was on the phone. So what’s a guy to do..? 
I drilled one of these up for myself and another for a friend and client, Adam Goldberg. Our limited testing is showing very positive results. The Hook! is 900G’s “entry level” reactive. This ball lives up to it’s name. The 900G Hook! provides a lot of hook and hit for the price point. Layouts were basic pin over bridge, CG kicked right stuff. That's about 5½" pin to PAP for me and 6" for Adam, so these are drilled to get down there and be strong-ish.
The first game or two, this ball just hooked too much for me on the Tuggeranong house bounce. (4-pin, move… 4-pin, move… 4-pin, move… James warned me that it would until it glossed up a bit.) Once we got a bit of oil on the surface of these balls, they started to show their potential. I softened my release and we shot 500 between us in the last game and had that “Cat that ate the canary” look on our faces. This ball is money when you need to control friction and still get excellent motion & carry.
COVER - The S43 cover is for lower to medium volumes of oil. Sanding it would make a difference, but best to leave it for what it’s for, I think and keep it at a fine grit or polished. S43 provides a clean move through the front with a well-mannered motion in the midlane and backend.
CORE - The core is a rotor shape with ends at perpendicular opposition, like a Brunswick Inferno, Storm Dimension or Motiv SR-2. It’s proven geometry, only 900G’s core has a higher RG to get through the front of the lane a bit straighter. This means that the ball stores more of it’s rotational energy (your release) for the backend. Handy when you need to go straighter through the front to carry.
MOTION – The Hook! does just that. It hooks; in a strong arcing motion. Adam made a comment that sums it up nicely. He said “This ball makes me feel like I have control of 60 feet of lane.” What he means is that this ball gives you controllable motion while being able to cover some boards down the lane. This ball doesn’t go straight though. I was playing through 20 out to 8 board with mine and Adam was playing through about 12 out to 8. (I was forcing him right with my line pushing oil into his midlane.) From either line, these balls were getting it done quite convincingly.
HIT - The Hook! hits really well for the price point. Even when it was too fresh and hooking early, it was carrying stuff that I thought it had no chance of tripping out. Once it started clearing the front of the lane properly, this got better again and the carry was crisp and dependable. There were a few of those “OW!” moments when it split the 8-9 smashing through the rack by the end of the session.
WHERE IT’S GOOD – League shots, light to medium volume tournaments, even short patterns. I’d love to throw this ball on some wood. (Must get down to Wetherill Park and have a go!)
WHERE IT’S NO GOOD – High volume and long length will see this ball skid too far. Don’t even think about it.
The Hook! It gets the job done when you have some friction with a minimum of fuss and it’s competitively priced. It’s a great ball for league play and lower volume tournaments. It’s a lot of ball for the money. I like it. (And I don't think I've nearly seen what it's capable of.)
I drilled one of these up for myself and another for a friend and client, Adam Goldberg. Our limited testing is showing very positive results. The Hook! is 900G’s “entry level” reactive. This ball lives up to it’s name. The 900G Hook! provides a lot of hook and hit for the price point. Layouts were basic pin over bridge, CG kicked right stuff. That's about 5½" pin to PAP for me and 6" for Adam, so these are drilled to get down there and be strong-ish.
The first game or two, this ball just hooked too much for me on the Tuggeranong house bounce. (4-pin, move… 4-pin, move… 4-pin, move… James warned me that it would until it glossed up a bit.) Once we got a bit of oil on the surface of these balls, they started to show their potential. I softened my release and we shot 500 between us in the last game and had that “Cat that ate the canary” look on our faces. This ball is money when you need to control friction and still get excellent motion & carry.
COVER - The S43 cover is for lower to medium volumes of oil. Sanding it would make a difference, but best to leave it for what it’s for, I think and keep it at a fine grit or polished. S43 provides a clean move through the front with a well-mannered motion in the midlane and backend.
CORE - The core is a rotor shape with ends at perpendicular opposition, like a Brunswick Inferno, Storm Dimension or Motiv SR-2. It’s proven geometry, only 900G’s core has a higher RG to get through the front of the lane a bit straighter. This means that the ball stores more of it’s rotational energy (your release) for the backend. Handy when you need to go straighter through the front to carry.
MOTION – The Hook! does just that. It hooks; in a strong arcing motion. Adam made a comment that sums it up nicely. He said “This ball makes me feel like I have control of 60 feet of lane.” What he means is that this ball gives you controllable motion while being able to cover some boards down the lane. This ball doesn’t go straight though. I was playing through 20 out to 8 board with mine and Adam was playing through about 12 out to 8. (I was forcing him right with my line pushing oil into his midlane.) From either line, these balls were getting it done quite convincingly.
HIT - The Hook! hits really well for the price point. Even when it was too fresh and hooking early, it was carrying stuff that I thought it had no chance of tripping out. Once it started clearing the front of the lane properly, this got better again and the carry was crisp and dependable. There were a few of those “OW!” moments when it split the 8-9 smashing through the rack by the end of the session.
WHERE IT’S GOOD – League shots, light to medium volume tournaments, even short patterns. I’d love to throw this ball on some wood. (Must get down to Wetherill Park and have a go!)
WHERE IT’S NO GOOD – High volume and long length will see this ball skid too far. Don’t even think about it.
The Hook! It gets the job done when you have some friction with a minimum of fuss and it’s competitively priced. It’s a great ball for league play and lower volume tournaments. It’s a lot of ball for the money. I like it. (And I don't think I've nearly seen what it's capable of.)
