Black Widow Urerhane

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Hitchhiker42
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Black Widow Urerhane

Post by Hitchhiker42 »

Got my Widow, all drilled up, rolled one game to try it out.
I. have. no. words.

If I had words, they would all be synonyms for magnificent, glorious, perfection...you get the idea.

Went to see Dave Olm here in Lakewood, CO.
My son and I went and rolled a couple games as well. Dave watched me bowl, gave me some instantly helpful advice, checked over my Bliss and I am not a full roller. Asked some questions about the Bliss and when I commented that my fingers hurt after a few games, he said he thought the Bliss was drilled at an odd angle. So he drilled the Widow (and the Nitrous) at a different angle and my gosh, what a difference!

And the Widow is so wonderful. First game with it was a 150 even tho i spent much of the game trying to hit my mark. Again, Dave watched me bowl with the new balls and gave helpful advice.

My son ended up getting a new ball for himself as well.

Dave is outstanding. The Widow is outstanding. The Nitrous will take some getting used to, but still feels good.
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by EricHartwell »

Hitchhiker42 wrote:Got my Widow, all drilled up, rolled one game to try it out.
I. have. no. words.

If I had words, they would all be synonyms for magnificent, glorious, perfection...you get the idea.

Went to see Dave Olm here in Lakewood, CO.
My son and I went and rolled a couple games as well. Dave watched me bowl, gave me some instantly helpful advice, checked over my Bliss and I am not a full roller. Asked some questions about the Bliss and when I commented that my fingers hurt after a few games, he said he thought the Bliss was drilled at an odd angle. So he drilled the Widow (and the Nitrous) at a different angle and my gosh, what a difference!

And the Widow is so wonderful. First game with it was a 150 even tho i spent much of the game trying to hit my mark. Again, Dave watched me bowl with the new balls and gave helpful advice.

My son ended up getting a new ball for himself as well.

Dave is outstanding. The Widow is outstanding. The Nitrous will take some getting used to, but still feels good.
Glad to know you had a positive experience with Dave. It really sounds like he did what a good Proshop operator is supposed to do.

How did the Nitrous roll as compared to the Widow?
What is it that you are going to have to get used to?
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by Hitchhiker42 »

With the Nitrous, I couldn't find the pocket.
2 strikes in the game, and the rest were hard spares.
I'm trying to change my hand motion to get a better hook.
Since my balls are lighter, I don't get the benefit of the asymmetrical core.

Though, strangly, when i first swung the Widow, I could feel a change in the ball. Not sure if I can explain it.

More time with both balls will help.
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by TonyPR »

Yea! Great to hear you got good service from the pro shop! Having a comfortable fit is a must and having the pro shop operator look at you bowling before drilling shows great customer service.

The Nitrous has a very weak coverstock which is a great thing to have when there's not too much oil on the lanes. You could try scuffing the ball with an abralon pad to change the surface grit and see if you can tune the reaction to what you would like the ball to do.
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by MegaMav »

Its great to hear Dave Olm gave you a genuine professional experience.
Dont take it for granted. Its not as common as you'd hope.
Welcome to the game. Keep teaching yourself those "hand tricks" and you'll go a long way and bowling becomes much less expensive over time buying fewer balls because you can "trick" the motion and not rely on technology to do it for you.
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by Hitchhiker42 »

I took photos of the flare trail on the Widow.
Its sooo cool to see how it rolls. The matte finish makes it so easy to see the trail the oil leaves.

So, I wipe the glossy finish ball after each roll, what do I do with the matte urethane?
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by EricHartwell »

Hitchhiker42 wrote:I took photos of the flare trail on the Widow.
Its sooo cool to see how it rolls. The matte finish makes it so easy to see the trail the oil leaves.

So, I wipe the glossy finish ball after each roll, what do I do with the matte urethane?
You are going to want to wipe the ball off. Leaving oil on the ball will reduce the reaction and it will make for carry down that will make the game more difficult for you and all the other bowlers bowling on your pair. Your teammates will want you to wipe it off.

A question for our readers...
Has anybody tried to shine the Black Widow Urethane?
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by Hitchhiker42 »

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In case you can Instagram.
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by JohnP »

I responded in the other thread before I read this one. Good to hear that you've found a great driller. Two things that will help improve your scores: get some coaching from a qualified coach and PRACTICE. I've watched a lot of beginners over the years and the ones that get better are in the center several days a week practicing in addition to their leagues. After I graduated from college and got a good job I decided I wanted to see how good I could be. I went from a 165 average to 190+ in two years by bowling at least 12 games a week in addition to two leagues. This was in the early 70's when a 190 average was about equivalent to a 220 average now. -- JohnP
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by Hitchhiker42 »

Yep. Right now I roll 10-12 games a week. 4 yesterday.
I try to go to the lanes Mon-Thursday when they give me 6 hours of unlimited bowling for $10.
I can take me time and not feel like I'm speed bowling.

Back in 88-91 I was a REALLY good bowler. 186 average. Asked to join a few tournament teams, got a 286 (100 over average) game with a plastic ball. Joined one of the tourny teams, the guys were jerks. Joined a ladies team, got second place team 89-90 in a high average league. Even they were catty jerks. Maybe I just don't play well with others.

But in 92 I moved from Dallas to Tampa and then I started having a family and it went by the wayside. Moved to Denver in 95 and joined a local league in 97-98 but it just wasn't the same. I was alone on the team with people who didn't speak much English, so it was more difficult to have fun if I didn't have anyone to talk to. So I just stopped.

2 more kids, roller derby, injuries and here was are today. Hoping to get back to the lanes and just not embarrass myself to much. Maybe make some new friends.
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by JohnP »

I think you'll find that the expertise is still there, it just needs to be tuned up a little. -- JohnP
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by MegaMav »

Hitchhiker42 wrote:Joined one of the tourny teams, the guys were jerks.
Not much has changed in my area in that regard.
I find many of the successful tournament players around here have an arrogance about them that I'm unable to get a long with. They'll snipe with attitude because they think they're above everyone.
You're a good bowler, big deal.
Pissing people off isnt a good way to make friends, grow bowling or turn people onto tournaments.

There are a lot of things wrong with bowling that keep it from growing again, egos and attitude of the current participants is a big one. No wonder there is a chasm between league and open bowling.
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by Hitchhiker42 »

Bowled 4 games today.

Not good. I could not get the ball to anything I wanted. I could not get it to hit my marks, find the line, hook at all.

In 4 games, 6 strikes, 8 spares.

By the last half of the 4th game, i started tossing it like a spare ball.

Not sure what was going on.

Thing is, the lane we were on our first game was really dry. No flare rings on a matte urethane ball. No oil to wipe off. These lanes are part of huge arcade and they oil the lanes every other day. Half each day, so 1-10 on Monday, 11-20 on Tuesday...

I asked to move and the lane we moved to was obviously oiled, big flare rings on the ball.

Nothing I did, moving left or right, or changing hand and wrist, helped. It rolled straight. Like a house ball.

I'm stumped.
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by EricHartwell »

When you are not sure what is going on is when the watchful eye of a coach will help.

Sounds like you started with not enough oil. Then went to lanes that had too much oil for urethane.

Did you try to roll the Nitrous?
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by Hitchhiker42 »

Eric, I didnt take the Nitrous with me today.
I regretted it half way through the first game.

I will Wednesday. I also pick up my spare ball tomorrow. It was being re-drilled in a way to take pressure off my fingers.
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by gunso »

unless your house shot has loads of oil on the outside boards the black widow should hook from the outside boards every time.

other thing you need to effectively throw urethane is a scotch brite pad to sand it and a shammy to wipe the oil rigorously off between shots.
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by Hitchhiker42 »

I do wipe the ball every single time with a microfiber pad.

As for hooking, nope. I move right, the ball goes straight for the 9-10 pins.

It is only 12#, so diesel core not gas mask. I'm trying hard to learn to twist my wrist as i release, but nope.

Because of shoulder injuries, it might be years until I get back to 14# balls. So I need to throw this to hook, which is why I bought it.

So far, nothing.
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by gunso »

I'd buy a shammy, a microfiber tower is pretty much useless on real urethane. And sand it and you should see it hook again
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by Hitchhiker42 »

gunso wrote:I'd buy a shammy, a microfiber tower is pretty much useless on real urethane. And sand it and you should see it hook again
Except I've NEVER seen hook.
I've bowled 3 games with it, not one real hook. It was brand new when I bought it, drilled for me.
I played a decent first game with it at the lanes the pro shop is located in, and I'd already bowled 2 games prior. The entire place had just been league bowled, with 5 open bowling lanes down at the end, but for the most part all the lanes had just had league bowling on them.

I loved the ball the first game because it FELT better in my hands. It was heavier than the other ball I have and the drilling was better for my fingers. With the drilling on my spare ball, my fingers would pull slightly and the middle joint would ache after a couple games.

I did better at that game but never saw a hook. The pro said he would help me and gave me some tips on getting a hook, but I cannot seem to get it to hook. If I twist my wrist as I release, the ball doesn't HOOK, it just crosses the lane.

I will be talking to the pro about some coaching, so that's the works, but I thought the ball would hook at least a little all on it's own even at the 12# weight. Nope, for me this is a urethane spare ball. I can roll that thing straight as a ruler.

Not disappointed at the ball, because if it ends up just being a straight ball for me fine, but I was looking for something that would help me hook. At my current fitness and shoulder stuff, the ball needs to do some of the work past being a sphere that rolls.

And I guess the Nitrous is even less able to hook alone at 12#.

I really thought I did some pretty decent research.
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Re: Black Widow Urerhane

Post by JohnP »

If you can post a video maybe we can help you learn to make the ball hook. Did you end up using a fingertip grip? Twisting your wrist isn't the correct way to hook a ball, it will result in the ball spinning instead of rolling properly. As your swing enters the release zone your fingers should be almost straight behind the ball, 6:00 clock position. Then, as the thumb begins to release, your fingers should rotate naturally from the elbow and shoulder (not the wrist) to the side of the ball, to about the 4:00 clock position. As this happens the thumb releases, the ball's weight moves completely to the fingers, and the fingers impart the revs as they release the ball onto the lane. -- JohnP

Edit: The release I described is much easier to accomplish using a fingertip grip.
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