My Super Natural Layout: 60 degrees x 3 1/2" x 1 3/4"

I'll be the first to admit that urethane is not a cover choice I need to make very often. That's most evident by the fact that this is the first urethane ball I have owned since a black Rhino Pro in my younger days. Back then I would see some lane conditions that required a tamer downlane reaction since resin was still fairly new and most lane surfaces were still wood.

When the Super Natural was announced and I saw that the cover was a NEW U3S hybrid urethane I was very interested to see what this ball would do. I had seen plenty of bowlers throw the Natural and Natural Pearl with plenty of success and expected a nice blend of those two balls with a touch more performance. The Super Natural does not disappoint.

The first practice ball I threw with the Super Natural, hot off the drill press, went way left of the headpin catching the 2 pin left center. I definitely underestimated the strength of the Super Natural by 5-7 boards. I stood father left than the new Tropical Breeze when testing on the same THS which really surprised me. The Super Natural gave me a touch of forgiveness to the right and left but I still had to keep the ball pretty much right in front of me if I wanted to get it to the pocket. Next I was impressed with the hitting power and it's ability to strike without being dead flush.

My summer sport league had Boardwalk out the week I got the Super Natural so I was able to test it on a pattern that I would most likely need to use it on. The Super Natural performed well on the pattern as you would expect but I have a couple of asymmetric balls with layouts specifically for short patterns so the Super Natural would not be my go to ball on such a pattern. At least not on the fresh. However, I could see higher rev players or those with lower ball speeds who have trouble controlling the backend on shorter patterns taking advantage of what the Super Natural offers on shorter patterns.

I had a no-thumb friend of mine give the Super Natural a try to compare it to his Natural Pearl. On Boardwalk the Super Natural was 3-4 boards stronger than his Natural Pearl which was not quite strong enough on the fresh for him. Those of you lamenting the discontinuation of the Natural now have a legitimate replacement option to add to your bag.

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAPeWDN8ApE

Conditions I have used the Lights Out on: 40' THS, Boardwalk (35')

Where it fits in my bag: It it just above my Tropical Breeze (Blue/Green/Yellow) in overall strength and below every other ball in my bag.

When I use it: When I see a pattern shorter than 35' with a little less volume than Boardwalk. I definitely could have used this ball when struggling on Sydney last year. My other short oil balls just burned up too much on Sydney.