I emailed Brunswick the other day....

[foreverincamo]

About whether or not they were going to introduce a new pure urethane ball or not. This is what I got :
Hi Jim,

Thank you for the inquiry!

We do have a plan in place to bring back a "Urethane type ball" at some point. However, I will give you some insider information... it will be better/different than what we see from standard Urethanes today!

It is pretty cool! I have been testing it!

Regards,

Ryan Mouw
Brunswick Bowling
Consumer Products
Consumer Products Associate Product Manager

[Amyers]

That's interesting I don't use it a lot but on the right conditions I really like my avalanche. Sounds like the new one is going to be more in line with the super natural or red hammer urethane/resin mix though. I haven't ever tried one of those.

[AlexNC]

Pretty cool that the reply has as much info as it does

[jab5325]

Interested to see what they mean by "urethane type" ball.

I'm seeing an increasing number of Pitch Blacks and Black Urethanes on the lanes lately. Guys in my house seem to be trying to go much straighter.

[foreverincamo]

Straighter is easier, and if I can find a ball that will carry on a simple shot, I'll use it.

[rv driver]

I've never tried urethane, but I've considered it. The more I think about it, the more I'm intrigued.

[foreverincamo]

Sure could've used it tonite. Lanes were super toasty. I used my polished asymmetric DV8 Thug the first game. Was playing around 7 and crushing the pocket and got nothing. One strike, six ten pins, a 9 pin, and a 7 pin. Shot in the 170's. Switched to my spare ball, a highly polished symmetric DV8 Marauder Mutiny drilled pin-under. Shot 232, 204. Almost shot average overall with a 610 series.
Urethane would have smoothed out the pattern better.

[Amyers]

Sure could've used it tonite. Lanes were super toasty. I used my polished asymmetric DV8 Thug the first game. Was playing around 7 and crushing the pocket and got nothing. One strike, six ten pins, a 9 pin, and a 7 pin. Shot in the 170's. Switched to my spare ball, a highly polished symmetric DV8 Marauder Mutiny drilled pin-under. Shot 232, 204. Almost shot average overall with a 610 series.
Urethane would have smoothed out the pattern better.

We all have different games but I did experiment with urethane and for my game it really didn't help. I tried a buddy of mines pitch black and how anybody gets that thing down the lane as anything other than a marshmallow I don't know. If your way high speed and revs it works but for me with my lowers speed just wasn't going to happen.

One of the really good female bowlers at my PSO's lanes got a rep contract with Brunswick so she had to get rid of her non-current equipment. I bought her Brunswick Avalanche that was in basically brand new condition. It works better than the pitch black but in my opinion on the dry it still hooks more than a low level reactive with a 2" pin drilling and on the oil it just becomes a dart.

This is just my opinion but I think the resurgence your seeing in urethane is due to some of the PBA guys using it to blend out a pattern unfortunately for most of us we don't throw the ball like that period. I think most bowlers are better off with balls like the Roto Loco or Brunswick Soul or Soulmate with Weak drillings. Doesn't mean it's not fun to experiment though.

[SAbowler]

I have a Super Natural that I generally use for shooting 10 pins, but if the lanes get fried, I'll use it then too. About half the time in my Thursday league, I'll be using it by halfway through the second game.

[Aslan]

This is just my opinion but I think the resurgence your seeing in urethane is due to some of the PBA guys using it to blend out a pattern unfortunately for most of us we don't throw the ball like that period.

I heard something similar on another site or in a PBA interview or something...where the rev rates are so high on the tour...that on shorter patterns and when lanes get too beat up...the pros have found that even the weaker reactive resin balls manufactured these days are too strong. Especially on the World Tour...Asian bowlers don't usually have the "speed" or physical component...slower speed...even harder to hold the pocket on fried conditions. I've even heard older urethane balls are starting to be more in demand on Ebay...as pros and semi-pros try to scoop them up. Granted, the ball manufacturers will quickly solve that shortage.