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Bowling News USA - July 22, 2010 Storm Prodigy Reviews

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From: sneakydj13

Posted: 7/20/2010 11:51 PM
Total power. I absolutely love this ball. I cant even begin to explain this ball to you. I may exaggerate a bit but trust me it is true about this ball. I LOVED THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE BALL AND I HAD TO ORDER IT. I got this ball drilled as soon as the very first shipment came in on July 2nd, and the war was over. I have mine layed out 4.25" inches from the pap. 3 inch pin. I am high speed high rev bowler. on the house shot this ball has helped me with my first 800. 837 to be exact. and on sports shot I finally have a ball with enough backend to carry that dang ten pin almost every time.. This ball is a legend. I guarantee it will be the ball of the year this year

hillbilly boom

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From: Tom Hess

Posted: 7/20/2010 12:12 PM
Storm's newest master line ball is the Prodigy. Using the R2X pearl with E.T.M cover and the all new Centripetal weight block.
I drilled two of the Prodigy's. The first Prodigy was drilled with the pin under the ring finger 4 1/2" inches from pap and the cg 45 degrees with a small hole down. I compared this ball with a Hy-Road drilled exactly the same. The Prodigy was 2"-3" sooner than the Hy-Road and much smoother at the breakpoint. The Prodigy overall out hooked my Hy-Road by about 4-5 boards. The Prodigy is not as strong as the Virtual Gravity. My VG read the lane about 2" sooner and out hooked the Prodigy by 3-4 boards. This Prodigy will be used on the longer patterns. Either as the first ball out of the bag or after the Virtual Gravity.

The second Prodigy was drilled with the pin 5" from pap above the ring finger and the cg at 65 degrees and no hole. I applied a light coat of reacta-shine to this one. With the pin up and polish this is a ball that I'm going to use when I need to get further left on the lane. I drilled this Prodigy almost the same as my 2nd Dimension. The only difference is the 2nd has a small hole on my pap to make it legal. These two balls had almost the same ball motion except the Prodigy had 3-4 more boards of total hook. I also compared this to a Reign that is drilled with the pin up. The Prodigy had a more controlled arc at the breakpoint than the Reign. The Reign read the dry quicker with a faster with a more skid/snap reaction. I see this Prodigy being used 4 or 5 games in on medium length patterns when trying to "open up" the lane.

Tom Hess
Storm Regional Staff
Vise Staff
Etonic Staff

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From: tommygn

Posted: 7/16/2010 10:48 AM
I have been using my Prodigy for a couple of weeks, on many different patterns. Everything that I am seeing from this ball, points to an updated, stronger Agent series ball.
I drilled my Prodigy pin over ring, cg on my grip line(5"x5.5"), and OOB surface. As a comparison, I have an Agent with the same drilling, with VERY few games(actually, the Prodigy probably has more games than the Agent up to now), and a pin over Virtual Energy, mb in thumb (basically the same layout), as well as an Invasion, with the same drilling as the VE.
So far, the only pattern I haven't had success with, has been the Cheetah. The ball is just too angular down lane, with the pin over drilling, and the unmarked mb being in my initial ball track. For my style of play, this drilling allows the ball to clear the heads, make a strong move down lane, and still continue through the pins without alot of loss of energy.
Now to discuss different patterns. I used the Prodigy, and the Invasion, during a regional a few weeks back bowling on Chameleon. I started with the Invasion (OOB finish, bowling on AMF HPL lanes), since it gave me a good control of the down lane motion, and allowed me to stay straighter through the fronts, and control the pocket. As the day went on, about the third game, I made a switch to the Prodigy, and made a move right, and gave the ball a little more room, as the Prodigy saved more energy down lane, and had a stronger backend reaction on the softer AMF surface. I was using the Invasion going up the boards, playing left of 5 at the arrows, and moved into around 6 board at the arrows, but still fed the ball to the same break point. The Prodigy carried very well, and really opened up the pattern for me, allowing me to qualify second on our squad. Sunday, found the Prodigy to be a little too strong up front, and forced me too far into the middle of the pattern, sending me to the bag to end up using a Reign of Fire at 2000 abralon (high speed of a two speed spinner) to get down the lane, and keep my angles in front of me.
Next, using the Prodigy on a house pattern of 39 feet in length bowling on DBA lanes, standing 25 targeting 15 at the arrows, gave me plenty of recovery, and a strong consistent roll back to the pocket. As the oil depleted, I just simply chased the pattern in, looking for more head oil, with the Prodigy showing no signs of early roll out, or loss of carry.
Now to compare the Prodigy to my Agent. The ball motion of the Prodigy is very similar to the Agent line. The Prodigy handles oil much better, due to the improved R2X cover, than the Reactor cover found on the Agent and Double Agent, and also stronger than the R2S found on the Secret, and Special Agents.
The Prodigy is also a very good complement to my Virtual Energy (green scotch-brite finish on the VE). It clears the heads much easier than the VE. When I need a defined break point, I will use the VE, and as the pattern breaks down, and I can open up the area created by the VE, I can go to the Prodigy, and know that I will have more of a continuos backend reaction, as compared to a sharper, more defined ball motion of the VE. This also allows me to chase the pattern in a little deeper, and not have roll out.
I really like the new Prodigy, however I will still miss the Dimensions. The Prodigy will offer the bowler a unique ball motion going through the pins, reminiscent of the Second Dimension, but will find more traction in oil, due to the box finish, and an earlier move on the lane in 15lb equipment, as rg and diff. numbers do not change as much with the new core shape of the master line, as compared to the continuum core of the Dimensions when going from 16 to 15lbs.

Tommy Gollick
Storm Regional/Pro Shop staff
Red Crown Pro Shop Harrisburg, PA

stormbowling.com

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From: CaptCaveman

Posted: 7/13/2010 12:59 PM
At this point, I have used this ball on a multitude of patterns and I AM IMPRESSED! I used a 4x4 layout with a low weight hole and man does this ball give me a good heavy roll. This past weekend I used it on a dual condition tournament featuring the Cheetah and Shark and it was so predictable. And everyone that knows me, they know I love a predictable ball!
Solid choice if you are looking for a big pearl to add to your arsenal.

Brian Cavey
aka Captain Caveman
Storm Amateur Staff ''00-present
Bowl up a Storm!

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From: oldschoollefty

Posted: 6/23/2010 12:26 PM
...and now a look from the left side.
PAP: 4 7/8 over 3/16 up
290-300 rev rate

I drilled the Prodigy 4X5 with a 5" pin. CG swung 35 degrees. With a long pin to CG layout, the pin is almost directly above the bridge, 4 3/8" above grip center.

I also was looking for a reaction similar to the tried and true Special Agent with the similarities in the (low RG) core design. The Special Agent was one of the best long sport pattern balls I've ever used and the Prodigy lived up to expectations and then some.

My first outing for the Prodigy came on a Kegel Long and Winding Road sport pattern on a worn wood surface. Because of the condition of the wood, the head area was very beaten up and therefore difficult to get anything clean through the front part of the lane. I was able to move all the way out to the gutter and the Prodigy was the only ball in the bag I could get to consistantly peel off the edge without hooking too early.

The second go was on a house pattern on an old Pro Anvil surface at our state tournament. Lots of hook in the mids, and once again the Prodigy cleared the fronts easily with a strong but controlled mid lane move, and a very continuous roll in the back end. No hook/stop look here. I was standing on 35 (yes, right of the big dot) looking at 18 at the arrows and 12-13 at the breakpoint and had a great look that held up well through the day. Finally, by game three (team event-10 on a pair), I switched to a Hy-Road with a similar layout to finish.

The third setting was doubles/singles on a house pattern on an old HPL surface. The shot was quite a bit tighter than the day before but again the Prodigy's versitility came through as I had a great look about 10 boards left from the day before. The only negative to the day was the amazing amout of back row leaves I piled up (7's, 8's, 9's and 10's). Our pair set up quite a few bad racks so that may explain some of that.

Big picture, the Prodigy is one of the most versitile pieces I've drilled, easily on a par with the Furious and the Hy-Road. The R2S pearl shell with Mica responds well on a wide variety of surfaces, reads the mids well and gives a strong continuous roll through the pins. Obviously, very heavy oil might hamper this ball a little but a Reign of Fire or Virtual Gravity takes care of that. For me, the Prodigy will fit very well between the ROF/VG and the Hy-Road/Fast/Furious. Thank you Storm for helping keep an old guy's career going and for putting great equipment out for myself and my customers.

Kurt Gengelbach
Storm PBA Regional Staff

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(courtesy: ballreviews.com)

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