Reactive Bowling Ball Rolls Like Urethane? NU Blue Hammer First Look w/Matt Russo

[@hasbeenbowler]

This ball looks interesting for sure. Hammer makes one of the best balls ever, the Purple Hammer, and because some people complain and think it's boring to watch the PBA bans it. Kudos to Hammer for still putting out great equipment!

[@davidmanley3780]

For all of us bowlers, who are not pro status I bought this ball, and it is GREAT. First 200 game with this ball. I have a 185, average. So this ball reaction is really great.

[@mrb43605]

Love the old masking units and set-up! way more personality!

[@edb3877]

I got a Nu Blu about 9 months ago and it's a tremendous ball for the right lane conditions. On medium oil, it is awesome. Even on light and heavy oil, a place on the lane can be found that works most of the time. I am a right-handed bowler and usually stand in the area of the 20-25 board, throwing the ball cross-lane at the 6-8 board about 15 feet from the pins. Getting lots of strikes with this ball due to the great pin action. I hadn't bowled a 700+ series in about 7 years but with this ball I have had 3 of them in the past 6 months. While that's not a lot, it's a lot better than before I got the Nu Blu. I've also covered some awful splits, like the 4-6-7-10 and the 4-6, both in league with witnesses, as well as others like the 4-6-7 and 4-7-10. It's a great ball for most conditions but when I can't get it to work as well as I'd like, I also use a Brunswick Rhino. This is similar in reaction to the Nu Blu but smoother and a little more predictable.

[@thebigeasy8609]

Good stuff Mike. This NU Blue Hammer looks awesome and being lefty this is high on the Santa Claus list!

[@christianbrooks7214]

what is the full dual angle layout for this piece?

[@djHughesFishers]

Great content guys!

[@chefragan]

Good stuff matt, can't wait to see it out on tour and league play

[@Onesongperweek]

what is the 2LS layout of your ball. Thank you for your demo

[@shawnsmith9440]

Hey uses his thumb so his layouts will probably not apply to 2ls.

[@mauricerogers1980]

Link for Matt's channel doesn't work

[@insidebowling]

www.youtube.com/@matthewrussobowling. Sorry about that. Fixed now. It's a new channel and the linking process wasn't normal. Go subscribe!

[@bryanttan3654]

Do we know if this is a reactive coverstock? Not too much info on their official website. Also watched other people review this ball and seems like nobody is really sure what material this coverstock is except that its not urethane lol

[@insidebowling]

It is reactive.

[@nordattack]

Here was the best part of the video: "Gotta be confident as the husband Mike."

[@johnvanwagner3966]

Great Job making look so good would love to win never do but be nice for a old man to win lol 63 still throwing strong lol

[@joeanderson9267]

Because it's technically not Urethane, it doesn't have to meet the hardness rule or does it? Awesome job!

[@wingracer1614]

It's not urethane so it doesn't have to meet the hardness rule, therefore it is 73-74 hardness, not 78+

[@BowlingBuckosh]

@@wingracer1614 correct ✔

[@cedricwright4122]

I am buying two

[@taylordoom6928]

Ball is GREAT for high rev bowlers who still like playing right like myself. 220 average bowler

[@jeroldserrell9746]

Nice video good luck

[@WackBowler]

Black hammer is coming boys! Urethane is back!!!!!!

[@mikef2000]

How in the world was this ball not called the FU (Faux Urethane) Blue Hammer? Hammer could have given the new urethane rules a big FU. Sadly, an opportunity missed...

[@MikeSmith-sz3vh]

I think they should have kept purple and called it the NU PURPLE HAMMER.

[@cyan0xide]

or conversely maybe people wouldnt complain about boring purple hammers if they were this pleasing light blue color instead of basically black

[@Kiki-alienmom]

NU Purple would be essentially a Reactive Purple, which they already have. I think the NU Blue looks very close color-wise to the 3D Offset Attack and do wish they would have given this all new sort of ball with a unique color/look. But I'm still gonna buy it! 😁

[@cyan0xide]

@@Kiki-alienmom it absorbs oil slower than the purple reactive in ronald hicklands video

[@ripvanrevs]

@@cyan0xide Striking all the time is never boring.

[@cowboy7170]

Banning urethane balls below 78 hardness is a bad idea and hurts the most talented bowlers the most. If you have over 400 RPM rev rate, it puts you at a disadvantage because a reactive ball will hook off the lanes. This rule mainly helps sub-400 rev rate bowlers because they can still use reactive balls much softer than 78 hardness effectively. This new urethane ball rule limits the arsenal of the elite bowler and forces them to use balls that are not as ideal for their game. I'm estimating that this soft urethane ball ban could shave 10-20 pins off an elite bowler's average. I don't think it's a good idea to make rules to hurt or help certain types of bowlers. I don't like reactive balls because they hook too much off the dry spot, even budget reactive balls. Also because the NU is a reactive ball, it requires more maintenance because the ball absorbs oil and will hook less as you bowl more with it. The best thing about urethane is that oil absorption rate is very low, so the ball reaction stays pretty much the same from game 1 to game 100. Rather than ban urethane balls below 78 hardness, they should have allowed those balls to be used. Eventually all PBA bowlers would have figured out a soft urethane is the BEST BALL and everyone would start using them, which would make an arbitrary ban unnecessary.

[@anthonyjovanovich8666]

Hammer ads??? First the 3 envy ball video now the “new” not urethane?

[@insidebowling]

Hey Anthony. This is Mike. I certainly can understand your comment. To peel back the curtain a little here for you, if you noticed, we started with a Magic Gem video with Andrew Orf from Orf's Pro Shop in St. Louis. I just recently re-located back to St. Louis and we're going to be expanding our Inside Bowling store to offer all bowling products. I believe that honest reviews are going to be impactful in educating all customers to make the best purchase for them no matter where they choose to purchase. If they buy from us then great. So, Brunswick brands have decided to send me balls to review. I have 14 balls right now to review. I am trying to organize them into clusters so I can get caught up and then review each new release one by one. The Envy series was easy for me to pick. Then the NU Blue was the talk of the internet and Matt Russo happened to have one and was willing to shoot a video with me as his collegiate team practices at the same center that I film in. So really just a set of circumstances. There will be more videos from more brands too. I am not on staff with any brand. Nor do I intend to.

[@TheMarinerfan05]

This guy would be screwed without this ball

[@insidebowling]

PBA Player of the Year with this ball maybe.

[@JrFreak300]

that rule change is all about money.... forcing PBA players to use the latest and greatest on TV to spark ball sales for league bowlers.

[@jessekallio3736]

I thinks thats not reactive ball.

[@alecj3454]

You should have gotten a bowler. The two hand chuckers dont count.

[@Fejix87]

Awe look at the little baby whine

[@bryanttan3654]

Well Matt uses this thumb so technically it is a one-handed release. I guess that balances things out? 🤣

[@ripvanrevs]

I bet you use two hands too. You just take the second hand away sooner. Prove me wrong.

[@b.r.fowler785]

Dude…bowl your game and quit whining about two-handed bowlers.

[@Gasbags365]

Peter puffer