Hammer Obsession Tour Pearl Ball Review by Jeff Ussery

Layout: 45 x 4 1/2" x 70

RG: 2.48"

Differential: .034"

M/B: .013

Surface: 1500 grit/Compound

Core shape: Asymmetric

The Hammer Obsession Tour Pearl is the third installment in this outstanding lineup from Hammer that delivers a very wide range of ball motion. With the original Obsession you had a true heavy oil piece. The Obsession Tour was better for higher revolution players looking to control the breakpoint. Obsession Tour Pearl fits in the third segment of ball motion - length with a hard arc/flip type of shape in the backend of the lane.

Hammer started with the Obsession Tour core and then pearlized their Tour V2 cover to come up with this all gold pearl bowling ball. The finish on the ball helps it glide through the front of the lane with ease before it releases a fairly quick backend motion. Hammer's lineup was missing a skid/flip pearl and Obsession Tour Pearl will fill that gap nicely.

I drilled mine with my pin down layout because that's what been working best at Olathe East, the only place I'm bowling league this season. This creates more of a hook/set type of shape than a standard pin up layout would produce. I think Obsession Tour Pearl rolls very different than the rest of the products in the Hammer lineup right now. It's distinctly more motion down lane than a Web Pearl. The skid/flip shape gets the Obsession Tour Pearl covering far more boards than is possible with a Web Pearl. The lower rg core shape also gets this ball to see the lane sooner than a Web MB. So Hammer really doesn't have this shape sitting elsewhere in their lineup currently.

I tried changing the surface on the Obsession Tour Pearl by adding 4000 grit and a little more polish. This created even more length and increased the backend motion compared to the 1500/compound finish. At Olathe East they've been drier to start the season, so I'm most likely leaving that extra polish on the cover. At times the 1500/compound finishes can roll up a little soon for me and kind of fizzle in the back. This change to the cover really made this ball come alive on medium to drier conditions.

I also like that this ball seems to play multiple zones very well. It was at home in the 2nd to 4th arrow range, arcing it off of the dry boards. But it wasn't afraid to get even further left for some big wheel shots. This is a vast improvement on previous ball motion, and one we'll be confident in recommending to a lot of styles. The Obsession line provides a huge range of motion across all three products. If you have one of the others and enjoy them, you'll definitely like adding this one to your bag.