900 Global Zen Bowling Ball Report Card by Luke Rosdahl

the 900 global zen bowling ball report card

900 Global Zen Bowling Ball Layout and Drilling Info

Hey everybody, going to try to get caught up on some of these report cards over the next couple weeks and will start with the Zen. The obligatory shameless propaganda to get started, follow the link in the description or at the end of the video for any of your bowling needs at Bowler’s Mart, supporting them supports me, and don’t forget my code “Rosdahl10” the next time you go to order anything at Coolwick to get 10% off, they’re the ones that keep stuff like this coming, and besides that, they’re just awesome, I mean they have a space cat jersey, who doesn’t want a space cat jersey. (and 10% off that space cat jersey) . If you haven’t seen one of these, it’s basically checking in a couple months after the initial review. Did I read it right, how do we feel about the ball now, what have we learned about it, how often do we use it, etcetera. Went with a little different layout on it, 4 ½ x 5 x 2 ½, so pretty strong pin up, and I misjudged just how strong the ball was or at least how strong the core was so despite it looking good filming for the review, it ran me into a lot of problems, mostly because of just throwing it bad, but I didn’t get any help out of it either. For as smooth as it is, it’s got a deceptive amount of strength and can be smooth or fairly sharp depending on the bowler, where you throw it, how you throw it, etcetera.

The 900 Global Zen Core & Cover

S77 Response Pearl cover, puts it about in Phaze 3 cover territory or R3S slash R3X, with the incredibly strong symmetric Meditate core which reminds me a lot of the Centripetal HD core from the Soniq and Super Soniq, it really wants to get going early. For me that ended up giving me some angle issues. It’s strong and early enough that I needed to get deeper to get it down the lane, but my poor layout choice then made it a little too slow getting back, and adding angle on the left side is wonky with anything to begin with. Even with the Zen Master going with my typical pin in ring layout, that still got the core started up too early, so if and when we see a Zen hybrid which I think is probably inevitable, I’m going to have to go pin down to put it in a more usable zone for me. Then Zen isn’t quite magic for me like it is for everyone else, at least not after it got my hopes up during the review, but I think I’m going to have to try it again with a different layout because it’s still constantly on backorder for a reason, and I want to be in the cool kids club. The blend of strength and boom and control and how it seems to react very similar from house to house and condition to condition makes it extremely versatile and usable on a lot of things for a lot of bowlers.

900 Global Zen Reaction and Layout for Angel

For Angel it represents how it looks and acts for the majority of people out there. Her layout is 4 ⅝ x 3 ½ x 2 ½, and if you haven’t seen the recent Hustle Wine review, this is still the same hole placement she always uses, but I mentioned in the Wine video that her axis point changed, so that changed all her layout numbers. She’s pretty average speed and average revs, that seems to be the group the Zen works the best for. Obviously not saying it doesn’t look good for everyone else too, or that it’s going to be amazing for you if you’re in that group, there’s no absolutes in bowling by a long shot, but that seems to be the group it clicks the best for. It’s kind of a staffer’s best friend to describe because it can do a lot of things, it doesn’t have one specific direction or facet that dominates the rest. It’s firm on friction, but not super quick or violent, it’s smoother in oil but not weak, or it doesn’t just hit oil and skate, it’s pretty rolly so it’s very controlled all the way down the lane, it starts rolling and revving early enough that it doesn’t hit 30 feet and really start winding up hard, but it doesn’t rev up quick and have nothing left for the end of the lane. I think it’s very much an evolution of something like the Marvel Pearl which shared a lot of the same descriptions and reaction characteristics, and it shares a lot in common with the Axiom Pearl, but I think the Zen universally gets the nod or checkmark in a straight up competition there, it’s just more versatile.

I don’t throw the Zen anymore, it wasn’t better for me than a lot of other balls, and you have to understand that with as many balls as we both go through, there’s a lot of good ones that don’t see much action because there’s something else we prefer or that’s better for us, not better in general, better when it comes to ball reaction is a completely relative term to begin with. I for example quite prefer the Idol Synergy, it’s pretty rolly itself but has a cleaner cover and doesn’t start up so early which works better for me. Angel throws a bunch of stuff in this zone, but the Zen doesn’t make it much past the first game and then the lanes start transitioning too much for her, so she usually ends up with an IQ, Hustle, or Burner that’ll keep her in business longer. Still, the Zen stays on backorder constantly for a reason and it’s easy to see why, I think I’ll drill one pin down to see if it solves my problem there, and I think it will. Thanks for watching and may the strikes be with you.

900 global zen bowling ball

900 Global Zen Bowling Ball

$159.95

The S77 Response™ Pearl Coverstock was the obvious choice to follow up on the success of the S77 Response™ Solid coverstock. The Pearl version of this cover will provide the most skid/flip reaction we have ever put in the 800 Series. The Zen™ will be a great ball to open up your angles with on medium-heavy patterns.

The Meditate™ Core is the biggest core we have ever put into a bowling ball!! A bigger core means more hitting power combined with a more consistent reaction. Throughout testing the Meditate™ Core provided that wide “footprint on the lane that all bowlers love to see. The Zen™ pushes the limits of core dynamics.

Coverstock: S77R™ Pearl
Weight Block: Meditate™ Symmetric
Factory Finish: 1500 Polish
Flare Potential: 4-5″
Radius of Gyration (RG): 15lbs – 2.49
Differential (Diff): 15lbs – .051
Intermediate Differential (Diff): 15lbs – N/A