- Green Gargoyle

First Impressions
The Visionary Green Gargoyle, released in February 2000, is an eye-catching bowling ball that stands out visually with its bright green pearl design. The cover is made from a pearl reactive blend developed specifically by the manufacturer, finished out of the box with a very smooth 1500 polished finish. This combination is aimed consistently at giving the ball an absolute maximum of length through the heads. Inside the ball works the symmetrical Gargoyle Core. Its center is based on the established design of the Scorcher NPT core, but has been modified with an additional spherical outer shell. At a ball weight of 15 pounds, this core delivers a moderately high RG of 2.580 as well as a medium differential of 0.038. These specific technical specifications point to a ball motion in which kinetic energy is stored for a very long time and released only very late in the backend. The interplay of the polished surface and the dynamic core should ensure that the ball glides extremely cleanly through the front boards and then makes a sharp, sudden change of direction toward the pins at the breakpoint.
Comparison Comparing the Visionary Green Gargoyle to a modern benchmark ball like the Storm Phaze II makes the completely opposing design philosophies clearly visible. The Storm Phaze II uses a strong solid cover in combination with a core that has a very low RG. This results in an early, arcing and exceptionally smooth reaction. The Storm ball reads the lane early and offers massive traction in oil. The Green Gargoyle, on the other hand, is designed as a classic skid-snap ball. It almost completely ignores the oiled areas in the heads and absolutely requires considerably more friction at the end of the oil pattern in order to develop any hook at all. While the Storm Phaze II finds a steady and predictable move to the pocket even at moderate to high oil volume, the Green Gargoyle reacts far more extremely to dry areas and creates a much sharper angle at the breakpoint. If the Green Gargoyle does run into too much oil or heavy carrydown, however, it lacks the necessary friction, which inevitably leads to insufficient carry, since the cover then tends to slide ineffectively into the pins.
On the Lanes In practical use, the Visionary Green Gargoyle proves to be a highly specialized tool for lighter oil patterns, heavily dried-up lanes, or phases of advanced transition. When the heads are badly broken down over the course of a tournament or league night and early-reacting balls lose too much energy, this ball can show its true strengths. Thanks to the extremely smooth surface and the moderate core, it glides completely effortlessly through the dried-out boards in the front part of the lane without losing steam early. If you like to play your balls well out to the outside and depend on a strong rebound at the breakpoint, you'll benefit enormously from this late but very aggressive reaction. If you have a lower ball speed, the ball also offers the length you absolutely need to keep it from turning toward the pocket too early. On fresh or heavily oiled conditions, by contrast, the ball is only usable to a limited degree, since the pearl cover cannot build enough traction there. In such situations the ball quickly loses its dynamic punch and carry suffers considerably. Overall, the Green Gargoyle should be an excellent option when you're looking for clean length and an explosive, clearly defined path to the pins on heavily worn house patterns.