- Obsession Tour

First Impressions
The Hammer Obsession Tour comes in an elegant burgundy design and uses an asymmetric Obsession Tour core with a 2.469 RG and a 0.034 differential. The cover is the TourV2 Solid, which is stronger than the original TourV1 Solid and ships with a 500/1000 SiaAir surface. The technical highlight is the core design: the Obsession Tour uses the same core shape as the Obsession, but with a differential that is 0.016 points lower, which results in less flare and a more controllable reaction. DOT technology allows drilling anywhere on the ball and also makes it more durable.
Comparison
The Obsession Tour is meant to give bowlers a different way to play down the lane with a high-end hook monster. Compared directly to the standard Obsession, the Tour version shows similar overall hook on fresh lanes, but with a different shape — it grabs earlier and is more forward at the breakpoint. Against the Storm Black Widow 2.0 it puts you about three boards further inside. When balls like the Hammer Web MB and the Storm Black Widow 2.0 are already showing over/under reactions, the Obsession Tour stays smooth and predictable. Compared to the Hammer Envy Tour, you have to play about one board further left, since the Obsession Tour has more backend motion.
On the Lanes
Like most Tour balls, it excels on difficult patterns where you have to control the lane from front to back, but it also works as a great benchmark ball on house shots. The ball proved useful on every pattern tested, with its best performance on heavy oil patterns. It should create a unique reaction that allows many bowlers to stand closer to the dry, and it is especially well suited to rev-dominant players. It works best if you send the ball on steep trajectories through the heads and need sufficient continuation — on dry backends it can be too continuous, but under normal circumstances it is probably the only ball you can trust to recover from extreme angles through the front. If you are speed-dominant, drill it with a lower VAL angle, while rev-dominant players would use it when there is good head oil or pattern length.