- Granite Gargoyle

First Impressions
The Visionary Granite Gargoyle, released in August 2000, is an exceptionally unusual bowling ball both visually and to the touch. As the name aptly suggests, the surface design resembles gray, rough granite, giving the ball a very distinctive and functional look. From a technical standpoint, this is a ball featuring the specially developed Gargoyle Particle Cover, meaning a particle-reactive shell. It ships out of the box with an extremely coarse 320 wet sand finish. This heavily abraded texture should deliver a feel that comes close to coarse sandpaper, and it is consistently designed for maximum traction in oil. Inside the ball works the proven symmetrical Gargoyle Core. At a ball weight of 15 pounds, this core produces a moderately high RG of 2.580 and a fairly low differential of 0.038. This combination of a core that, due to its high RG, tends to want to create more length, and an extremely aggressive surface that bites massively and extremely early on the lane, results in a very interesting technological concept developed specifically for the tougher oil patterns of the early 2000s.
Comparison Comparing the Visionary Granite Gargoyle to a modern symmetrical benchmark ball like the Storm Phaze II makes the enormous technological developments in the sport of bowling clearly visible. The Storm Phaze II uses a strong solid cover with a 3000 finish and a core with very low RG along with high differential. As a result, the Storm ball revs up strongly in the midlane and offers a very continuous and powerful move into the pocket. The Granite Gargoyle, on the other hand, generates its traction almost exclusively through the mechanical friction of its extremely rough particle shell. It reads the lane considerably earlier than modern balls, but because of the core's higher RG and lower differential it has notably less dynamic potential at the breakpoint. Instead of kicking hard at the end of the oil pattern or generating an aggressive hook, the Gargoyle rolls very arcy and calm toward the pins. This should make it considerably more forgiving and more predictable in direct comparison, even if it comes across as less explosive in terms of pin action.
On the Lanes The Visionary Granite Gargoyle is conceived as a clear specialty tool for lane conditions with high oil volume, particularly on completely fresh patterns. Thanks to the extremely rough surface, it should ignore carrydown almost entirely and provide excellent control in the heads. If you have a lower rev rate, you can benefit massively from the strong traction of the particle shell, since the ball bites very securely even without much physical hand action and finds a very stable path into the pocket. On drier lanes or once transition sets in, however, the 320 surface loses its forward energy too quickly due to too much friction. This often causes the ball to hit flat into the pins, with carry suffering noticeably. For bowlers looking for an even, extremely early and controllable reaction on heavily oiled conditions without the ball turning unpredictably at the breakpoint, this ball is an excellent fit. The surface can also be modified well through adjustments; a light polish or taking it up to a 1000 finish can help give the ball a bit more length on moderate conditions and make it usable more versatilely across different boards.