It appears that the holiday season comes twice a year, with new releases from Columbia, Faball, Storm and Track.

We received some outstanding equipment by late May for this column. Too bad Christmas doesn't come in July. These balls would make great presents if we had a "presence" of bowlers to scope them out. The ball makers need to keep their names in front of the buying public with new issues, but not all shops are in the Sunbelt. Maybe we'll have a chance to show these balls off come August when traffic picks up.

COLUMBIA: PEARL MESSENGER
Finally, a Pearl ball with a totally different look from its solid cousin.

Distinguishing Characteristics - The Pearl Messenger uses the same core as the solid, with the Rg and differential numbers within ticks of each other. Two-piece drills may be applied to 12-16 pounders, while the 10- and 11-pound models should be treated as three-piece. The SuperFlex reactive cover on this one looks to have a lot of fine mica in the pearl and is gloss-polished from the factory. This $140-range ball is bright day-glow orange; hard to miss it going down the lane.

We got one Pearl Messenger and drilled it for our heavy-handed southpaw co-worker. We hoped for control using a label drill with the pin outside the ring finger. Even with the pin in a strong position, this Messenger is very clean through the heads and very smooth on the back end. As the heads dry up, this ball plays a great swing shot with a big arcing hook. On a fresh condition, the Pearl Messenger holds the edge of the oil well, or can be played in the lighter outside with great length, smooth hook and hard-hitting power. With some carrydown from a first shift, the SuperFlex cover still delivers a strong recovery and great mix. With a gloss polish on the solid Messenger, the ball has a tendency to hook early on dry and flip abruptly out of the oil into the dry. The Pearl Messenger reads the dry very well without a tendency to over-react in the dry, and is a very clean, smooth-hooking, hard-hitting ball. The polish was not whacked off this one, and the only time it stumbled was at the BJ Championships, on long, tight conditions (he should've used the Chaos and/or Power Surge).

COLUMBIA: POWER SURGE
Distinguishing Characteristics -- The Power Surge uses a solid neon purple SuperFlex reactive cover with Silver Traction Affair Mica for added traction in oil and increased back-end friction. The surface is box-finished in a 600-grit sheen, but sands or polishes easily for bowler needs. The neon green pin (and logos) make the box drills a snap to use.

Speaking of drills, let's look at the core. The heart of this ball is the core in a core. Columbia calls the inner core a bulb shape. It might pass as a bullet or bomb-shaped bulb with an energy (flip) block on the bottom. The lower block adds to the ball's flare potential to increase back-end angle. These two components are wrapped in a low-density outer core, which stabilizes the dense inner works. This core construction offers medium/low Rg (2.520) and medium Rg differential (.045-.048 range). Notice this core does not have a Titanium or CeramiCore orb inside. This core allows the Power Surge to go straighter in the heads than some Pearl Columbias with the ceramic technology. The denseness of the inner core and the flip block allow this ball to cover more boards than the Surge, yet still retain an easy-to-play aggressive arc hook. The 12- to 16-pound balls use the core-in-a-core system and should be drilled as two-piece (box drills provided); 10- and 11-pound balls should be treated as three-piece.

The one ball we got was label-drilled (pin at leverage) and used with box finish on a fresh, heavy head condition. Compared to the Surge, this one is about 2 feet shorter, but plays much straighter through the heads. We could loop this ball outside the Surge with about 3-4 boards more hook. Box finish was too much for the hitters. We used the ball after league play (looking for drier heads), and needed to apply a light polish to stay in our initial alignment. This finish moved early for heavier hands. After applying a gloss polish, the crankers found the ball very clean up front and sharp but smooth in the hook area. Our weaker hand found this finish too speed-sensitive. We used a gray pad to haze the polish and left it that way. This light polished look has given us a rather large condition window to play with. This one costs about $160 and will deliver solid performance for the money.

Caveat -- Don't expect the Power Surge to hook like a Chaos, and don't look for dry length like a Renegade or Pearl Messenger. Do expect great performance in a mid-priced ball.

FABALL: JACK HAMMER
What if we told you there was a Hammer for about $150 that has great length, hooks strong on dry or tighter backends, and hits just a little short of the Off Set Hammers? Well, it's a reality! The Jack Hammer uses a single density core with cover from the Sledge Hammer family for great performance. We applied a 4-inch pin from PAP drill to left- and right-side balls, and have not found a need to scuff or sand either ball. The pearl reactive cover with factory polish will recover on any backend short of 60 feet of oil. Tight backends? No problem. Dry heads? No problem. We have yet to find a house or tournament condition on which this ball will not get back. The Jack Hammer is very clean up front and delivers an even, arcing hook for heavy hands, while weaker hands receive a strong arc to the pocket. The pass-around yielded no users getting a flip, but all users were impressed with the consistent backend from this ball. The first question after these balls are loaned out is: "When can I get one?" Well, the Jack Hammer is now available. An impressive mid-priced ball.

Caveat -- Don't expect to drop $200-plus on this one, and don't look for the big boomin' backend or hitting power of the Off Set Hammers. Just look for very solid performance for a modest price.

STORM: FIRE POWER
The Fire Power is sort of a blend of the reaction looks of the Fire Storm and Thunder Storm, but with a bigger set of tires. The left-side ball got a 4-inch pin from PAP, and the right-side ball was drilled with label leverage. The Fire Power is a quick-revving, free-spinning ball that will clear the heads quite well (thanks to the cover), and deliver a strong hook and excellent hitting power. If you are somewhat rev-challenged, you'll probably like the box finish on any kind of head oil. If you can lean on the ball and rev it hard, look for the polish. This reactive cover sands/polishes easily. The Fire Power gives Storm a heavy-duty, mid-range ($160) priced performer.

Caveat -- The cover can be a bit sensitive to oil pattern vs. ball surface. A touch too light on the polish, and the heavy hitters couldn't get the ball to the break point. A little too much gloss, and the "rev-challenged" hands couldn't get the ball to turn the corner. We found best results for rev players with a good polish; for the weaker hands, we used 600-grit sand and 1000-grit polish. This surface gave the ball some versatility on a variety of patterns: not enough on tight lanes and too much on toast, but playable on a broad mid-range.

STORM: HOT SHOT
We label-drilled left- and right-side balls with the pin below the bridge (both balls were 1 to 2-inch pin out balls). For an entry-level two-piece resin, the Hot Shot is a sleeper. We applied a light polish over the 600-grit sand and went to play on the right side. The strength of your release will allow you to play this ball in your comfort zone. Weaker hands need to roll the ball up the boards or line up tight. The power players just revved it up and let it go. The left-side ball was gloss-polished after the sand lines were removed with a gray pad. This high Rg ball with low Rg differential plays well with a tight alignment. The pass-around on both sides called the Hot Shot a Reactive White Dot with pop on the backend. A co-worker borrowed this one for dry in Syracuse, and wound up getting a darn good reaction on tighter conditions at the BJ and ABC Tournaments. Most users like this one polished for dry; the ball goes very long and is very readable on the backend. The Hot Shot is pretty versatile for drills, surfaces and bowler styles. But best of all, you can get change back from the $100 you spend on this one.

Caveat -- We really have no warning on this ball, except don't expect the Hot Shot to snap a bunch of boards, break pins or cost a bundle. This ball just quietly delivers decent performance and is nice and readable.

TRACK: CONTENDER
All we have on this one is light tech skinny: no ball or spec sheet at deadline. This ball uses a medium/low Rg with medium Rg differential core from the Elite family. The high-density inner core is a fat bulb with a narrow stem and a low-density outer core, offering versatility in layouts and drills.

The new non-traditional (bluish/purple) cover is Track's Pro Traction with TEC, Track's version of the new non-reactive hookin' covers ball manufacturers are developing. Early testing has shown this cover to be easy to work with and tune.