Columbia 300 Messenger Green Bowling Ball

I'm 29 years old and have been bowling in the leagues since I was 4 years old. I grew up throwing only Columbia products (my father was a big fan of Columbia) and as a kid, thats all my dad would drill for me. The Columbia Messenger is by far my favorite ball of all time. I made a lot of money in tournaments, pots and brackets which clearly paid for this ball time and time again. You couldn't beat the price (if i remember correctly, the retail price for this ball was about $90-$100) and I loved beating guys who insisted on running out and buying the most expensive equipment on the market. Like I said above, this ball was very consistent for me as I was able to move outside and play up the lane with it and if need be, I was able to change my hand position and move inside and swing the ball. Believe it or not, I used this ball for about 6 years before finally setting it down. I re-surfaced it a couple times and towards the end, I began leaving a lot of corner pins with it. So ... my

Great all around balls ,but maintain,maintain maintain.I have found the Dynothane Thing polished to be very similar in reaction,to the Black & gold messenger,so i keep it lightly scuffed the Dynothane Cure Pearl covers the same number of boards as the B&G but hooks 3 feet later. Different Drillings seem to effect these Core heavy balls I chose 12:00 stacked Leverage for the B&G pearl. The only ball i liked better was the Dynothane Special EFX Pearl blue ,Best ball i ever had. But this messenger is a close second and i have abunch of them .sometimes the older designs just hold up .If the ball companies were not reigned in they would have nuclear powered ones by now. Peace

Another recent pre- loved addition to the bag, kept its 5x3/ 3/8 layout with hole on PAP(pin under fingers) and have tried it with several surface changes. When Polished with degree 2000 its a little weak on light carrydown, it made the 2nd day leftovers in the heads easy to clear so with cleaner backends this surface may be a more usable here. With a light pass with the green scotch brite this ball still clears fresh heads and comes alive a little earlier in the mids, backend reaction is strong on the fresh condition and has earned me a couple of 3-4 leaves, this would be a good setup for heavier heads and longer oil/carrydown at the business end. Best surface for house conditions for me has been 1000 sheen(Track clean and sheen) With a little more practice( and a span change, relaxed span messes with my release) this one should be out of the practice bag and into tournament duty soon, a good fit between the earlier rolling Pulse and the go-long Super Beast.

This is a 14 pounder that I bought used. It was drilled for a lefty and I'm a righty no thumber so I throw it upside down. I use this ball when I practice. I can use it on any medium condition with good results. It goes where you put it. You get what you deserve. It carries well and the hook shape is arc. I think this is a much better ball than the Messenger TI. I could never get the TI to carry. This is a nice versital ball for a one ball bowler and you certainly can not beat the price

Great Ball For Tougher Sport Shots or Dryer Tournament Shifts, Have Mine Drilled For Heavy Roll For Good Pin Carry, Also If Used In A Heavier House Shot, Good Spare Ball For Multi-Pin Spares Such As Buckets, or 4-7, or 6-10 Spare Conversions, Its A Shame This Ball Isn't Still Being Made Today, The Super-Flex Coverstock Is A Very Verstile Ball Coverstock, Goes Long And Hits Hard When Polished And Cuts Through Oil And Arcs In The Pocket Sanded 600 And Below, Wouldn't Recommend Going Too Deep Because Of Pin Carry Issues And Problems.

I got this ball when I was starting to take bowling a little more serious and wanted to move up from urethane to a reactive cover stock. Out of the box it improved my average 10-15 pins and allowed me to throw more hook. It was also on sale at the local pro shop for $75 and that included drilling. On a fresh house shot before carry-down becomes a problem, this ball is awesome. It has a nice controllable arc and hits hard when flushed. However, if the lanes are really wet OR you get some carry-down, it becomes hard to control. Also if they get really dry it takes perfect speed and line to get this thing in the pocket. In short, this is a great ball for someone just making the transition to reactive balls or just learning to bowl. However the more advanced bowler would only want this in his arsenal for very specific conditions.

I loved this ball at my house. It's mainly straight up second arrow or a nice swing out to second arrow. Thats where the nice controlable hook fits in. I bowled in a youth state tournament and struggled terribly. Was it the balls fault no but Finally I gave up on the ball in my last game and switched to my timber wolf. The timber wolf gave a better reaction in the oily conditions which perplexed me. Basically what I am saying in this ball is good for medium oil conditions and dry (if you are comfortable swinging the ball) If you are in the heavy oil stay away. Good start up resin ball for a youth bowler because of the price.<scrip

Overall for the right conditions, this ball is awesome especially for the price. The few times I've thrown this ball has been in the 220's-240's. And I've shot 1 299 with it. I leave it polished myself, no reason really to dull it up because of what it's meant for the shiny surface suits it just fine. I did try to dull it up once just to see how it would react, it rolled little earlier but did not perform as well in my opinion I reshined it shortly after. Caution: you have to know exactly when to take this ball out, because it is a very condition specific ball. This is more suited for medium to dry lanes. I like it for when the medium oil is just starting to burn up on the heads, then this ball works it's magic. however if the backends get some carry down you may have trouble with reaction.

I have had a lot of success with this ball. I originally purchased it for medium/dry conditions, but found I got a lot of over/under when this ball was polished, no matter what I used. The ball would skid too long one shot, and the next shot would hit a dry board and kick left. I decided to bring this ball to 1000 grit with no polish, and I couldn't have asked for a better ball reaction. The Messenger has a great roll and explodes in the pocket. For the price you couldn't ask for a better medium condition ball. I would put it away in a lot of soup though. Overall, I would give this one an 8.<s