Visionary Granite Gargoyle Bowling Ball

If there is a time to move in and have something hook when the lanes are flying, this is it. The ball does what it is designed to do on any medium to heavy oil condition. I haven't had the need to change the surface for what I want the ball to do. It gives me a very controlled back end when it does hit the dry and carries the light hits as well as the high. I would recommend this ball to any one looking for a weapon to use on league night or at tournament time. This is the first ball out of my bag when the lanes have to much oil for my other stuff.

This ball come to me was an accident.I was ordered for green gargoyal but comes for a granite one since my order problem. My first image is : So Ugly Ball!!... But after drilled & tested for fresh oil & breakdown patterns.I changed my mind...It might be one of my favorite ball for unsure conditions. This ball drilled as pin up,CG out 3" from my center grip.Ball weight : 15lbs3oz with Top 2.85 oz & Pin placement 2-3". I tried several shots after lane pattern just refreshed.38 feet mid-heavy oil volume.Makes my granite gargoyal move very deep with tons of backend.(Maybe the drill pattern is also one of key effect to the final result).After lane break out,my ball still works very versatile.Just loose a bit grip force in the mid part of lane but still enough to cover all 10. What I can say is,nice! Ugly,but comfortable~~<sc

Granite Gargoyle drilled label leverage. This ball always finds its way back into my bag. It's a heavy rolling, arcing ball that carries, carries, carries. Even when playing a deeper line, the Granite finds ways to carry. The trick is to put the right surface on it for the conditions you face. The 320 box surface is a bit much for normal house conditions. 600-800 is much better. I've also polished it for lighter oil with success. There's a reason Visionary has kept the Gargoyle line around for a long time. And for the price, you have to try one.

THIS BALL IS AN ABSOLUTE MONSTER!!! It is laid out 4 x 3 In box condition you will never find a house shot that suits this ball. I test balls for the reviews in The Bowler's Journal and see basically everything that everyone makes. This hooks more than anything I've EVER thrown. On the right shot, though, it can be a Godsend. A few weeks ago I hit a 54 (yes fifty-four) foot pattern and could not make anything bend. The reactive stuff wouldn't even wiggle. I broke out the Granite Gargoyle with the box condition and played it up the three board. Only one of my four games was under 250 ( and that was a 206). In case you are wondering, this ball can be polished, but it is one heck of an undertaking. The Granite is actually a rubber ball with a particle load which makes things tricky. I use the Haus machine and work it up as much as possible on that. After that, I usually use the Abralons up to a 2000 grit shine. At that point, you can still feel some of the particles

my granite was my first ball from visionary.it is a decent ball but unless you drill it for length or polish the hell out of it you can forget it unlessits flooded.it doesnt have a big snap so dont play it deep.if you have enough oil it can retain its energy for the backend.if your lanes are dry it makes a nice doorstop or anchor for a boat.the cover will not allow it to do anything on dry or burnt conditions.at 320 sanded like it comes out of the box it will burn up on the approach,but if you polish it , it will give it some length and a little backend.

I chose this ball when changing from a conventional to finger-tip grip which was about a year a go on my 16th birthday. My average immediately shot up 132-175. Like strong arc and the power it carries into the pocket. Bowled high games of 243, 245, and 254 with the granite gargoyle, but had a lot of trouble on lighter oil conditions. There are better balls than this. If you do choose to purchase this ball then make sure you have a ball to make up for its light oil mishaps. I'm heading out tomorrow to purchase a Hammer Big Blue Pearl. I can't wait to see how it handles.

Just got this ball yesterday. Pin just below middle finger, cg straight down just above the thumb and weight hole kicked out about 2 inches from the thumb. As with all the reviews for this ball. YOU MUST HAVE OIL or polish the ball to something around 600 to 800 so it won't burn up. My driller changed a few things with my pitches and span so I'm not very use to the way it's coming off my hand at this time but that is not the ball's fault. Even if I had my old setup I still would need to put a little shine on this ball. When I did find the pocket on the medium oil lanes I was bowling on the hit was great and the carry was as good as my Deep Impact by Lanemasters. It wasn't the same type of hits and carry, but impressive none the least. I'm not giving up on this ball yet. I have plans to bowl at a "swamp" house to see what she does in heavy oil and then we'll look to add some shine if need be. Update soon to follow. E........ 2-14-2005 Update. Tried to work with this ball and co

This ball is the worst ball I have every had. Paid 150 plus for the ball and drilling, could not give it away. Could not find enough oil in the house I use and what oil there is the ball would soak it up and toast the lanes. If you have a weak wrist and need to bowl on toast this ball might be for you but I do not think anyone can control this piece of ****!!! If you want to waste your money try this ball and you will dislike it as much as I do. Also you will need to buy plenty of cleaners and clean it each time the balll comes back or you will think you have a different ball by the third frame, NASTY NASTY NASTY

This ball is one of the four balls I recieved for Visionay with my Test Staff membership. I drilled this ball with a 4 x 4 layout with a weight hole. Ran out of the proshop and ready to throw the ball with the factory surface of 320 Grit.! This ball had no chance at the surface and I quickly went up in surface to 600 and after a week to 1000 with some 3 - M Finnese. This ball with the new surface is really good on the fresh house which has a big track area between the 8 board and the 15th board with beat -up heads. I normally start this ball around 17th board and go to 8th board and back to the pocket. I use this ball for about 2 games until the pattern breaks down and I go to my Blue Grphyon which is drilled with the same layout. Good Hit when the condition is right.

not like the other gargoyles. This coverstock must be the reason. When you get alot of games it does not react or hit as hard. I had the ball resurfaced and keep it clean but does not seem to help. I know other bowlers that have similar problems with their granites but love the othe gargoyes they use. When new I had to give this ball plenty of room and had alot of high scores but now play straight down second arrow and hope it comes in. Also when new had to keep in oil or would hook too much. Now only use it on light to med oil patterns.

My Granite Gargoyle is drilled label leverage with the pin next to my ring finger and the cg center grip. Knowing the aggresive cover of the ball I brought it up to 600 poish before even throwing it on my house shot. AT first I thought putting the polish on was a mistake as the ball went really long. But after a couple of shots the ball found its groove and made a nice turn to the pocket with excellent carry. Drilled this way with the cover at 600 the ball clears the heads with ease and makes a strong arc to he pocket. I have barely left a corner pin (10 Im a righty) with this ball lotsof messengers. Ball does have a little forgiveness to it too. If it is sent to far out it comes back brooklyn though. As everyone elso has said this ball does get dirty and must be cleaned after every outing. Excellent ball for your medium to oily condition. Test Staff Member Pete M

In May of 2003, I purchased the Granite Gargoyle and bowled with it for about 2 months averaging 188-190 on a wide range of lane conditions in league. When I first got this ball I could not believe how great it worked. I shot a 675 in National in the team event and thought what a great piece of equipment. Then the lane conditions in league changed from very oily to almost bone dry. I orderd and started using the Blue Warlock and various other balls because the gargoyle wasn't reacting to the changed lane conditions. So I put the gargoyle in retirement, so to speak, and forgot about it. About 3 weeks ago the lane conitions in league changed yet again this time to very oily. I tried every piece of equipment I have from my storm products to the attitude ball I purchased several years ago - nothing seemed to work. Nothing I had was cutting through the oil and giving me the reaction I needed on the back end, or so I thought. This past week I decided to bring the gargoyle ou

Hey everyone, This is my second review of the Gargoyle, as I first reviewed the way that it reacted in box condition. Well, I just wasn't getting the chance to use it enough with the dull finish, so I thought I'd try to shine it up. The ball is almost twice as aggressive as it was before! I was playing in the heart of the oil, and this ball would just glide down to about 45-50ft before turning on the left turn signal and flying into the pocket. If I got a bit wide it came roaring back, if I got it in, it would set and send pins three lanes over. I have never seen a ball handle the heavy oil in the middle of the lane like this one did. I was watching other guys have to try to bring the ball back from the dry boards on the outside with ER's, Responses, and Icon's, meanwhile, my Gargoyle was chewing up the oil in the middle and spitting it out. The carry is phenomenal, you can actually hear the difference when that ball hits! I don't know what Visionary does to their particles, but a

When I saw that certain online shops were selling the Granite Gargoyle for $85.50 I just had to get one. I could not be happier with this ball. This ball clears the heads very easily, gets into a nice, heavy roll and hits the pocket with greater force than I've ever seen! This ball kicks and throws pins around in every direction. However, it still drives through the pocket in a true direction, thus, no pinging 8 or 9 pins. I haven't had this ball for very long, but I am averaging 225+ in the games in which I've used it. This ball is great for medium oily-oily conditions, and it doesn't overreact to the dry like my Eraser Boost does. The only possible flaw that I can see with this ball is that it is going to shine up quickly, as others have reported also. I think that this is due to the porous and gritty nature of the finish. However, I don't think that giving a ball a periodic water bath is too much to ask for all of the performance that this one puts out. This is a fanta

On a fresh shot, this is the best ball I've ever thrown. It gets lost somewhat once the lanes break down. The first three sets after drilling the ball were 700's, one a 792. Followed that with two low 600's before realizing that the ball needs to be babied (see below.) After it's "treatment" -- another 7. This is not a skid/snap ball despite it's very rough particle cover. It gets through the heads cleanly and then starts a hard, but controlled charge to the pocket. It's a high maintenance ball. You have to clean it after every game. It gets UGLY. After nine or so games it needs special attention because the cover begins to shine and the ball loses it's powerful finish. It still makes the pocket, just doesn't carry as well. I scrubbed mine with soap and water (per Visionary's recommendation -- they respond to questions as if they have nothing better to do but wait for me to e-mail them) and used a blow-dryer on it. Don't laugh. The blow dryer brought out the rough, g

I just purchased this ball yesterday and had the opportunity to try it for the first time during my Thursday Night League. I average 190, but shot 640 with this ball without any problem. If it was not for a couple of splits and missed 10 pins, I would have easily shot 700+. This ball is absolutely amazing. The first thing that grabs you is the out-of-box finish that is on the ball. You would get the same feel by rubbing your hands on a concrete driveway. In terms of hook and control, I usually like to play in and throw out to about 15 board to the right of the lane, thus counting on a very reactive flip or hard arc. This ball beat my expectations 100 percent. You have to put a little speed on the ball to avoid it hooking early, but once you get it out there, it will maintain and break with predictability. Up to this point I had only thrown Ebonite equipment, with my favorite go-to ball being my Matrix TPS III. For the Granite Gargoyle to be my first Visionary ball, or b

This was my first Visionary ball. Yes, it's ugly... yes, people will make fun of you... and yes, people will hate you for throwing it. Personally, I love it when people make fun of this ball... it makes it more fun to beat them with it. This ball is just awesome. I never start with this ball... I use it when nothing else is working. I normally like to play up 5-7 on the left, so I use shinier, longer balls to try that. When that doesn't work, it's Gargoyle time! I take out the Granite, stand against the ball return and wind it up to about 12-15. This ball has never failed to hook, hit and carry like a train! I recently had a league night where I shot 362 for my first 2 with several other balls... then I took out this ball and shot a nifty 505 for the next 2. I like to keep it dull... sanded to 400. IMPORTANT: YOU GOTTA KEEP IT CLEAN! Once it gets shiny or dirty...it will just not hit. I have drilled it with the cg dead center and the pin 1/2" outside my fing

This ball makes the other bad boys on the market look like timid sheep. I was bowling on a pair with fried head when I was practicing with my green gargoyle, but moved to a pair that was heavily oiled, with carry down. These two pairs were like night and day, just like the two gargoyles are. I pulled my Rock out of the bag first, because I had seen someone practicing on this pair earlier that couldn't wrinkle the ball. The Rock had a nice consistant ball reaction, but it's hit was sub-par. I then decided to see what my new bad boy could do. This thing outhooked my Rock by about 5 boards, and blew out the rack. This is by far the biggest monster that I have ever thrown. People with little or no hand in the ball will love this one, as they will feel they are Kelly Coffman throwing this ball down the lane. The strange this is I think the strappers will like this thing just as much, because this ball has a very consistant ball reaction, that won't over/under on them. Then you have people l

This was the first Visionary ball that I ever bought. I can still remember the first day it arrived, I was so excited that I ripped the box open only to be greeted by easily the ugliest balls I had ever seen. I drilled it up and used it for the first time in league, and within 5 minutes of putting it on the ball return I was swamped by people wanting to know "what is it?", "who makes it?", "where did you get it from?" I bowled it in league and shot absolute telephone numbers, every time it hit the pocket it was like a concussion grenade going off. In the first three months of owning it I had shot 3 x 290's, with only two cold 8 pins and a rocking 10 pin stopping me from adding to my 300 tally. If you want a pretty ball, DONOT buy this, however, if you want a ball that you can blitz the opposition by shooting impossibly high scores with then YOU MUST buy one of these balls.

This ball has been a huge seller on the internet and in our shop. I think that people like the color and the logo. This is a great ball for a bowler that want a hook ball but can't afford the more expensive equipment on the market. This ball has a very controllable core. So with the highly aggressive particle, you will get a smooth arcing ball that can handle some heavy oil. I give this an 8, because Bowlers with a lot of hand will probably not have a need for this ball, because it will hook too much. This ball can easily be adjusted, surface wise, to meet the needs of the bowler. If you have any questions, please email me at Bill@buddiesproshop.com Thanks Bill