Columbia 300 Freeze - Your thoughts

[RealmOfValek]

I know it's not in the upper echelon of performance balls but in my (limited) experience on lanes I have noticed a fair number of people have one.

I love mine, at the moment it's my go to ball. From it's behaviour on lanes I know how and where to throw my Action Attack.

Mine's (15lb) drilled skid/flip (thanks to Peter from Bowler's Emporium, best fitting ball ever!), sorry don't know the specs (Peter said it's drilled almost identical to his Freeze) - still relativly new to the sport and forever learning.

Had it nearly a year and it still rolls as well as it did out of the box. Every new ball I get i'm going to try and have it drilled to similar specs (albeit I'll be going for balls with stronger reaction and/or for a variety of conditions)

Just interested in other bowlers thoughts on the Freeze and recommendations for future balls that will compliment it and the Action Attack in my aresenal.

 

[Mark Ward]

i have 2 freeze balls drilled diffrently....love them. would never say anything bad about the ball....

i also got a cool noize to compliment it and with my resurgence and plastic ball i am happy with my kit atm.

 

[RealmOfValek]

I've heard a fair bit about the Resurgence. Wonder if anybody with a Bedlam or Total Bedlam has a Freeze?

 

[*robbo*]

I bought the blue/red freeze a few months ago, i got it drilled a day before the last sport series in sydney, my main arsenal are brunswick with a couple of older columbia's, i saw a couple of people using the freeze and i really liked the attitude of this ball on the lanes compared to their other gear, so i thought ok i'll get one as i dont mind the columbia's, afterall i still have an original cuda/c in my bag that i bring out on rare occations, and also the most 300's ive thrown with, after drilling the freeze (thanks to one of the best ball drillers in sydney, bruno from castle hill) i threw a couple of games and straight up a couple of 230+ games, i was happy with the drilling and the fit so i put it away, the next day off the the sport series at (north strathfield) in practice i threw a few balls down and no way could i use the freeze yet, was way too aggresive, so i thought i'll put it away and if i needed it i'd wait for the lanes to open up a bit, after 5 games and -27 under the card i was running 8th with only a high game of 211, i thought well i cant do much as i didnt have much room to play with as i was playing pretty tight down the boards, i thought well i might just pull the freeze out and give it a try and hope the lane would allow the fresh coverstock to give me some room, i moved 2 boards left and kept the same target, it did have more length than in practice but still decided it wanted to do a left hand turn straight through the head pin, i moved a further 2 1/2 boards and bango it smashed the pocket and cleared the deck, my next 5 games were 245, 240, 239, 233 and 235, to take out the tourney by somethin like 26 pins, so do i like the freeze you ask??? i absolutly love it, and im already lining another one up for when this freeze kicks the bucket..lol but a word of warning, i cannot use the freeze on my home lanes, the backends are too dry and i cant control it, its just way too aggresive, it deffo needs med to heavy oil, its still yet to hit its peak as its only had approx 12-13 games on it, i cant wait till it has around 50 games to see what it can really do.

 

[granto]

IMO the Freeze would have to be the best mid range ball on the market. My son has one and apart from his Mutant Cell, it is great on sports/heavy oil patterns. I gained a 2nd hand one thank you to Matt Watson and had the thumb adjusted and shot my high 4 game series which was 1012. It has got approx 40 or so games on it but WOW what a ball. I am partial to Storm/Roto gear though!!!

Grant

 

[RealmOfValek]

Seems like what you said friday night was correct Grant, everyone who has a Freeze loves it. Now I just have to work out how to bowl properly and maybe I'll have a shot at bowling some high games........

 

[*robbo*]

just get some coaching mate, even if just for some fine tuning, will improve your game.

 

[RealmOfValek]

Being told what to do and doing it are 2 different things Robbo *laughs*
But I've been getting help from a few people I bowl with. Waiting on Grant here to get his coaching cert done and I'll be getting some!

 

[phaggy]

I have a Bedlam and a Freeze, and my Bedlam is the ball I pick up first unless I know there is a fair amount of oil on the lanes. My Bedlam is drilled very differently to any other ball I have seen and it goes fairly long and snaps pretty hard. My Freeze is drilled a lot more conventional for dryer lanes yet it seems to have a very good midlane pick up while keeping its energy in the back end. I have thrown a 300 with my Bedlam and it would have to be the best ball that I have bought. The Freeze that I have hasnt had a whole lot of games on it coz I still havent really found the condition that I like to throw it on but I do feel that it is a good ball, I like the way it hits and I like the way it does react even with a tame drilling. Not that a tame drilling has ever stopped me from hooking the ball lol.
Phillip Fagg

 

[jason_doust]

I drill a few of these as they are quite honestly, the best value mid range ball around. I don't even sell entry level reactives anymore, as I can put somebody into a Freeze for not much more. As all the R&D was done years ago, Columbia has made a shrewd decision to release great, proven technology into the budget market and are really moving some of these out the door.

Great ball at a great price. Like the Jazz before it.

 

[RealmOfValek]

My first reactive was a Tropical Storm (from a Have-A-Ball league so in essence it was free) and until I showed it to fellow bowlers I assumed it was a good entry level ball. I found out it was manufactured wrong (Pin and CG almost on top of each other) so it never behaved as they should. As soon as I bought the Freeze I got rid of the Storm as soon as I could, as the Freeze was a vastly superior ball. Havent looked back since. It did tarnish my views on Storm equipment, even though I know they make good balls I wont ever own one after that. I like Columbia gear (now have 4 columbia balls [Freeze, Action, Action Attack and a White Dot) and I think I'll be sticking to them.
Although I have rolled a Hammer - Nasty and frankly I like

 

[RealmOfValek]

Recently picked up a Kenetic Pearl.... HMMMMMM nice ball (sorry Mitchell but I like it and yes i know its a Track )

 

[NoodleS]

I've drilled about 4-5 of these balls in the last month and don't find it hard to convince people that this is the best option for their first new ball purchase as they are by far the best value for money ball on the market. One of which was drilled for my younger brother who has just started learning to use more hand in his shot and therefore needed something controlled on our slightly dryer wooden lanes in Albury. I've noticed he finds it much easier to get this ball clean through the heads to the breakpoint and when it hits, it hits hard. Since drilling up this ball for him he is averaging 190-200 which is quite good in our centre.

 

[granto]

Our son Jake has a 14lb Freeze. He gets rotation and this ball loves it. It has a very consistant roll and carries well. The shape it holds to the pocket is fantastic. I would thoroughly recommend this ball to anyone looking for value in their kit!!!