Originally Published May 10, 2010
I’ve been giving some thought recently to what I’ve currently got in my bowling ball bag. I’ve got a good number of bowling balls that I haven’t used in years and even a couple balls that were given to me used and plugged that I’ve never even drilled.
A while back my wife was kind of teasing me about the bowling balls I have lined up collecting dust and I finally decided a few months ago to pull one of them out of retirement and put it back to good use. The funny thing is the ball I decided to gram was my old Columbia Beast bowling ball that I purchased – or I should say my parents purchased for me – back in 1997.
The Columbia 300 Beast bowling ball is essentially a very small step up from a plastic bowling ball. It is made of urethane and because I bought it when I was averaging 150 in my teenage years it was drilled pretty much like a house ball.
One would expect this ball would provide me next to nothing compared to my new aggressive balls but little did I expect since I’ve been throwing this ball in league my average has increased dramatically and I’ve thrown two 800s and one 300 with it. Crazy!
Anyway; I wanted to post this mostly because I want to start inventorying the bowling balls I use and to help reference what I’m using in all the tournaments and leagues I bowl in. I will also be using pages like this in conjunction with my accomplishments pages to keep track of what balls I use when I bowl my honer scores and the like.
If you want to check out the Columbia Beast Bowling Ball for yourself you’re going to have to monitor Ebay because this is an old ball and I haven’t seen anyone throwing it in years. Weird too because it sure is nice for leagues for those of us with a lot of hand. In the future I’m going to try and upgrade this ball to a Storm Natural Bowling Ball but until then I’m going to continue enjoying my old Beast and look for even more honor scores. 🙂
Comments:
-Anonymous- June 3, 2010
What timing. That exact ball was my first "non plastic" ball back in jr league. Dad purchased it when it was new, same story as yourself it sounds like. Just two months ago I decided to pull it out of the old bag, get it plugged and re-drilled. Was planning to use it kind of like a plastic spare ball (just getting back into bowling and currently only have a Black Widow Pearl), but to my surprise this one could still get the job done in dry conditions. Funny how all this technology in recent years hasn't done THAT much. My dad still averages 230 with his old Columbia Quake, and he's 56 years old (I'll caveat by saying he used to be on the tour back in his hay-day, and only bowls a company league every 4 years or so).
Anyway, I've only used the beast once since I got it re-drilled, but funny timing. I too thought I was the only one still using this thing.
-Anonymous- June 3, 2010
Sorry, meant to say 220, not 230.
-Anonymous- September 22, 2010
Brian, I'm pretty sure The Beast is reactive. It was part of the 2nd wave of reactive balls to come out in 1993. Columbia's first reactive balls (ProHook) were not as popular as the Rhino Pro line from Brunswick or Ebonites Crush/R and TurboX. However Norm Duke used the Beast quite a bit in dominating the tour in 93.
Regardless, It's great to pull out the old guns now and again and see just what they can do. I enjoy your site.
-KG- December 18, 2010
Also the ball I still have in my bag. It is indeed reactive, see link http://columbia300.com/products/detail_retired_balls/beast/
I too got this back in junior leagues(94-97). I probably got it in 96. Before this I used a Brunswick Heat Urethane. I only seem to get out bowling once every couple years it seams, just went last night and threw a 169-173-181-523 couldn’t seem to find a spot where it wouldn’t break too early or too late until the last 3-4 frames of the 3rd game.
I’d been thinking about joining a casual league and about looking at a new ball, after reading this I wonder how much it would even make a difference.
-Brian- December 24, 2010
@kg & anan – well you guys may be right about the Beast being an early reactive ball. I’m a little skeptical but can’t deny the link provided. 🙂
It sure does roll like a urethane at least.
Anyway, I still love the ball and will continue to throw it. I actually used this ball for a few games just recently in the Nov. 2010 PBA member/non-member Western regional doubles event. I was having trouble with early hook so I went to this ball and went up the gutter for a few games.
It still is probably the best ball I have in the bag for a house shot – I even picked up the Natural and still can’t score with it like I can with the Beast. With the Natural I’m only averaging about 219 on the house shots but the Beast I’m in the mid-220s easily… and all my highest games and series came throwing the beast too.
-Anonymous- May 10, 2011
Actually there was more than one version of The Beast. There was a urethane AND a reactive.
From the picture I can tell you yours is most certainly the urethane.
