The Intense Mindset is the third ball in Brunswick’s Mindset series. The original had a very dull reactive solid cover, the Perfect Mindset had an HK22-based hybrid shell, and now the Intense Mindset features the HK22 – Evolution Pearl coverstock. The Mindset core has remained unaltered, giving the Intense Mindset a 2.487″ RG, a 0.050″ total differential, and a 0.021″ intermediate differential. Coming out of the box at 500/1000/1500 SiaAir plus Crown Factory Compound, the Intense Mindset is the most angular ball in the Mindset series.

For a ball with a pearlized coverstock, Stroker liked the traction he saw in the midlane on the medium oil pattern. He saw his ball rev up pretty quickly and really create a big footprint, allowing him to see plenty of total hook. The Intense Mindset wasn’t quite as angular as the Beyond Infinity for him, but he could start it a few boards inside of his line with that ball. Stroker liked keeping the ball a bit more in the oil and found it to be very effective on the fresh. As the lanes broke down, the Intense Mindset pushed him farther inside and slightly out of his comfort zone, so he preferred to shell-down into the Endeavor and stay on top of the friction instead of chasing the line farther left.

The added traction in the midlane was very noticeable for Stroker on the heavy oil pattern. He almost always has to remove any kind of polish or compound on this pattern, but the Intense Mindset picked up enough in the oil to let him stay with the box finish. While not his best reaction on the fresh, ...