The Madness pairs new elements with a familiar coverstock to create a new skid/flip beast in the Columbia 300 line. ERT Pearl was used previously on the Dynamic Swing Pearl, but the coverstock on the Madness adds Brunswick’s HK22 base material to the formulation. This new cover is poured around the new asymmetrical Craze core, which is a low RG and medium-high differential design. For our three bowlers, the changes to the cover and core gave us more length and a sharper move off the dry compared to the already-angular Top Speed. The Madness was just under the Top Speed in total hook, helping it match up best to our medium oil test pattern.

Cranker really liked the shape the Madness created for him on the fresh medium oil condition. The ball was very strong at the end of the pattern, but it still gave him enough traction in the midlane to keep it from over-skidding in the oil. He could start the ball deeper in the pattern, crossing the third arrow and getting the ball out to seven at the breakpoint. The Madness was much quicker off the dry than the Dynamic Swing, while providing more total hook than the Power Torq Pearl and Messenger PowerCOR Pearl. The cover on the Madness was strong enough for him to create hook in the midlane, which kept the ball from having too much length on the fresh. As good as his reaction was on the fresh, it only got better as the pattern started to see some transition and the friction in the track area started to create more room for error to the right downlane. Cranker’s higher rev rate allowed him to have the best reaction of our three bowlers on the heavy oil pattern, but he needed to reduce his speed to give the ball enough ...