The Violent Eruption is the newest mid-priced performance ball for the Columbia 300 brand. This ball joins the successful Eruption from last season at this price point. This new addition uses the same core shape as the Eruption, but with some very minor density changes. The biggest change is the different coverstock, named New Era SF Plus. For our test staff, the Violent Eruption started up just a tad sooner than the Eruption, but with a bigger and stronger move downlane.

Our testers by far had their best reaction on our medium test pattern. That is saying something considering we made no surface adjustments on any test pattern for the entire testing session. Stroker and Cranker had impressive reactions. Stroker was going straighter and could notice the change of direction downlane. Cranker really liked throwing this ball as well. He could get deeper into the pattern and still go around the hook spot created by the other testers as the pattern broke down. As good a reaction as these two testers had, Tweener had an even better one. This ball just matched up perfectly for him, earning the highest rating possible on this pattern. This ball was the reaction for him that every bowler wants to see – recovery in oil and a strong yet controllable movement off the dry. All three testers’ pin carry was exceptional. All hits were knocking all ten down – light shakers, flush shots, and messengers everywhere.

We moved to the heavy test pattern next and were surprised that we were able to use it at the box finish. All three testers moved right and squared up to go more up the lane. This adjustment was enough to get all the testers into the pocket.

We had a slightly better reaction on our sport pattern than we did on the dry test pattern. Tweener and Stroker were playing the same line to the pocket, just a few boards parallel to each other. Cranker took advantage of the recovery downlane and used it to overpower this condition.

The dry test pattern was the toughest for the testers. The only problem we had was trying to get this ball down the lane far enough before it made its move. All three testers increased their ball speeds, which helped get the ball back to striking.

Strengths: The ability of this ball to create enough traction in the midlane while still storing energy for an explosive move at the breakpoint and back end is something we have not seen in a while, especially from a ball that is not a high performance release.

Weaknesses: There are very few weaknesses for the Violent Eruption. Only the extremes of oil patterns will keep this ball in the bag.

Overall Summary: This ball was simply unstoppable in our testers' hands on our medium pattern. Any type of medium pattern will put the Violent Eruption in play.