The Hammer Pure Envy is the fourth dull Envy and the fifth ball in the Envy line overall. There are three different core shapes used across this line. This ball and the original Envy use the asymmetrical Launcher design, which features a 2.505″ RG and a 0.055″ total differential. The Extreme Envy used the Launcher LRG core, reducing the RG to 2.479″ and just slightly reducing the differential to 0.054″. The two Envy Tour releases featured the Obsession Tour core, which has the lowest RG (2.469″) and lowest differential (0.034″) out of the three. The Pure Envy wraps the Launcher core with a new coverstock called HK22 – Cohesion Hybrid. This cover comes out of the box at a sanded 500/2000 SiaAir finish, allowing it to easily dig into the lane. The higher RG core shape compared to the Extreme Envy and the new hybrid coverstock help keep the ball from starting up too early and then losing energy at the back end. Instead, the Pure Envy changes directions fairly hard, providing strong continuation downlane and a ball reaction that matched up best for our testers on our heavy oil pattern.

Stroker saw very easy hook with a strong back end recovery on the fresh heavy oil pattern. The Pure Envy allowed him to start with his angles open without feeling any concerns about the ball not getting back to the pocket. He easily saw more total hook and a bigger change of direction at the breakpoint compared to both the Black Widow 3.0 and the Hazmat Solid. The Pure Envy didn’t start as early as the Envy Tour or the Extreme Envy for him, allowing it to change directions harder at the breakpoint and cover more total boards. This also made it very easy for him to adjust as the oil broke down. He continued to see the same strong motion as he moved farther left with his ...