Skyline TG2 Provincial Blue Sponge

[alas26]

So I had another long training session comparing directly Skyline TG2 Neo to TG2 Provincial BS (unboosted) on an all wood Nittaku Acoustic in Chinese penhold.

The Prov. BS is definitely faster than Neo. It feels really good to loop hard mid-far table. The shots are very spinny. The rubber is so dead on any other shot that you’re not putting your weight into. The blocking also takes a ton of pace off of loops with the dead sponge. I was able to do some pretty good traditional blocks with lots of control here. You can totally change the pace here.

The throw is a bit higher than Neo. Or - I’m not sure if I’m just interpreting that differently because it’s got more catapult at higher speed shots, but the angle and throw definitely seems higher.

Now, maybe this is because I’m not used to it, but I don’t find this rubber to be very linear. It’s really dead for blocks, but somehow sometimes has a bouncy feel on low input shots and it settles in at hard shots. Settles in: as in feels very stable and consistent. I think this rubber really needs to be boosted to make it playable in all other regions other than hard looping.

Serving felt ok... I was still able to generate lots of spin but I think Neo is still better at this with the softer sponge and more tackiness.

In the end, despite Neo being much slower, I have way more control on all aspects of my game. Probably mostly because I’m used to it. I overshot with Prov. BS so many times, but when it landed- damn it was devastating. Unfortunately, just too low % rubber for me. I set myself up for kills easier with Neo.

I think I will try some light baby oil boosting to see if it makes it more playable for my game and report back... but I’m just going to admit it now- I’m probably not good enough for the potential of this rubber. Not yet... I still haven’t reached the limits of Neo IMO.



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[alas26]

So, about a year later- I’ve decided to give this rubber another go. This time, it is cut to fit my DHS Hurricane Hao 2 (and unboosted).

I had just a short hit with it tonight, and it already feels like a better pairing than it was on the Acoustic.

I have a coaching session tomorrow and I’ll report back on how I can adjust to it in a session.

 

[SFF_lib]

So, about a year later- I’ve decided to give this rubber another go. This time, it is cut to fit my DHS Hurricane Hao 2 (and unboosted).

I had just a short hit with it tonight, and it already feels like a better pairing than it was on the Acoustic.

I have a coaching session tomorrow and I’ll report back on how I can adjust to it in a session.

Nice to see an update. I have to give up TG2 as my back pain doesn’t allow full-power swing every time I hit the ball. I have gone back to H3

 

[alas26]

Nice to see an update. I have to give up TG2 as my back pain doesn’t allow full-power swing every time I hit the ball. I have gone back to H3

I’m sorry to hear about your back pain! Hope to hear you’re better soon.

I’ve actually found this rubber to suit this blade much better than acoustic. It’s much more linear but has way more bounce, spin and kick than normal TG2 or TG2 Neo. That said, it’s less effort to get a desirable shot- but punishes you hard if you are indecisive or play not as “active” in your stroke.

I found that, in general, for almost Chinese rubbers- you have to be active to be effective, but with unboosted TG2 / Neo, you have the possibility to dink or dead block balls with relatively low reaction from the rubber. Maybe because they’re so hard and less engagement/time into the sponge vs. the blue sponge TG2?

For my forehand stroke, it seems to be very stable and consistent when you’re active. I feel like I am not exerting too much effort to find this stability- whereas with the TG2 commercial felt incredibly hard and I tired quickly to perform a similar quality shot.

I still need to control the bounce, but it seems like, normally, the answer to that is to engage it more by having more of an active stroke.