Drilling a bowling ball

[Jase]

How long does it take or do you expect your ball driller to take to Lay out a bowling ball and then Drill it...

From start to finish how long do you want your ball driller to spend with you and your ball before your walking out he door happy with the fitment...

Be interested to hear your opinions

 

[xcesiv]

It really depends on how often you buy your gear.

First ball they should spend at least 40- 1 hr with you. Make sure you are buying the right one for you.

More experienced bowlers, a lot quicker.

10 years ago when i was buying more gear i didn't expect a lot of attention. My proshop knew me well. Knew my style, average, and what worked for me.

A quick chat about what i wanted from my new gear. order the new ball, then a week later rock up and its done in 20 minutes.

Now that i have been back from a 5 year break, when i go to my proshop to buy my next ball, same one that did my old gear and still has all my ball stats, as its been so long since i have had a ball drilled i would hope to get at least double that. Double check spans, measurements, etc, and make sure im getting the right gear and setup that i need.

 

[amagill]

I usually buy my ball, then take it straight to my coach, and get him to lay it out for me, as he has all my measurements & pap, etc, on file, then I take it to the pro shop & get it drilled, so I don't spend very much time at all with the ball driller.....

Before I had all my measurements on record though, I used to probably spend around 45mins - 1hr with the driller, measuring & then throwing the ball to see how it felt....

 

[GeorgeF]

As a ball driller here are my approx times:

New bowler (I always make the bowler bowl first prior to drilling):

This includes measure and fit

Conventional grip - 15mins
Finger Tip grip (without inserts) - 20mins
Finger Tip grip (with inserts) - 30mins

Previous Customer:

Finger tip (with inserts) - 20mins

Shouldnt take longer than 30mins if you have no distractions and good drilling equipement. I like to take my time, a lot of my buddies in Vegas where I worked in a pro shop took 10mins tops to drill a fingertip, I cant do it that quick....well I could but I'd probable make a few mistakes sometimes.

PBA tour truck, is a factory for punching out balls,

Layout guy: talks to customer or quite often the pro wil lay it out - 3 mins
Driller: Does nothing but hit lines, 3 mins tops

Bowlers have to work out their own gear and drill grips, the fastest I've seen

 

[androooo]

I used to base times on what George said.

 

[Macka69]

I agree with George as that is what Paul Madden did when I bought my first ball from him.
He watched me bowl with my previous ball and then proceeded to re-measure my span and drilled it up in approx 30-45mins. Also the grip is set for me to utilise my Robbys Revs2 to the best advantage as well as I still cannot for the life of me LOCK my wrist properly.
I have since had balls drilled elsewhere but find now that Paul has given me the best fit as I have pitches in my fingers and also thumb holes.

Cheers
Lyndon.

 

[Brenton_Davy]

George is pretty close to the mark.

Used to take me longer to do fingertip balls because of the oval thumb holes, but since I learnt to calculate and drill the ovals on the drill press, the whole process is a lot quicker. Usually the longest part of the process is the discussion with the bowler determining what reaction they are after.

New customers requiring a re-measure and game analysis obviously take longer. Also agree with Georges comment about the PBA truck. US Open week it is non-stop 9am til 9pm 3 presses punching out balls like you would not believe.

 

[DaleS]

If I want a new layout I would normally expect to speak to the ball driller for about 30 mins first. Other than that, 20-30 minutes is what I would consider reasonable

 

[Jase]

George is pretty close to the mark.

Used to take me longer to do fingertip balls because of the oval thumb holes, but since I learnt to calculate and drill the ovals on the drill press, the whole process is a lot quicker. Usually the longest part of the process is the discussion with the bowler determining what reaction they are after.

New customers requiring a re-measure and game analysis obviously take longer. Also agree with Georges comment about the PBA truck. US Open week it is non-stop 9am til 9pm 3 presses punching out balls like you would not believe.

Hit the nail on the head there Brenton,

The reason i posted is because i read somewhere that $50 to drill a ball was TOP end...Well the way i see it is that the ball driller is offering his or her expertise on layouts/and reactions and sometimes even coaching tips not only that there are running costs involved with having a pro-shop/ drills/ drill sharpening and rent...

I suppose what i am getting at is that if it say takes roughly and hour, than $50.00 an hour is pretty cheap considering all of that...Most of us pay more than that for a tank of fuel, or new pair of jeans, shoes or even a night on the piss and so on...

Seems to me that for some reason or other the sport gets cheapened...

 

[Brenton_Davy]

Hit the nail on the head there Brenton,

The reason i posted is because i read somewhere that $50 to drill a ball was TOP end...Well the way i see it is that the ball driller is offering his or her expertise on layouts/and reactions and sometimes even coaching tips not only that there are running costs involved with having a pro-shop/ drills/ drill sharpening and rent...

I suppose what i am getting at is that if it say takes roughly and hour, than $50.00 an hour is pretty cheap considering all of that...Most of us pay more than that for a tank of fuel, or new pair of jeans, shoes or even a night on the piss and so on...

Seems to me that for some reason or other the sport gets cheapened...

Jase,

Some Pro Shops charge up to $100 for an outside fit and drill. It comes down to what the customer determines the service is worth, relatiive to the standard of that service. The Pro Shop operator has to weigh up the value of his/her time relative to what the market is prepared to pay. The majority of operators do so as a second income or hobby so they can afford to undervalue their services. Those who are full time ball drillers (and there are very few) tend to charge higher rates because they need to value their time and expertise at a higher rate.

What I will say is that smart operators wil always find other ways to keep and cultivate customers. While we might not be able to compete at the retail level, there is always flexibility to save regular and loyal customers with reduced rates on services such as equipment maintenance, coaching etc, that will, in the long run, save that loyal customer money over what they would save by purchasing "outside".

Food for thought.

 

[jason_doust]

Excellent point here Brenton. A good pro shop offers a lot more than a ball. But just as some people think a university degree is a piece of paper, there are people out there who do not value knowledge, expertise, experience, good tools and excellence of fit and finish.

Then they claim you're charging too much. It's an open and shut case of pearls before swine and it's always disappointing to have to justify the price of good work to people who don't see the value.

I guess that's why we see so many chewed up hands out there. (sigh...)

For the record, my times vary wildly, but George's times are right for somebody whose specs are on file. A first ball is usually 60-90 minutes, as I often have to teach the new customer to stop clawing the ball because of their previous ''fit''.

Cheers,
Jason