Expert: Russ King - 6/20/2007

Question
What's the average cost of getting holes drilled?
I was reading the section and see that there is a lot more to the task than just drilling three holes in a ball and calling it a day.  I am currently using two Ebonite Avenger balling balls that I got for free.  Any drilling set up that would work better than another setup?

Answer
Drilling a ball could be called an art.Anybody can drill holes.But the art is the beveling out the holes,reading the bowler & their hand, knowing what pitches to drill for certain styles and tweaking the grip say for double jointed people.The magic is say the thumb feels a little tight,you need to take one slice out on beveling to get it right.The magic is drilling a thumb so it fits like a glove not a sock.A lot of drillers drill very big holes where your thumb swims in it. This cuts out friction when the driller is not very good at beveling.You don't stick or rub a blister but, you have to squeeze a big thumb hole & that creates bad habits & reduces action on the ball leaving single pin spares on great hits.Telling you now you need a wrist band & lost of tape is the result of a bad grip drilled.A ball driller should ask you many questions about your game, what your looking fore & most importantly what you need.They try to be a used car salesman wanting to sell you the lemon sitting in the ball cup collecting dust & costing $300.00 before he asks any questions.He should try to find any flaws or an out dated grip that should be tweaked to fit your hand now not 2 years ago.Then if your in a bowling center, he should go out on the lanes & watch you to see if the grip will be ok.
Then it is up to you to decide what surface you want on the ball to best suit your needs.A duller surface for an arc type line or shiny for length & snap.If the ball rubs a blister or your hand hurts the next morning, the grip is not right.You should be able to bowl at least 10 games in a row without causing any problems.
 As for drilling patterns, that is decided by many questions about style form & what your last ball is lacking.Most everything is drilled without static weights(thumb , side,finger) anymore.The thing that dictates the line is the PIN & the SURFACE OF THE BALL.The exotic fancy weights is to give you a song & dance amaze you into thinking your getting a high tech drilling.In Particle & Reactives this is true.In Urethanes & Plastics/Polyesters,you still can drill with static weights since 1/2 don't have pins & Urethanes take to static weights.They also show better effects on surface changes.To where the Reactives & Particles show minimal effects on surface changes.
 I started helping in a Pro Shop in 1977.Being a Mechanic learning the machines & watching the balls hit the pins sitting over the pin decks helped me in learning the effects on the weights when I looked at the ball as it was going up the back of the machine & out back to the bowler.I also dressed the lanes for many years.Different conditions dictated on how bowlers scored & on how they had to play the lanes.
 I have tried a lot of things myself in balls & throw them to find out what happens & how to correct them.When I didn't have customers, I was on the lanes experimenting.I try to learn something at least once a week.If the Ball Driller is always sitting down reading a novel or watching One Life to Live, go to another Pro Shop where the person is taking interest in shop activities.
 The costs have a wide range even in the sane State & if you need finger inserts &/or thumb slugs the cost gets higher.The shop that charges the most is probably not the best.When you find a fair price, that driller is into bowling & helping out the customers.Here in San Antonio,TEXAS, you can go from $25 to $55.The $55 one is for the song & dance & the $25 one is for the people who watch the one hour video on ball drilling & think their drillers.
It is best to find a PBA MEMBERS SHOP or a driller that bowls well & a lot that drills their own equipment .SOME BODY WHO IS INTO BOWLING & NOT JUST THERE TO SELL!!!