Sorry, just have a little rant....

I started driling about 6 years ago as a hobby for one of my friends that owned a center.  I did not have to pay any rent and had access to the equipment that was already on-hand.  I invested all of the original profits into items (i.e. BT ballfitter, pitch gagues, armadillo, kaufman scale, ovalmatic mill) for the shop.  I began learning more and more about drilling through books, classes, seminars, and trial-and-error.  Since I have no overhead I can keep my prices fairly reasonable and still turn a decent profit.  Well, word is now out that I am pretty good and I am drilling many balls for people that do not bowl at my centern not just because of price, but because I spend about an hour with each person that gets a ball drilled.  Unfortunately these people from other center have pro shops where they bowl that do not have very nice things to say about me.

Last week I drilled a ball for a woman who was finally getting her first finger-tip ball.  She did not have time to stay and throw the ball and I warned her that her thumb was fit correctly, but probably tighter than the house balls that she was used to throwing.  A couple of days late she decides to try out her new ball at another center and without instruction.  Long story short; the pro shop owner sees that she is throwing a new ball and comes out to tell her that the ball is drilled totally wrong for her and that f***ing amateurs like me shouldn't be drilling balls at all.  

Couple of weeks ago; I drilled a ball for a friend and told him that it would be done and he just had to come in so I could do some fine tuning on his thumb.  He shows up when I am not there and takes the ball for his league that night.  Once at the other house he begins to throw the ball (with a thumb that has almost no bevel) and manages to get some good air on one of his folowing tosses.  The owner/pro shop owner comes out and tells him that I need to learn how to drill a f***ing thumbhole correctly.

I never criticize any of the other drillers in the area to any of my customers of prospective customers.  When people come to me, I may make layout suggestions or drilling recommendations, but I never criticize another person's work.  

Does this happen to others???

I could type about this all day but i'm lazy and a lousy typer.  But just this past wednesday a guy came in and I had a 15 to 20 minute conversation with him about a new ball. The bottom line is he said he wanted something that hooked more than his scout reactive.  I told him where on the shelf the scout fit and that anything above that would most certainly hook more, but did I sell him a ball right then, no i did not.  Reason being because first of all it was league and there were no open lanes to watch him bowl.  So i told him i was free all day saturday and he should come by and i could watch what he was getting with his scout maybe give him a  few thing to work on to get more out of it and to get more out of a new purchase.  He thought that was a great idea.  

Now there are shops all over the country  Im sure some of them would do what I did and there are plenty that would have sold him a ball abbove a scout and sent him on his way promising it would hook more.  But maybe it wouldnt of hooked more if we wasnt properly fit or wasn't getting the proper rotation on the ball, I will know that after saturday but the shop that drilled him a ball right then would not.  And they are the very same shop to badmouth someones work in hopes to quickly gain a ball sale or customer right then and there.
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Leader & Founder of Fellowship of the Saws! 03/04/05 Respect us or get left in our Saw Dust!
Level 2 Certified Coach!

DrillLord,

This stuff happens all the time.

Stick to your guns.  You are doing a great job.  JPRLane1 has the right ideas also.  When the other drillers put you down, it is there own insecurity in their abilities.  Be honest always.  If you don't know, you don't know, don't lie about what you don't know.  AZ admits that the other guy is better. People will appreciate his honesty.

On a brand new fit, if the thumb hole is drilled snug, then it is closer to being correct.  You can always make it bigger.

The other drillers can't handle the competition.  That's their problem.  Don't put the others down, just show the customer what you CAN do for them.  When the competition bad mouths you, intelligent people will realize what is happening.  Take the high road, be the better man/person.  Keep working on your craft, always keep trying to learn more and do a better job.  Don't give these services away, your skills/time are worth money.  It is a business, not a hobby.  In the long run, the word is getting out.  Word of mouth is the best advertisement.  Hang in there!!

MikeA