BallReviews
General Category => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: komike on March 03, 2014, 01:14:20 PM
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This will be my first year attending Nationals. I watched the USBC Open kick-off show and most of the ball companies had balls for sale. Do the prices include drilling/inserts/slug? I use tri-grip and Vise IT so I'm not sure if the drillers would be able to accommodate my setup given that they might be using Turbo switch grips or not familiar with tri-grip. Does each company have their own driller or is it done by the pro shop. Any insight would be much appreciated. I will be going up next month to check it out before bowling it later this summer. I'm deciding to either get my balls drilled locally or at the stadium.
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Each company will have their own drilling. Most will be able to handle the Vise-IT, but maybe not the tri-grip. As for what the price includes, it varies by booth/company.
If you are within driving distance, I would suggest you get it drilled locally. If not, then getting it drilled at the stadium might make more sense.
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Any experienced driller cat match any grip. It's just a matter of measuring span and pitches, it's not rocket science.
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i have had several pieces drilled on site, usually while you wait
if you can get there when you DONT bowl and just after the squad goes out, its pretty slow.
you will get all the attention you need and they should drill it up on the spot
I usually ask what types of pieces seem to be working best, they should ask about your style, either bring your other balls or take pics of each one showing each layout.
then they can try and make an educated guess
even better, would be to bring your drill sheet
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Tri-grip is different. If they had digital pitch gauges you could maybe get away with it, but if you give them tri-grip measurements, it's not going to happen unless they know how to do it. There's no way to know the exact pitches, and converting an oval angle for an oval thumb could be tricky too. If they try to copy it and drill Tri-grip using a T-grip, it's not going to feel the same. I'm an experienced driller and I've got no doubts I could get it close, but exact isn't happening.
Any experienced driller cat match any grip. It's just a matter of measuring span and pitches, it's not rocket science.
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If you are comfortable with your current ball driller, why bother getting a ball drilled out there? They may have stuff "on sale" but the majority of the time the sale stuff is either older balls or maybe international stuff and they aren't that cheap. Sure the guys at the booths can tell you what's working and what not, but if you're within distance to go get a ball drilled before you bowl you can simply go watch people bowl and get an idea of how to play the lanes or what type of equipment is working.
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Only thing I don't like about the idea of getting a ball drilled there is that it usually takes a couple games for a track to develop in the ball, and if you aren't familiar with how it acts in the first place, using it for the tournament is usually a recipe for disaster.
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I am with Gizmo on the fact that I like to go there knowing what type of reaction I have with a ball. You only get 9 games and for me I do not want any surprises.
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I used to be a guy who got a balled drilled at Nationals every year. It was part of the trip and part of what I saved up for. I did this for a few years until one year I had a big issue. I throw 16lbs. I bought a ball and got it drilled. I threw it in some of the side tournaments to get a feel for it. I used it exclusively going into the actual Open competition. Once there, about halfway through Doubles, I got to a point of where I needed to switch balls, I thought. Going back to some of my equipment I brought, all of a sudden I couldn't throw it right. Turns out they gave me a 15lb ball. I was ok when I was just throwing that, but after doing so for a bunch of games, my timing was just a bit off when switching back to the 16lb ball. After that I never bought a ball there again. I feel safer with my local driller, who knows my game and my specifics.
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I have purchased as few orbs over the years out at nationals... I never had any problems with any of the equipment that I bought... The fits was always right on and actually did pretty well with the new stuff a few times... The guys at the hammer booth we really helpful and did a great job
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To Gizmos point, will there be a booth that can do the Tri-Grip?
With all the expertise that will be on hand, I'd think one of them will be able to.
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To Gizmos point, will there be a booth that can do the Tri-Grip?
With all the expertise that will be on hand, I'd think one of them will be able to.
That is a good question. we really don't know, because it all depends on who is going to be there, the various shifts the drillers will have, plus the fact of mixed brands there. When you think about it, how bad would it look to both brands if you wanted to get an IQ Tour Fusion, but only the Hammer Booth knew how to drill a Tri-Grip? You'd have proven that the Storm reps and staff don't know have the expertise you are looking for, and Hammer will drill other manufacturer's (read: non-EBI) equipment.
Your best bet would be to call the booth for whichever brand and type of ball you want, and see if they know how.
BL.
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If you are comfortable with your current ball driller, why bother getting a ball drilled out there? They may have stuff "on sale" but the majority of the time the sale stuff is either older balls or maybe international stuff and they aren't that cheap. Sure the guys at the booths can tell you what's working and what not, but if you're within distance to go get a ball drilled before you bowl you can simply go watch people bowl and get an idea of how to play the lanes or what type of equipment is working.
That's the thing...I'm in the market for a new driller. I live 3 1/2 hours from Reno and I am driving up there for a lesson with Mike Jasnau a month before I bowl. I figured the experts would be up there and could give me the best advice on how I should lay each piece out. If they could do Tri-grip I was willing to build an arsenal while I was there since most all my stuff is ancient. I'll try pinging Bill Hall to see if he knows if anyone that knows the Tri-grip will be up there.
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komike
Please let us know what Bill has to say.
Thanks
Bob
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If you are comfortable with your current ball driller, why bother getting a ball drilled out there? They may have stuff "on sale" but the majority of the time the sale stuff is either older balls or maybe international stuff and they aren't that cheap. Sure the guys at the booths can tell you what's working and what not, but if you're within distance to go get a ball drilled before you bowl you can simply go watch people bowl and get an idea of how to play the lanes or what type of equipment is working.
That's the thing...I'm in the market for a new driller. I live 3 1/2 hours from Reno and I am driving up there for a lesson with Mike Jasnau a month before I bowl. I figured the experts would be up there and could give me the best advice on how I should lay each piece out. If they could do Tri-grip I was willing to build an arsenal while I was there since most all my stuff is ancient. I'll try pinging Bill Hall to see if he knows if anyone that knows the Tri-grip will be up there.
Do better than that. Call the stadium, and get the numbers for each of the booths there. Tell them when you are going to be heading up there, and ask if they know about Tri-grip. If so, that will get you at least headed in the right direction, That way you have at least half of the answers you are looking for. Jasnau will help you get lined up and recommend what gear you need, and the booths there can get it punched up.
However, you may find yourself in a Catch-22; Jasnau can recommend what gear you should get in your coaching session, and you get the gear.. but you've blown your coaching session, especially with getting lined up with the gear on the patterns there.. But you can't get the new gear punched up until you know what you want, so you can have the coaching with the new gear.
Either way, definitely call, because you probably have something in mind that you are looking at, but aren't sure.
BL.
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If you are comfortable with your current ball driller, why bother getting a ball drilled out there? They may have stuff "on sale" but the majority of the time the sale stuff is either older balls or maybe international stuff and they aren't that cheap. Sure the guys at the booths can tell you what's working and what not, but if you're within distance to go get a ball drilled before you bowl you can simply go watch people bowl and get an idea of how to play the lanes or what type of equipment is working.
That's the thing...I'm in the market for a new driller. I live 3 1/2 hours from Reno and I am driving up there for a lesson with Mike Jasnau a month before I bowl. I figured the experts would be up there and could give me the best advice on how I should lay each piece out. If they could do Tri-grip I was willing to build an arsenal while I was there since most all my stuff is ancient. I'll try pinging Bill Hall to see if he knows if anyone that knows the Tri-grip will be up there.
Do better than that. Call the stadium, and get the numbers for each of the booths there. Tell them when you are going to be heading up there, and ask if they know about Tri-grip. If so, that will get you at least headed in the right direction, That way you have at least half of the answers you are looking for. Jasnau will help you get lined up and recommend what gear you need, and the booths there can get it punched up.
However, you may find yourself in a Catch-22; Jasnau can recommend what gear you should get in your coaching session, and you get the gear.. but you've blown your coaching session, especially with getting lined up with the gear on the patterns there.. But you can't get the new gear punched up until you know what you want, so you can have the coaching with the new gear.
Either way, definitely call, because you probably have something in mind that you are looking at, but aren't sure.
BL.
I do have an idea of what I want but that could change depending on what Mike says. I was planning on a combination of some Storm/Roto gear. None of the gear I have now will be used when I go to Nationals. My lesson with Mike wasn't to get lined up it was more to tweak my game. Throwing on the nationals pattern would be a plus.
I'll call the stadium and get the numbers to booths. Hopefully someone up there will know how to drill Tri-Grip. Hopefully someone at the Storm/Roto booth knows.
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komike
Please let us know what Bill has to say.
Thanks
Bob
Bill said he doesn't know if anyone will be there. I will call the booths and will report back.
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I ve had numerous balls drilled at nationals and ive had nothing but good luck..all the drillers there know their stuff...