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.

Any experienced driller cat match any grip.  It's just a matter of measuring span and pitches, it's not rocket science.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

Quote from: storm making it rain on March 04, 2014, 08:03:13 AM

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.