Yeah, I probably deserved that . . but to answer the question, if you're a bowler that either trusts your pro shop or is happy with the work they do, then I doubt you would even notice it. This is something that's not really a problem with the higher level or more experienced bowler, because most likely you know what works for you, and you know what you're looking for. This is for the bowler that comes in and says that they're having trouble getting out of the ball, and that we need to put more reverse in their thumbhole, or that they want the biggest hooking ball we have, in their mind picturing a ball that goes 40 feet and turns left, and doesn't understand why a ball that hooks a ton won't turn left at the end of a pattern. For the bowler who says, "I want layout C" on the drill sheet that comes with the ball, and then when they get the ball and the fingerholes aren't in the same place as it is on the layout sheet because their pap is different.
All pro shops figure out after a while how to figure out what people are after despite what questions they ask, but sometimes someone asks for a service, and then doesn't get what they were expecting, and when it's explained to them, they think the pro shop is just covering their ass or trying to talk their way out of their "screw up." When people learned things 20 years ago, they keep those "facts" or ideas with them, and when they come in to get a ball drilled and they have 1/8th forward in their fingers and 1/2 reverse in their thumb and are complaining about having to go down in weight because their hand is hurting, and we go to adjust their fit, they argue with us. "Well I still want to get something on the ball and be able to let go of it, I don't want to go with it." Or when they say they want a hook monster drilled "stacked leverage," for a dry pattern and we try to talk them out of it, they don't understand. Very often we don't have the time it requires to really teach instead of just supplying information. The point of this is to really teach someone why having forward pitch in your fingers and excessive reverse in their thumb is actually causing the problems they think it's fixing.
Plus some people are just curious about what all goes into putting holes in the ball or plugging one, resurfacing, etc. If you don't know much about rg or diff, all the numbers on the balls are confusing, they don't know what pin length and top weight on the box means, or why it looks like a Cyclone hooks more on a dry pattern than a Defiant. Stuff like this is received a lot better by people coming to a class on their own than coming into a shop with preconceived ideas and being told what they think isn't actually the case. If someone comes in and says, "my friend (who averages 150 and bowls once a week) says I shouldn't get a ball drilled pin down because it's a bad drilling, so drill mine pin up," we're kind of required to explain things, but it's difficult sometimes to tell someone that they're wrong or their friend is wrong.
This isn't just something local that happens in my little shop that I'm coming up with to go on a crusade or something, it happens in tons of pro shops across the country, and with bowling in general. A lot of things surrounding the pro shop aspect of bowling, and subsequently some coaching techniques which applies to us as well have completely changed. 20 years ago, you wanted your shoulders parallel to the line, you wanted your elbow straight and your wrist slightly cupped. That's not the case anymore. 20 years ago with plastic and urethane, you provided the hook, now the balls rev and hook themselves, or they do the work, so instead of trying to get them to roll early, you need to get out of the ball cleanly so it will clear the heads and transition properly to retain energy. This 180 flip of certain things is what causes the rift. Somebody comes in and you tell them something different from what they know, they go somewhere else to somebody "old school," who gives them what they think they want, and their problems never get fixed. When they finally break down and decide to try it your way, it could be months or years and possible physical problems later. Drastic problems meaning that people have had to have surgery or have developed tendonitis, carpal tunnel, cramping, loss of feeling, all because of a bad fit. So I'm not a primadonna on a power trip trying to educate the world, I'm honestly trying to correct some basic issues that come up, nothing revolutionary, but just some things that have honestly been causing a lot of people a lot of problems, and that's why I'm asking the questions, just trying to get all the information and feedback that I can.
