More and more it feels like I'm just the guy that puts holes in the ball.  People come in with requests, demands, or instructions, and any questions they ask just further set or fuel their nearly predetermined idea of what they want.  For a while there I actually started feeling like a professional, or somebody who was making a difference, but as soon as you start butting heads with people, your stomach drops.  If people want knowledge, a pro shop is apparently the last place they go.  They'll ask other coaches, other people, pop on here with questions, but they won't trust their pro shop.  All I keep hearing is, "this is what I want," or "this is the way I hold the ball," or "I want to do it this way."  I'm not happy or content being the monkey on the press, but at the same time I'm in no position to try and influence a change. 

I know I yammer on about the same crap all the time, but I find things a lot easier to take if I have no misconceptions or unrealistic expectations about my situations.  So what do you really want from your pro shop operator?  I'm not saying pro shop guys all know what they're doing by any stretch, but I suppose I don't get why everybody thinks they know more than professionals who do something for a living, and honestly I'm bitter about it.  I don't spend dozens of hours a week thinking, reading, learning, and writing about bowling just to drill someone's thumbhole 3 sizes too big because they like to grip it, yet still complain about that thumb being twice the size of their other one, and won't let me do a thing about it.  I'm sure that sounds arrogant, but it's just insanely frustrating when people won't let you help, it's like dealing with one teenager after another. 

I hate to say it, but welcome to the biggest drawback of the internet. I mean, think about it.

When you needed to know something about a bit of history, previously we would do the active version of Googling: we talked to the librarian who directed us to the right place in the Card Catalog.

Nowadays? Google or Wikipedia.

If I wanted to read the news in my hometown, previously, I would still have to subscribe to the newspaper and have it sent to me, out of state.

Nowadays? their website.

If I wanted to go to a good source for what I want my bowling gear to do based on an idea I have in my head, previously, I would go to my pro shop..

Nowadays, we have access directly to ball reps, pro/amateur staff, and forums like these who can tell you how it works for them..

The problem (and a big one at that) with any of the latter solutions, most of them can not be verified to be correct. Anyone can influence a google search; anyone can modify Wikipedia; Newspapers can charge serious money for an online subscription, or barely give you a taste of what you are looking for.. Forums like these, are still mainly anonymous. We open ourselves up to being real, but how do we really know?

The Pro shop is still that source that is verified, because the owner and people in it should be up to date on their knowledge and skill either in drilling the gear, or the properties of a given ball, etc. That is what I truly want from a pro shop operator.

With that said, I can tell you what I do NOT want:

• an operator who pushes you only to one type of gear from X company. This may be because they are on staff with that company, and the gear they offer doesn't line up properly with your game.
  
• Lack of Variety. They should be comfortable with drilling any ball for you from any brand, and have at least some decent knowledge of the brands they offer in their shop. In short, a pro shop shouldn't limit themselves to a company's brand or brands under that company's umbrella.
• Lack of Neutrality. A bowler shouldn't feel or get the feeling of partiality when ordering purchasing a ball from a shop that normally doesn't sell those balls. I know the prop shop operator doesn't maliciously try to do this, but when prime space is a commodity nowadays (especially thanks to the BowlMor fiasco), space is limited and a pro shop owner can't stock every ball in his shop. But that doesn't mean that they can't get in a ball that a bowler orders, know the characteristics of that ball (it's available on that maker's site), and punch it up. A pro shop operator's goal is to have and keep repeating customers; they shouldn't inadvertently alienate their repeat customers by aligning more to a company that that bowler may not like or use.
• Lack of Availability. Again, this goes back to space for a pro shop. It might just be where I'm at in NorCal, but everywhere else I've lived, a pro shop operator has always had PLENTY of stock on hand, and rarely has had to order it from another supplier. If I purchased a ball, within 45 minutes, I walked out of the store, ball in hand. There was only one time outside of NorCal when I had to wait, and that was because the shop ran out of Faball Blue Hammers, and weren't getting in their supply (they ordered 120) of them until the following week. that was in Omaha at that time. Every ball I purchased afterwards was already in stock at that shop.
  
  I never had that problem in Vegas.
  
  Here in NorCal? You buy the ball, they order it, wait 2 - 3 days for it to come in, then punch it up. Again, I know that space is limited, but it is really different and unusual to be doing that. The only place up here where I have not had that problem, was the Stadium, though in the Stadium's defense, either the shop was run by actual reps from the company, or were run by the operators of the pro shop I had in Vegas, which I already had rapport with anyway.
  

Personal experience for me: This is why when I go back home to Omaha, and on the long shot that I would need something punched up, Tom Kelley's pro shop has never let me down. When you walk into the place and see their ball lineup, you see EBI gear sitting next to Brunswick gear sitting next to Storm/Roto gear, etc. etc. They know their stuff about each and every ball there, and aren't afraid to get you what you want, regardless of brand or company. That made them already come across as knowledgeable in all the brands that they sell.

The fit was already great; the fact you could walk out with the ball you want was even better. The knowledge, even better. Cross company? bonus. Comparable prices? given.

Neutrality, availability, variety, and caters to all bowlers using any manufacturer. That's what's needed.

BL.

I would love for a pro shop operator to actually watch me throw some balls, and tell me what my pap, tilt, and rotation are! Never had any of the ones I been to do this!  Finally, actually remember me when I come back to the shop.  True story, been to a shop several times with the same owner/operator. Had a few balls drilled there.  Went in the other day and bought something from him and he introduced himself, shook my hand and said "good to meet ya". WTF!

Everyone's expectations of a good pro shop are right on.  The problem from the other side is that the pro shop operator spends all the time and effort to learn the latest and greatest, but it is a very small percentage of the actual business.  90% of the customers that come in the pro shop don't care about any of this and won't pay for it.  So the shop is stuck in the situation that they can't charge the price they need to for their skill level.  And if they do people think they are gouging them since the guy down the street will do it for $20 less.

A la carte pricing has been mentioned and watching a person bowl and figuring specs has been mentioned.  Most people expect such things to be included in the price to drill a ball.  If a shop spends the time to discuss balls and layouts, watches you bowl, drills a ball, and then works it out shouldn't all that be a la carte also?  The other problem from a shop standpoint with a la carte pricing is you have to explain it to every person that walks in the door.  Most people expect the price on the wall to include drilling since you can't use the ball without holes.     

Get to Reno, and one of my balls has a weight hole that is too big (it's a crater, really).  Not only that, but it has almost 6 ounces of bottom weight.  Ball driller never should have given me the ball like that to begin with, and certainly should have caught it when I was getting ready for the trip.

WOW!  The only way I can think of for that to happen is if the ball was drilled with the cg on the bottom.  That would either be a major mistake on the driller's part or a mismarked cg, either way it should have been caught when he weighed the ball before giving it to you.  --  JohnP 

The only problem is now that I'm waiting for the screaming from other people and the boasts of "Wow, I got a Nail Titanium a few weeks ago with all that out the door for $130.  You got screwed man."  Lol obviously I support your comments though.

Quote from: itsallaboutme on December 05, 2013, 09:58:09 AM

A la carte pricing has been mentioned and watching a person bowl and figuring specs has been mentioned.  Most people expect such things to be included in the price to drill a ball.  If a shop spends the time to discuss balls and layouts, watches you bowl, drills a ball, and then works it out shouldn't all that be a la carte also?  The other problem from a shop standpoint with a la carte pricing is you have to explain it to every person that walks in the door.  Most people expect the price on the wall to include drilling since you can't use the ball without holes.   

I completely agree. I recently paid $180.00 for the Nail Titanium and other services at my local pro shop. Here is what I got for the $$$: 30 minutes of the proprietor's time watching me bowl and discussing ball options. Drilling the NT including finger and thumb inserts. The pro shop operator also installed a thumb insert in one of my other balls.

The pro shop did not make much $$$ on this transaction. The value to me was far more than $180.00. How much? I am not sure but more than $180.00.

Exactly.  Yeah, everybody wants to get a deal, I get that.  But you get what you pay for. 

Gizmo, thanks for the note. I did not shop around for the new ball. I am sure that I could have saved a few $$$, but I went to a local shop in which I have a lot of faith. You cannot put a price on the tips that you get from the pro who watches you bowl several frames.

Well, good points, I have to agree.  However you may be looking at the drilling the wrong way.  You're looking at the drilling price on a ball bought from the shop (inside drill) as the standard, and an outside drill as a raise, rather than the outside drill as the standard, and the inside drill as a discount with a purchase.  That's just a staple of retail.  Buy one get one half off, or what have you.  There are a lot of costs involved in drilling a ball, namely the drill press, bits which are incredibly expensive, not to mention sharpening them costs nearly 10 dollars a bit now, along with all the tools required to finish the ball, then there's the labor as well.  But I can see it from both sides.  60 dollars out the door to me sounds extremely fair and maybe even cheap from the business side, but from the customer side it sounds exorbitant.  And yeah, there are tons of hack jobs that charge that much because it's the going rate, not because the service is worth that.  I definitely get where you're coming from, I'd hate to be a customer in the current state of things. 

Quote from: Gizmo823 on December 06, 2013, 11:11:49 AM

Exactly.  Yeah, everybody wants to get a deal, I get that.  But you get what you pay for. 

Quote from: St. Croix on December 06, 2013, 10:59:24 AM

Gizmo, thanks for the note. I did not shop around for the new ball. I am sure that I could have saved a few $$$, but I went to a local shop in which I have a lot of faith. You cannot put a price on the tips that you get from the pro who watches you bowl several frames.

I disagree.  You don't always get what you pay for. I've been screwed by shops who like to gouge you for not buying a ball from them. Everyone has their own experience though and unfortunately I've gone to a few shops that were 'highly recommended'. I'm thinking the next time I try a shop I am going to ask exactly what are you going to do for me that warrants for charging exorbitant prices for drilling if not buying a ball from them?  I'm sure I will get the WTF look but hey, as stated in prior posts it's your hard earned money you are giving them and expect quality and expertise. But what they may consider quality or expertise may not really be that.