Hi,

 Why do most (especially around here)...drillers,...look at layouts as..pin above and to the right of ring finger, stacked as lining up pin and mass bias, etc etc...but don't give a hoot about PAP (positive axis point)...every time i've had a ball drilled here...they take the measurements but never ask about PAP....unless i say something about it.....thats why most balls, you will not get the most out of them unless you tweak coverstock,etc....When i go the USBC tournament every yr, i get a ball drilled there instead...THEY KNOW HOW TO LAY OUT A BALL!!! to my PAP.....if your driller doesn't or doesn't know how...go elsewhere....i've had to get a new ball replugged after 2 practice games while comparing an old and new ball (same ball)....does it make sense to polish an agressives ball coverstock that you wanted for oily lanes becasue it won't flip?...what do you think?

Well, that analogy works but it's not relevant to the discussion.  Yes that would be wrong for a salesman to sell a car that doesn't turn left, but turning left in a car isn't up to the driver, it's up to the mechanicals of the car.  To make a ball go left it's up to the bowler not the mechanics of the ball.  The physics of a rotating ball allow for the left turn, not the ball itself.

It seems like you have had a bad experience with a certain ball...care to share?  Perhaps we could shed some light on the problem you experienced either with the ball driller or the ball itself?


*backswing
--------------------
*...Got the 5 out clean!

To prove I'm real http://members.bowl.com/FindAMember/memberView.aspx?mp=270&ms=2931&s=2005-2006

The first balls I had drilled about a year ago, the driller had the accredidations mentioned earlier, but he laid them all out the same.  Pin outside of ring, label leverage.  As long as there was fresh oil these balls performed ok.  But when lanes changed, the balls overflared badly and rolled out.  I would throw them as hard as I could, and couldn't overcome this.  Because the drilling didn't match up for me, if I moved further inside the balls wouldn't recover.  This guy said PAP didn't matter.

Then I found a driller with a pro shop at a Bowling center.  He watched me bowl, looked at the oil rings on the ball, then put a small piece of tape on the ball and adjusted this while he watched the ball roll.  He found my true PAP.  He drilled two balls for me and instantly the balls rolled better and didn't roll out. Plus he gave me the personal attention to fit my thumb better, etc.  This guy kept hours it was hard for me to make, so he gave me his cell # and would meet me there.  A class guy I would recommend to anyone.

I started bowling at another house and met a young guy who is a ball driller and very good bowler who befriended me.  He watched me bowl and gave me some free lessons, and recommended repitching my thumbs as I was hanging up and clutching ball.  So he made some epoxy  molds and re-did thumb holes.  
He drilled a Strike Zone for me that has become my favorite ball.

The point is there are some really great ball drillers out there who are very professional. The drilling on my Strike Zone is specific to me.  Not what works for someone else.  This guy will turn on the lane next to me and bowl with me.  It is truely awesome.

If you can find a driller who will watch you bowl, find your true PAP, and recommend balls and drillings specifically for you, you are way ahead of the game.  I wouldn't settle for anything else.

Marker