There are 2 shops in the town I live in and I'm not real impressed with the service at either.

The first one is at my normal house, and is the place I had my first (ever) ball drilled.  I wasn't real impressed with the way I was treated, it seemed like my business was an inconvenience to him even though I Had to wait a week to get an appointment to get the work done.  I figured I would give the guy a second chance and took another ball to him when I was ready to move up.  I had learned a lot since my first ball I bought from him and wanted to talk a little more in detail about my measurements.  This shop has the nice Jayhawk measuring ball and I wanted to talk pitch adjustment with him and he wasn't even aware that his ball could be changed for pitch and got kinda grumpy at me when I asked if he ever read the manual.  Needless to say, I packed up my ball, undrilled, and left before he made a mess of it.

The second place is a lot better.  The guy there just doesn't seem to care, if you aren't a big number bowler.  

I don't know if I just expect too much when it comes to service but I am not too impressed with either place.  They both just seem to want to make the money with as little actual work as possible.  Neither place took the time to even ask my style or what kind of reaction I looked for.  Everything came with a typical label leverage drill.  This is why I decided to just invest in the equipment to drill my own stuff.  Only time I go to the shops is when I need a surface adjustment I can't do at home or when I need supplies that I can't wait to have shipped in.

I don't always agree with Smash49 on some pro shop topics, but this is a great one.  Unfortunately there isn't enough standardization in the pro shop industry.  I know this is what IBPSIA is trying to combat.  As it stands now, any yahoo with a drill press can call himself a pro shop.  If you get in the right location with no competition and a captive audience (like what Smash moved into), the customers don't have much choice about where to go to and don't have a point of reference to know if they are getting good service or not.

70 year old women with SD73s!!  Awesome!!  Probably no way they didn't get taken for a ride, or the dope didn't know what he was selling.  Grip specs on post it notes!! Sweet!!

Smash, you should be able to rule the world there and come out looking like a knight in shining armor.  You might make $3 too.

For you people that are doubting at all, then you aren't getting good service in some manner.  If the shop guy is correct and you are wondering, then he didn't take the time to explain everything.  If he is not correct, well, then he is not correct.  Under no circumstances should they be jack....es in how they treat you, even if the work is pretty good, don't know if I would put up with that.

Wish there was some way I could economically pro shop for people all over the country, then some of the yahoos would be out of business, and more people would have bowling balls that fit right!!  

Good topic Smash!!

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THIS SPACE FOR RENT

I am extremely satisfied with my Pro Shop, because it gives me all that I could ever ask of a shop. I can go in there and bounce ideas off my driller, or talk trash to several of the drillers who are also bowlers in many of my leagues!

We don't just talk balls and bowling we talk ball reaction, lane conditions, bowling styles, and drill theories. We also get into core dynamics on occasion as well.

It is also a haven for mentoring up-and-coming drillers as well as future entrepeneurs. My pro shop is Bowler's World, in Camp Springs, MD.
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I will say, I've never had a bad "Pro-shop" experience maybe I am lucky, idk!!!

I know the first time i had a ball drilled up i was like 7 or 8?  and just started leagues.  The next time I had a ball drilled up i was 11?  and had my first hooking ball!  the old urethane Gyro!   Same guy drilled up the ball.

I went to the same guy ( Hank Reest )  for years after that.  And never had a problem with him drilling me up a ball.  Now the other thing that helped was he was at the time the only pro-shop in town.  But he also knew how to treat his customers, so I kept on comming back!  

Then in 2000, the house i was bowling at got a new owner and he put in a pro-shop, so i decided to check it out.  Well at the time, I was having some serious problems with keeping the ball on the right side of the lanes!!!  ( sandpaper backends)  So new proshop guy drills me up a Eraser.  Needless to say the ball was drilled perfectly, but still had the same issue.  

So luckly for me at the time I had two proshops i could choose from if one didnt have a ball i needed or wanted, i knew i could get it at the other.  

Sadly first pro-shop owner ( Hank Reest)  passed away in March 2006, only 6months after selling the bowling alley to his son.  

But the bowling alley was a nice and semi-unique place to bowl because it was a two-story bowling alley, and the original basement usta be were you'd park your cars WAY back in the olden days.   i do believe the first 300 game bowled there was back in the 1930's!!!  

But heres a nice small article about the bowling alley and its closing.  

http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2008/04/holland_bowling_center_closes.html
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