I have been reading on this forum and asking quite a few questions pertaining to differant bowling balls.  If you have read any of my posts, I stated I have returned to bowling after about a 5 year absence.  My old ball had a crack in it, so I have been using one that was about 15 years old(didnt take me long to remember why I quit using it! :-( ).                                                                                 Anyway, I finally had time to travel the 50 miles to a pro shop in a larger city, talked to the person running the shop(wasnt a pro, by the way), decided on getting the Black Widow Pearl.  I am a full roller, so he drilled it accordingly.  He took all the measurements, rechecked himself, seemed to be very through(I have never used this person before).  After completing the drilling, found out he drilled the thumbhole WAY to large.  I normally use some tape due to my unusually flat thumb, but no amount of tape was going to fix this!  He drilled it out, and installed a thumb slug.  Redrilled, and this time was tighter, he kept sanding, grinding, ect. until we had a somewhat comfortable fit, so I went and threw a few balls.  First ball slipped, so he put in one piece of tape.  Second ball was better, but he thought I needed another piece of tape.  Third ball was much better, but he still said I looked like I was dropping it a bit, so he put in another piece of tape.  I could tell this was a little snug, so I took it real easy on my release, and promptly tore a piece of skin on my knuckle.  Done practicing for me!  He appologized, and said he thought it should have been drilled right.  He sanded a bit more where the ball took the skin off and left it at that.  I told him I would try it this week if my thumb healed up, and if it wasnt right I would come back for adjustment.                                                                         I have always had trouble getting a thumbhole drilled so it fit properly, thus I just normally got one larger than needed and kept applying tape.  I was reading in another thread about gripping the ball with your thumb, which supposedly is a no no.  I'm sure that is what I did(and do), and I even told the guy when I grip the ball, is when it rubs on the back of my thumb joint.  How do you keep from gripping with your thumb?  I think if I applied enough tape so the ball felt secure without gripping, I would never release from the thumbhole?
Jim

Edited on 10/2/2007 7:33 AM

You do grip with your thumb, you just don't bend it at the knuckle.  You grip with the front side, in the area between the base and the knuckle.  I'm sure some folks are going to respond, saying they don't grip at all with their thumb.  They may think this, but they're using some grip pressure.  And No Open Tenths is right, Magic Carpet is a great product.  I use it in all my equipment.  But if you do "knuckle" the ball it will blister the back side.  --  JohnP

Long post... try breaking ones like that up into paragraphs please.  You'll get more replies if people don't feel it's a chore to read your posts.
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"A word to the wise ain't necessary -- it's the stupid ones that need the advice."  Bill Cosby
"Never argue with an idiot. They bring you down to their level and beat you with experience."