New Ball Drilled (Reign)

[tumblebug1949]

Hi All,

Well, I had my new Reign drilled. I took it to a Pro Shop that was said to be the best. Still not sure how getting fitted works, other than making sure the ball fits your fingers and span correctly.

Storm provided 4 layout patterns for drilling this specific ball. One shop I mentioned that to said they throw that away first thing. I didn't take the ball there.

I read some articles on finding the PAP so you would know where to drill. I have decided that the drilling of a ball is all BLACK MAGIC or they are using the SWAG method (Scientific Wild A$$ Guess). After figuring out finger sizes, they took the ball into the back and drilled it. The pattern does not resemble anything the manufacture recommended. I guess it could be that they have drilled this same model in the past and know what works best but I am a little skeptical. I will hold back final judgment till after I have had a chance to roll it down the alley a few times and get used to it.

If someone can help with understanding this, I would be very interested.

Tom

[JerseyJim]

Did they take the PAP from your old bowling ball? If you post a picture of the bowling ball showing the pin position and finger holes, some of the folks on this site could take a fairly decent guess at the drilling.

[tumblebug1949]

Hi Jim,

No as far as checking my old ball. They didn't even ask about it.

I tried to add a photo but I don't know how to get it small enough for the site to accept it. I will need to figure out how to reduce its size.

__________________________________________________ _____________________________

I am right handed and had it drilled for finger tip grip.

The center of the major pin is 1 inch above and maybe just slightly right of being centered over the ring finger.

The center of gravity is close to 2 inches below the ring finger slot about 3/4 inch right of being in a line from thumb to bridge.

I generally roll a straight ball and told the technician so. Maybe that is all he needed.

[tokih]

Hi Jim,

No as far as checking my old ball. They didn't even ask about it.

I tried to add a photo but I don't know how to get it small enough for the site to accept it. I will need to figure out how to reduce its size.

__________________________________________________ _____________________________

I am right handed and had it drilled for finger tip grip.

The center of the major pin is 1 inch above and maybe just slightly right of being centered over the ring finger.

The center of gravity is close to 2 inches below the ring finger slot about 3/4 inch right of being in a line from thumb to bridge.

I generally roll a straight ball and told the technician so. Maybe that is all he needed.

You can use JPEG Resizer for example. It is free and fairly easy to use.
http://www.virtualzone.de/resizer/

[tumblebug1949]

Thanks Tokih, I checked it out but I am on a mac and it didn't show it as compatible. I will be gone most of today but will try again this evening.

Tom

[tumblebug1949]

Let me see if this works for inserting a photo.

387

This should let you see the drilling pattern.

I am still reserving judgment until I roll it but It wasn't what I expected. The cost was $70.00.

[JerseyJim]

Tom,
For me that would be a 4 x 4 drill with pin above the ring finger. It's a fairly strong drill. Depending on how you roll the ball, it will skid a bit further down the lane, and give a decent reaction in the back end.

[tumblebug1949]

Thanks Jim,

That may be a good thing. I have never rolled anything other than my old plastic ball and a couple of house balls. I seem to be able to get fair speed but have not to this point had a lot of revolutions.

I am looking forward to trying it.

I just thought the pro would have tried to figure out where my PAP was. I looked at the four layouts the manufacture sent. They were spread across the spectrum for for different bowlers and none had the pin above the fingers. And, if they weren't going to attempt to learn the PAP and just planned to do the measurements for finger size and spread, I think $71.00 was very high.

Thanks for the information. You have been a great help.

Tom

[JerseyJim]

I'm not sure if PAP measurements from a conventional ball would have worked. One thing about looking at the diagrams from any bowling ball site, you can't be sure of the pin to cg distance that they're depicting in the diagram. You would probably get a better idea by watching some of the video ball reviews that are floating around out there. This one has a drilling that is slightly different from your ball 4.5 x 4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bJTrhlx96w&feature=player_embedded

[got_a_300]

Layout 1
This is the recommended layout for most players.
If you do not have a positive axis, use this layout.

Ball Reaction: Long and Strong

Suitable for: Most Styles and Lines


388

That looks to be a safe drill to me just like the drill I had put on my Ebonite Evolve
as in the image above as I didn't have a ball with the PAP mapped out on it since
I hadn't bowled in a little over 12 years. After throwing the ball for a while and after
i got used to it then we found my PAP which turned out to be 4/78 over 1/2 up on it
and on my DV8 Hell raiser but I have since started throwing the balls different so my
PAP will more than likely change a little on my next ball that I have drilled.

[tumblebug1949]

Well, that makes me feel a lot better. Got_a_300 your information helped a lot.

The video was very informative.

Thanks Jim

[got_a_300]

Glad my info helped out some Jim, yes if a person doesn't have a PAP reference point
then most ball drillers will drill what they consider to be a safe drill. When you do find
your PAP and have another ball drilled it still may not match what the drill sheet shows
as everyone's PAP is different the PRO Shop operator will drill it to match what you want
the ball to do based off of your PAP so the pin and MB and CG may not even be close to
what is shown on the drill sheet.

Say a bowler walks into the PRO Shop and says my friend has a ball with the pin and MB
in this position and he/she bowls great with it and I want one drilled exactually like it pin
and everything the same. Well say the operator goes ahead and drills it like the bowler
wants, they more than likely will not get the same reaction from the ball that their friend
gets because their PAP is different causing the ball to react differently.

I'd have to agree that those drill sheets are more or less useless as the PRO Shop operator
said they are just more of a general guide than anything else to give you an ideal of what
the ball might be capable of doing.

[tumblebug1949]

I am sure learning as I go. Oh, got_a_300, my name is Tom. The Thanks Jim was thanking JerseyJim for the information he provided.

I have several articles and a couple of videos discussing the PAP. I do have a question that I need to ask though.

Is the PAP on a ball, the circular line left on the ball after it is rolled down the alley or is it a specific spot on the ball. I saw a video where a small piece of tape was put on the ball and then the ball was rolled. When the piece of tape had been adjusted several times it appeared to spin on a specific spot but not oscillate all over the place. Is that spot the PAP for that player.

If that person bought another ball and had it drilled, it should be drilled with respect to the location of the PAP. Am I thinking right?

[got_a_300]

Oh, got_a_300, my name is Tom
Is the PAP on a ball, the circular line left on the ball after it is rolled down the alley or is it a specific spot on the ball. I saw a video where a small piece of tape was put on the ball and then the ball was rolled. When the piece of tape had been adjusted several times it appeared to spin on a specific spot but not oscillate all over the place. Is that spot the PAP for that player.

If that person bought another ball and had it drilled, it should be drilled with respect to the location of the PAP. Am I thinking right?

Yeah I caught that after I had posted and tried to edit your name but I couldn't get it to let me edit my post for some strange
reason sorry about that Tom. :confused:

The circular oil line is where you start at to find the PAP on the ball you draw a line around the oil line then use an armadillo to measure
from the line on the ball that matches up to one of the lines on the armadillo. You then go to the end of the armadillo which has a notch
in it and mark that spot then get the centerline on the ball and then measure the distance between the grips and thumb hole divide that
number by 2 and mark it and then you have your center of grip mid line. Then you would draw a line across the ball over to the PAP mark
and then draw a VAL or Vertical Axis Line line down the ball on your PAP mark. Then you would measure from the center grip line on your
ball over to the VAL and that gives you the distance then you measure up or down which ever the case may be and that gives you your
up or down position on your PAP like mine is 4 7/8" over and 1/2" up and then you can use the tape to dial in the PAP by getting it to stay
mostly in one spot and not oscillate and see how close it is to the original measurement.

Now as for getting another ball drilled based off of the PAP the only answer I can think of is Yes and No and what I mean by that is if you
happen to change the way you release the ball after finding your PAP like I have done here lately because of a fall and a very minor arm injury
so now on my next ball my PAP if I keep releasing it like I'm doing at the moment and I probably will keep doing it since it has been working wonders
for my game scores will more than likely be in a little different spot on the ball different than what it is right now maybe by a little or a lot I'll have to
check it this week or maybe this weekend.

[tumblebug1949]

Thanks got_a_300,

I really appreciate all the information. I had planned to get out and give this new ball a try today but it didn't work out. I live sorta out in the sticks so I have to go quite a ways to get to a bowling alley. I had decided I would go over to Greencastle and see what their place was like. Well, I get there and the bowling alley is "Out of Business". It was almost too late to try to get to another alley. It would be at least 40 miles away so I decided to give it another try tomorrow.

That is the second alley I have found that has closed in a 25 mile radius of my house. Also out of the three closest lanes to where I live, there went two of them.

Our local alley in Martinsville is getting in pretty bad shape. The owner either isn't making any money or isn't putting any of the money back into the business. The equipment is struggling.

Anyway,
Thanks again
Tom