Custom Thumb Inserts Worth It?

[Paralipsis]

Are custom thumb inserts worth it? IIRC, atleast 2-3 of the ball reviewers at bb.com have them.

[The Mayor]

If you bowl a lot and have numerous bowling balls, it's definitely worth it. How many times as bowlers have we been bowling well with a ball and then our thumb swells and we have to switch to something else because you can't release the thumb as well? Well with interchangeable slugs, you can just put a bigger thumb insert in the same ball. Pretty cool. And they've gotten them to where, if they're installed right, they are almost unbreakable.

[DanielMareina]

I use the Turbo interchangable thumb slug. I own 18 bowling balls, and even drilling them myself, I don't get the thumbs identical. The interchangable thumb slug is perfect! I use one almost every time, and I have another one drilled a bit bigger for when my thumb swells. It really has improved my game a ton.
If you mean the molded thumb slugs, I have not had success with those personally, and a couple of my league bowlers that used them, changed to interchangable ones after a couple months. They said that it just didn't feel right, and the release of the material wasn't the same.

[Paralipsis]

How much does the interchangeable slugs run? Planning on revamping my ball collection here in the near future.

[jaydee]

I asked my driller about it (who's a pretty darn good bowler in his own right) and he says they're junk. I suspect most older pros would say the same thing. I can see where he/they are coming from, you can achieve a finer fit with tape (unless you carry 6 or 7 different inserts with you). However the interchangeable system will get you a more consistent feel when switching from ball to ball.

What works for one, may not work for all. I use tape, but am a little curious about the inserts. Anyone know how many pros (if any) use the interchangeable?

[The Mayor]

I would say at least half of touring pros use interchangeable thumb slugs. It's probably more than that though.

[DanielMareina]

Most pros do use them! They are far from crap. Not to mention, I still put tape in my interchangable thumb slug. I plan to have one piece in when I drill it, because I too like the feeling of tape. I charge $30 for the sleeve and slug, and then $10 a sleeve after that. Because the slugs are interchangable, some people (me included) will feel a very slight give to the slug in the peak of the backswing. I put a small little piece of black tape on the outside of the slug, and I can't tell the difference between a regular slug and my interchangable one...except that I have 18 balls that feel exactly the same.