Frequently Asked Questions

There is a big difference in the potential for errors between no-thumb and thumb-in drilling operations. By introducing a thumb, you create the potential to err on span to either finger, bevel preferences, oval angles, pitch errors, oval dimension errors, top-to-bottom taper errors, smoothness inconsistencies, and more. Furthermore, the tooling and inventory commitment necessary to drill thumbs is much larger than drilling finger holes -- expanding your bit carousel from the two sizes we use to 40+ sizes, including many specialty bits necessary for each of the various switch-grip systems from Vise, Turbo, Ultimate, JoPo, and more. This is a business decision and as a part-time pro-shop operator, it would not be cost-effective for us to offer this service. If you need a thumbhole I would recommend visiting Rusty Bryant at Winnetka Bowl.

This owner-operator works full-time as an attorney and bowling is a hobby. Our commitment to the pro-shop is limited in time and we do not have the capacity to pick and pack orders or arrange for shipping to customers. With bowling balls being as heavy as they are and the rise in costs of fuel it is also not very cost-effective to try to service customers who could be patronizing pro-shops nearer to them, even if they prefer to order online.

Equipment will be available for pickup in windows of time booked with the customer directly. All pick-ups will be scheduled in advance for daylight hours Monday-Saturday.

We do receive overnight shipping from our distributor and will often be able to fulfill an order within two business days. We generally expect to have your order ready for pick-up within seven days of the order being paid, for any items in-stock with our distributor in Nevada. Ten calendar days would be a reasonable upper limit between the date that an order is paid and the date that the order is marked available for pick-up, and if we expect to take longer than this to fulfill your order, you will be notified. However, answers in this FAQ do not modify or create any obligations beyond those identified in our explicit Terms and Conditions and should not be read as guarantees. We intend to operate this business in good-faith and expect to deal with customers who also act in good-faith.

You can use the standard drill sheet as a starting point. Two-handed bowlers are much more flexible to standardized drilling than thumb-in bowlers. If you have not already become accustomed to any specific drill specification, or are just beginning to bowl with two-fingers, you will most likely be comfortable with a 1/4" bridge, a moderate amount of reverse pitch (1/2"), and 3/8" lateral pitches in the fingers. The most critical question is regarding your insert grip sizes. I do recommend a vacuum drilling to allow for expansion of said finger inserts. If you have an existing bowling ball with finger inserts, you can shine a light into the finger holes and find that your sizes are marked by deformations in the rubber toward the bottom of the inserts. If you cannot read those numbers, you can try relying on the visual estimator in the drill sheet which we have programmed. Finally, if your finger inserts are mistakenly ordered in the incorrect size -- correction is fairly simple and does not damage the bowling ball in any way -- the old inserts can be pulled out and replaced with a different size for $8.