Grip/thumb pressure?

[Ball99999]

Do you use any?
I think I mistook "shouldn't have to squeeze the ball" to mean literally no thumb pressure whatsoever, just let the ball hang on me 100%. I find that makes things often too tight and hard to get out of. One piece of tape less + some pressure gives me more swing control and release ease.

[AngeloPD]

i dont let my thumb fall completely dead, i just put the tiniest pressure i could do on the bottom of the downswing.

[MICHAEL]

I have a retired guy on my 3 person team on Mondays for seniors that recently had his ball drilled where his thumb only made it to the tip of his thumb! His average has gone way down since he made this decision.

He kept dropping the ball!! I told him it was a mistake that it would not give him more rev’s, and that he would have many problems! ( I like this guy, X engineer College advanced degrees)! His theory was that with the wider thumb hole span, (to where it JUST MADE it to the top knuckle his thumb would come out sooner and it would have more Rev’s)!

Wrong!! Wrong!! We went,,, ( Iceman, Manic, from 1st place to 3 place!) His average dropped from 170 to Just above 100!!


He, like many engineers knows it all, I kept telling him it was not going to get better,,,, He kept dropping the ball in his delivery, and was far less accurate!

I even offered him one of my balls, and said that I would give it to him, all he had to do was pay for the drilling,,, 30 bucks! This went on now for 3 weeks!!!!

Good news,,,, after a less then stellar day Monday, he went to the Pro Shop and is having it redrilled, with THE CORRECT Fitting!!

Maybe now we will climb back into first place!! LOL…… and he won’t be dropping the ball on his right ankle as much!!! lol

[Greenday]

If he is having so much trouble getting his thumb out, maybe he just needs to angle of the thumb whole changed.

[75lockwood]

I have a retired guy on my 3 person team on Mondays for seniors that recently had his ball drilled where his thumb only made it to the tip of his thumb! His average has gone way down since he made this decision.

He kept dropping the ball!! I told him it was a mistake that it would not give him more rev’s, and that he would have many problems! ( I like this guy, X engineer College advanced degrees)! His theory was that with the wider thumb hole span, (to where it JUST MADE it to the top knuckle his thumb would come out sooner and it would have more Rev’s)!

Wrong!! Wrong!! We went,,, ( Iceman, Manic, from 1st place to 3 place!) His average dropped from 170 to Just above 100!!


He, like many engineers knows it all, I kept telling him it was not going to get better,,,, He kept dropping the ball in his delivery, and was far less accurate!

I even offered him one of my balls, and said that I would give it to him, all he had to do was pay for the drilling,,, 30 bucks! This went on now for 3 weeks!!!!

Good news,,,, after a less then stellar day Monday, he went to the Pro Shop and is having it redrilled, with THE CORRECT Fitting!!

Maybe now we will climb back into first place!! LOL…… and he won’t be dropping the ball on his right ankle as much!!! lol

at this point he might as well just switch to two handing it without thumb, from what can tell, his train of thought was that this grip would give him more leverage on the ball, but if you don't have enough grip to hang on to it revs wont matter lol, i would be interested in seeing a two hander like belmo try this grip to see what would happen...


tell him to plug that thumb!

[billf]

The base of the thumb keeps the ball balanced. The less grip pressure the quicker and easier the thumb can come out to generate revs. Ball balance and revs. Centrifugal force will keep the ball on the hand on the down swing, you don't need to grip it. Of course, the further under the ball you are the easier this becomes.

[GeoLes]

I can understand it. I did not realize I had a problem until I took a lesson. The coach made me aware that I did not have enough span, so I had the thumb hole redrilled and now I can snug the thumb into the hole, snug finger tips in and the ball rests on my palm when supported.

Now I am focusing on breaking the habit of gripping the ball throughout the swing. I think of holding the upright position with twisted palm through the swing until the release point then I rotate fingers out towards my mark, flicking the ball out as I go, as if I am shaking hands with the mark on the floor. It's a light, quick motion and only works for me if I Deliberately place fingers in the ball, turn it palm up, immediately push away and release the ball. If I think about it too long, my mind wants me to pull the thumb part way out due to fear it will get stuck. Once i start to back the thumb out: stop. Start again. do it right.

[panbanger]

I honestly don't think about how much I'm squeezing the ball with my thumb. I guess that's a good thing? When I first switched to fingertip I squeezed quite a bit - but that made sense since I also squeezed when I threw conventional grip. I made a conscious effort to stop squeezing for a while, but it's become second nature to me now I guess. I'm sure I squeeze a little bit, but my thumb isn't getting torn up like it was back a few months ago, so I'm good.

[MICHAEL]

The guy I am talking about will be bowling with us in a practice format this coming Friday! I will get back with you all and let you know how it turns out! He bowled soooooo much better before he had the span increased… sometimes even a 200 plus game (once in a while)! He is a retired engineer and smart older gentleman! He is in his mid 60’s. I can’t wait to see the improvement!!!!

[Hammer]

I had a thumb slug put in my ball and redrilled because I lost weight since buying the ball and my thumb got smaller. The pro shop that drilled it said the pitch was drilled for a right hander and I am a lefty. How about that? So anyway it is good now. Now I don't feel like I have to grip it on the way down. In practice recently I tried to see how lightly I could grip it to see if the ball would stay on my hand okay. It is amazing how light you can hold with your thumb and the ball stays on your hand.What I noticed when I did this the revs on the ball were better. When I grabbed it with my thumb on purpose the revs went down on the release. I guess with the thumb light is right for better revs and a stronger hit in the pocket.

[billf]

It took me a few years to learn the difference between snug and no grip versus too loose with a little grip. Seriously, once I found the right feel my rev rate climbed 100. Gripping affects revs, accuracy, rotation, tilt and sometimes even speed.

[Ball99999]

I tried a looser fit last night.. and I found that I was never able to turn the ball with my fingers, or let them go through the ball and get that peeling feeling. So frustrating. Maybe it does need to be tighter so that it holds on to my hand until I have a chance to lift with my fingers.

[Big Nick]

I honestly don't think about how much I'm squeezing the ball with my thumb. I guess that's a good thing? When I first switched to fingertip I squeezed quite a bit - but that made sense since I also squeezed when I threw conventional grip. I made a conscious effort to stop squeezing for a while, but it's become second nature to me now I guess. I'm sure I squeeze a little bit, but my thumb isn't getting torn up like it was back a few months ago, so I'm good.

I just made the switch to fingertip from conventional, and I have been squeezing like crazy in fear of the ball falling out of my hand. Yesterday I finally was able to back off the pressure, and it's amazing how much more predictable the ball comes off my hand. I also had trouble with my thumb getting torn up, but I think I'm past that now, too.