Why do I keep getting stuck in my thumbhole?

[Ball99999]

Last night I bowled well and had a very clean release all night. DIdn't stick and didn't drop off my hand.
Tonight my thumb felt like it kept sticking no matter what I did. I took tape out, still stuck, took tape out from the back all together or used baby powder and the ball would fall off my hand. What do I do?

[Zothen]

Stop squeezing the ball! Just relax and don't think about it,just bowl!

Zothen

[striker12]

its from you squeezing the ball or it could be your thumb is turned in the ball soo it will feel like its sticking ik this cause it has happened to me but i have learned how to work around it on the swing.

[Ball99999]

Stop squeezing the ball! Just relax and don't think about it,just bowl!

Zothen

I don't squeeze the ball.. at all.

[AZBowla]

Something I learned from having this exact problem was to make sure I put my ring and middle fingers in first, and pushed them all the way in so they were fitted snugly in the grips. Then I put my thumb in, nice and easy - if it didn't feel right, I pulled my thumb back out and carefully put it back in until it felt right. Then and only then did I go into my stance and throw the ball. I had to train myself to keep my thumb loose and relaxed so it would come out easily during my release. After a while, I just completely forgot about it (as Zothen said) and it was no longer an issue.

[AngeloPD]

dry your thumb!!

[75lockwood]

Is your thumb swollen? I remember this was an issue for me awhile back, my thumb would be swollen causing it not to go all the way into the thumb hole and as such i had a poor grip.


Also, NEVER USE BABY POWDER it gets on the lanes and makes them way to slippery.

[Zothen]

You might have bowlers thumb,where by your thumb shrinks & swells depending on the weather.

Zothen

[GeoLes]

Is your thumb swollen? I remember this was an issue for me awhile back, my thumb would be swollen causing it not to go all the way into the thumb hole and as such i had a poor grip.


Also, NEVER USE BABY POWDER it gets on the lanes and makes them way to slippery.

I never thought of that. Although I don't see how the tiny amount of powder used to "lightly dust" my knuckle could have any imact on the lanes, I guess is everyone did it, I can see it.

Great bit of advise.

[10-in-the-pit]

you can look at opening your thumbhole a bit and use protective tape on your thumb. it gives a much more consistent feel and fit.

[UBowling]

There are a lot of different reasons the thumb could be catching in the ball.

Your thumb will swell and contract throughout the year and that is the reason bowling tape is so important. It helps perfect the fit no matter what state your thumb is in. This could be part of the problem it is swelling and changing the fit on your thumb. To fix this just have the pro shop buzz out the thumb a little bit and use tape to perfect the fit. It will usually fix the fit for you.

Another problem could be the pitch in the thumb hole. If you release the ball different (you may not notice this at all) it will change what pitch your hand will need. This could cause the thumb to catch on release. To fix this, really focus on how your hand exits the ball. Try to ensure it is the same every time. If you get burns or calluses on your thumb at all, check with your pro shop and have them change your pitches.

[Ball99999]

There are a lot of different reasons the thumb could be catching in the ball.

Your thumb will swell and contract throughout the year and that is the reason bowling tape is so important. It helps perfect the fit no matter what state your thumb is in. This could be part of the problem it is swelling and changing the fit on your thumb. To fix this just have the pro shop buzz out the thumb a little bit and use tape to perfect the fit. It will usually fix the fit for you.

Another problem could be the pitch in the thumb hole. If you release the ball different (you may not notice this at all) it will change what pitch your hand will need. This could cause the thumb to catch on release. To fix this, really focus on how your hand exits the ball. Try to ensure it is the same every time. If you get burns or calluses on your thumb at all, check with your pro shop and have them change your pitches.

How many people here use no tape in their thumbhole just curious?

I think I might need to apply a little bit of pressure and use a piece of tape for grip, to guarantee a clean release.
I bowled too much this week since my thumb swelled so much that I almost don't need a piece of tape when I usually need 3-4

[Tampabaybob]

Because I've had several balls drilled by various drillers, several have a bit different pitch on the thumb holes. Some I have to use tape in and some I don't. Something I used years ago that might help, is thin white construction chalk. When I use to bowl lots of games a week (80+) my hand felt like I'd put it in a meat grinder sometimes. I used the chalk by scraping some shavings on a table and just rubbing the powder on the back of my thumb. It's absorbed better by your skin, stays on longer, and doesn't effect the approaches.

Bob

[AZBowla]

How many people here use no tape in their thumbhole just curious?

I think I might need to apply a little bit of pressure and use a piece of tape for grip, to guarantee a clean release.
I bowled too much this week since my thumb swelled so much that I almost don't need a piece of tape when I usually need 3-4

I don't use tape on either of my bowling balls. On my cyclone, the thumb hole is huge, so huge that I had to squeeze the ball to keep from dropping it. That translated to bad news when I got my new ball and, out of sheer habit, squeezed the heck out of it and ended up injuring my thumb. I had the driller widen my new one out just a little, and then spent a few bucks and threw a few bad games to break myself of the squeezing habit. The thumbhole on my new ball is a perfect fit. Even makes that little pop sound like Mark Roth's ball back in the day, which brings back memories of watching the PBA as a kid. It was a bit too tight at first but now that it's been widened (and I stopped squeezing it like an idiot) I have no problem with this ball. Now I just need to bowl more strikes and less splits and 7 pin leaves.

[UBowling]

My rule of "thumb" is to drill out the thumb hole to be as big as my thumb ever gets while swollen. Then I can put pieces of tape in to make the fit snug, usually this is about 3 pieces of white in the front. Then when I am bowling 15 games during a tournament and my thumb swells up a bunch, I just remove tape to adjust the fit. There is nothing worse than not being able to get your thumb in the ball because it is too swollen after a bunch of games.

[Big Nick]

If your thumb is going in and out of the thumb hole without sticking while supporting the ball with your other hand, but you're sticking during your swing, then you're squeezing the ball. It took me almost three weeks to learn how to release a finger-tip ball, and all of my trouble was caused by squeezing.

[GeoLes]

Stop squeezing the ball! Just relax and don't think about it,just bowl!

Zothen

"George Whiffle. Please don't squeeze the bowling ball......errr..... the Charmins"

sorry, couldn't resist the obvious

[Ball99999]

My rule of "thumb" is to drill out the thumb hole to be as big as my thumb ever gets while swollen. Then I can put pieces of tape in to make the fit snug, usually this is about 3 pieces of white in the front. Then when I am bowling 15 games during a tournament and my thumb swells up a bunch, I just remove tape to adjust the fit. There is nothing worse than not being able to get your thumb in the ball because it is too swollen after a bunch of games.

Assuming you're an adult male here, what size and color of tape do you use? Do you use it for both front/back of the holes?

[Ball99999]

If your thumb is going in and out of the thumb hole without sticking while supporting the ball with your other hand, but you're sticking during your swing, then you're squeezing the ball. It took me almost three weeks to learn how to release a finger-tip ball, and all of my trouble was caused by squeezing.

No, definitely not squeezing. In fact I put enough tape in as to have no grip pressure at all, which may be a cause for sticking. But as far as being able to put my thumb in and out but not during swing, I'm not exatly sure.

[Ball99999]

OMG it finally happened.

With my thumb swollen I can finally use the thumbhole with no tape to see what it's like, and finally using grip pressure I realized what it's like to feel the thumb come out first and lifting with the fingers. So crazy it feels so different.

[J Anderson]

Assuming you're an adult male here, what size and color of tape do you use? Do you use it for both front/back of the holes?

Lately I've been using 3/4" white on the front ( pad side of thumb, not the nail side ). Years ago I used to use black electrical tape on the back side.

[scottymoney]

I use electrical tape now as when I had my one ball drilled he couldn't do it when I was there, he took my measurements and did it later on. Wife went and picked up the ball so obviously she couldn't test it for my grip as I would have done. When she got home with it, it was awful. The thumb hole was way too small, to the point where I could hardly get my thumb in. Went to league early the next week and had the guy there drill it out for me, which he did and it felt better. So gave it a try during warm ups and it was still bad sticking all over the place. I launched it halfway down the lane as my thumb stuck so bad it made me basically throw it. Ran back and needed the guy to bevel it out a couple times. After 2 trips to the guy it was big enough, but now it was too big! I didn't think anything of it that night about it being too big, but the next day I could feel the pain in my forearm from gripping too tight. I realized what I did and since this was a plugged and redrilled ball I got for free(will be replacing soon), I decided to grab some electrical tape and experiment on taping. I use 2-3 piece in the front and back each, then I put one on each of the sides. The ones on the sides are more just for feel and have found they protect the thumb a bit. After a game or 2 if I feel it getting tight i remove a piece from the back and that usually fixes the tightness. Surprisingly I haven't had any issues with stickiness after removing tape.

Like I said, this ball will be getting replaced as it was a used ball that my Father in law gave me to try and it is a 15lb ball which I want to get back to 16 instead. I kind of liked that I had trouble with the thumbhole on this ball as it gave me a crash course on "thumb hole managment" hahaha. I now know when I get my new ball what I need to make sure it fits right.

[Hammer]

I would do a couple things to get this straightened out. One have a pro shop check your thumb hole by putting the thumb in the hole without the fingers in and see if you can put your thumb in and out without it hanging up on the sides of your thumb. After that put your fingers in the ball first and then your thumb and see what happens when you try to get your thumb out. Have the pro shop check the pitch of your thumb hole. If this don't give you good results have a thumb slug put in your ball and have it redrilled for your thumb size and the right amount of pitch put in it. What my pro shop had me do when I had a thumb slug put in to resize my thumb hole we went into an empty carpeted room and he had me get into a position as if my slide foot hit the foul line and my balance leg was behind me. Then with the ball on my hand I swung the ball toward him to see if the thumb would come out okay. Doing it this way you get to see if your ball hand stays behind and under the ball when the thumb releases as in an actual release. It hung up just a little so he took some kind of sander that had a little sanding disk on it and just hit the sides of the hole where the sides of my thumb would be. He said that peoples thumbs are not round so the hole is made more of an oval shape. I got back into the slide position and swung the ball toward him keeping my hand behind the ball and the thumb came out clean. He made it just a tad bigger because I told him my thumb swells up some and I use bowlers tape to make up the difference. Now whenever I bowl the thing I think about is a soft hold with the thumb before I make my approach. Now that I grip lightly with the thumb the ball comes off my hand faster and I get more revs without trying hard to do it and no thumb hangups.

[Ball99999]

I would do a couple things to get this straightened out. One have a pro shop check your thumb hole by putting the thumb in the hole without the fingers in and see if you can put your thumb in and out without it hanging up on the sides of your thumb. After that put your fingers in the ball first and then your thumb and see what happens when you try to get your thumb out. Have the pro shop check the pitch of your thumb hole. If this don't give you good results have a thumb slug put in your ball and have it redrilled for your thumb size and the right amount of pitch put in it. What my pro shop had me do when I had a thumb slug put in to resize my thumb hole we went into an empty carpeted room and he had me get into a position as if my slide foot hit the foul line and my balance leg was behind me. Then with the ball on my hand I swung the ball toward him to see if the thumb would come out okay. Doing it this way you get to see if your ball hand stays behind and under the ball when the thumb releases as in an actual release. It hung up just a little so he took some kind of sander that had a little sanding disk on it and just hit the sides of the hole where the sides of my thumb would be. He said that peoples thumbs are not round so the hole is made more of an oval shape. I got back into the slide position and swung the ball toward him keeping my hand behind the ball and the thumb came out clean. He made it just a tad bigger because I told him my thumb swells up some and I use bowlers tape to make up the difference. Now whenever I bowl the thing I think about is a soft hold with the thumb before I make my approach. Now that I grip lightly with the thumb the ball comes off my hand faster and I get more revs without trying hard to do it and no thumb hangups.

The problem turned out that I was putting enough tape in the ball to have zero grip pressure, as I thought was how it was supposed to be, but of course it would onto my thumb most of the time. Once I realized that I can have a proper release by actually having a loose thumbhole + grip pressure, so much clicked for me. I did have problems with my side knuckles though, so I dremeled a bit out on the sides.
The pitch is correct on my recent balls but my first ball had a pitch where the bottom of the hole was more pointed toward the fingertips so I ended up having to come out over a cliff and didn't have a clean release so I dremeled that down a bit too.