Help With Low Track

[Pauley]

I am looking for some drills and advice on getting my ball to track higher. I have been practicing a ton and my release and approach are improving greatly but I am having the toughest time with tracking too low and ball reaction that goes with it. I believe this caused by my thumb not getting out of the ball quickly enough and coming over the top. I am steadily increasing my revs and scores but with low track and high axis tilt prevents me from playing deeper inside that would provide a bigger advantage at times.

Also with sport shots this summer I feel I will need a much higher track to read the heavier oil. Any help is appreciated, and I am ready to put the time in for improvement.

[Geneo2u]

If you don't feel that your thumb is coming out fast or clean enough i would suggest the tri-grip, i don't think i have hung up once since i started using it, i believe it upped my rev rate also.

[Pauley]

If you don't feel that your thumb is coming out fast or clean enough i would suggest the tri-grip, i don't think i have hung up once since i started using it, i believe it upped my rev rate also.

I have been wanting to try that grip, but no one around me does it. I think the closest is a few hours away, maybe a road trip is in order.

[RobLV1]

Unfortunately, there is no drilling secret that is going to move your track higher, though pin down balls tend to track higher than pin up balls.

There is an exercise that you can do to learn to raise your track, but having done it myself, I can tell you that it takes a whole lot of work and commitment. What you do is to take a golf glove for your bowling hand and cut off the thumb and the ring finger. Leave the finger for the middle finger on the glove. You'll have to replace the grip in your middle finger hole with a larger one to accommodate the glove on that finger. As you bowl with the glove on, learn to feel the ring finger stay behind the ball. The best advice that the late, great coach John Jowdy ever gave was to "lead with the ring finger." This is how to learn to keep your hand behind the ball, and avoid coming over the top. The result is not only a higher track, but a much more powerful release.

As I said, this takes a long time and requires a lot of dedication, but I can tell you from personal experience that it's well worth it.

Rob Mautner

[sprocket]

What happens if you try to throw a back-up ball? Is the track higher then? I'm not suggesting you actually change to a back-up ball but in the attempt to do so you may find your track much higher.

[RobLV1]

sprocket: Great suggestion! Speaking from my own experience, when I finally learned to stay behind the ball, it FELT like I was throwing a backup ball, though it's not. Staying behind the ball does raise the track significantly.

[Pauley]

Thank you Rob and Sprocket for the advise. I have been throwing back up balls as a drill to help me stay behind the ball, it is helping and will continue to do it. I am willing to put in the work, I practice at least 2-3 times a week not including league and will do what is needed to get better.

When it comes to getting the thumb out cleanly: This is a big problem for me as I am not staying behind the ball on the inside long enough and turning early (getting better but not there yet), will staying behind the ball and learning a correct powerful release solve this problem, or is there another key/drill to getting the thumb out cleanly? Thanks for the help!

[Mudpuppy]

I just recently switched to a thumb slug on both of my new balls and it is amazing how much better it is - I use to use a ton of powder and either had too much or not enough I was constantly focused on getting my thumb out. Now I don't use powder and I don't even think about it. It is amazing how much better it feels.

[BOWLWEST73]

What is your hand and wrist position during your swing? Going based on Norm Duke's coaching video (and personal experience) the easiest way to help stay behind the ball is to not let it get in front of your hand during the pushaway. Keep your palm under the ball at the start so that it doesn't break the wrist down during the swing. Practice pushing away without your fingers in the ball so that it stays on the palm. Keep the wrist firm so that it doesn't break back at the top of the swing. All of these things will keep you behind the ball more and improve the way your thumb exits the ball.

[BOWLWEST73]

When it comes to getting the thumb out cleanly: This is a big problem for me as I am not staying behind the ball on the inside long enough and turning early (getting better but not there yet), will staying behind the ball and learning a correct powerful release solve this problem, or is there another key/drill to getting the thumb out cleanly? Thanks for the help!

make sure you are not having to squeeze to hold onto the ball. the ball should hold onto your hand and simply come off of it at the bottom of the swing without having to consciously think about releasing it. learn to use tape to adjust your thumb fit.

[Pauley]

What is your hand and wrist position during your swing? Going based on Norm Duke's coaching video (and personal experience) the easiest way to help stay behind the ball is to not let it get in front of your hand during the pushaway. Keep your palm under the ball at the start so that it doesn't break the wrist down during the swing. Practice pushing away without your fingers in the ball so that it stays on the palm. Keep the wrist firm so that it doesn't break back at the top of the swing. All of these things will keep you behind the ball more and improve the way your thumb exits the ball.

I use more of a hinge than push away to start, but it is only at the release I don't stay behind the ball completely. At the top of my backswing my wrist is cupped and on the inside of the ball. My biggest issue (I believe) is my swing is not free enough as I tend to muscle and grip the ball at the release causing my arm and hand to turn early.

Thanks for the tips and time to start working on it!

[sprocket]

Believe it or not, sometimes doing the exact opposite of what you think is right can help. On another forum, quite awhile ago, there was a guy who had a very low track and kept getting advice to keep his hand behind the ball. He gave a really good description of his swing, although nobody was posting videos back then, and I could visualize that he was getting his hand way inside at the top. He had developed the habit of rotating his forearm clockwise a he went into his backswing resulting in an open hand at the top. But he couldn't keep it there. He just couldn't. He had been trying for years. Instead he would "cast" his arm on the downswing, like a golfer coming over the top, and his hand would turn counterclockwise before the release resulting in a total spinner.

So I wanted to see if I could help him get behind the ball going into release and get rid of the twist. I suggested that instead of starting with his hand under the ball, which he had been coached to do countless times, he instead start with his hand almost completely on top of the ball. The reason I suggested this was because he had developed that habit of rotating his forearm clockwise after push away.

But see, with his hand now starting on top of the ball, when he rotated his forearm his hand would end up BEHIND the ball instead of way inside it. From there I told him to try to throw a back-up ball.

He posted back and said IT WORKED. He did not throw a back-up ball even though he tried and his track was within 1" of the holes!

[Pauley]

Interesting Sprocket, might be worth a try just to get the feeling. I don't believe I would want to incorperate starting on top of the ball permanently, but just to find that feeling it might work. I read a Joe Slowinski article on using a back up ball as a drill to stay behind/inside of the ball (and have been incorperating the drill in my practice) in the article it had frame by frame pictures of Sean Rash's release from the front view. Seeing it from that perspective you would think he is actually throwing a backup ball, not a super powerful high speed/high rev hook that he is actually throwing. To me that was the article that made me better understand the modern release.

Here is the link: http://bowlingknowledge.info/index.p...=204&Itemid=62

[RobLV1]

Pauley: As you say you are inside the ball with cupped wrist at the top, another thing that may be causing you to turn early could be your timing. Another thing that differentiates modern bowling from traditional bowling is that traditional power players utilized late timing to help them to pull through the ball. Mark Roth exemplified this technique. High rev players who incorporate a modern release use timing that is neutral (ball and slide foot reach the line at the same time). If your timing is late (slide foot reaches the line before the ball), it forces you to pull the ball through (muscle) rather than push the release through the ball. Have a coach take a look at your timing, or post a video. Raising your track may be as simple as correcting your timing.

[BOWLWEST73]

I see you're in P'tree Corners. What center do you bowl at? I bowl at BZ Lilburn.

[Pauley]

Brunswicks in Norcross and Brunswick Zone in Roswell. Send me a pm if you ever want to meet up and bowl, I always enjoy meeting new people who like to bowl as much as me. My friends think im crazy for loving bowling so much.

[Mike White]

Pauley: As you say you are inside the ball with cupped wrist at the top, another thing that may be causing you to turn early could be your timing. Another thing that differentiates modern bowling from traditional bowling is that traditional power players utilized late timing to help them to pull through the ball. Mark Roth exemplified this technique. High rev players who incorporate a modern release use timing that is neutral (ball and slide foot reach the line at the same time). If your timing is late (slide foot reaches the line before the ball), it forces you to pull the ball through (muscle) rather than push the release through the ball. Have a coach take a look at your timing, or post a video. Raising your track may be as simple as correcting your timing.

By this criteria, Marshal Holman must have had very early timing, since his ball passed his ankle well before his foot reached the line.
However he would pull the ball through the release using muscle.

A bit of a paradox there…

At what point in the swing (relative to the sliding leg) do you begin a "push" rather than a "pull" ?

[sprocket]

By this criteria, Marshal Holman must have had very early timing, since his ball passed his ankle well before his foot reached the line.
However he would pull the ball through the release using muscle.

A bit of a paradox there…

At what point in the swing (relative to the sliding leg) do you begin a "push" rather than a "pull" ?


Marshall Holman had maybe the earliest timing in the history of the PBA. I always thought of him as pushing the ball through and using his legs to generate speed. His wrist was definitely in a muscled position. He didn't use a long armswing and momentum to get the ball into a cupped position at the top; it was pretty much that way all the way through the swing. I think his early timing helped alleviate most of the muscling effect by allowing the ball to descend from the top as soon as it got there. He never was holding the cupped position stationary at any point because his swing was in constant motion.

[Mike White]

Marshall Holman had maybe the earliest timing in the history of the PBA. I always thought of him as pushing the ball through and using his legs to generate speed. His wrist was definitely in a muscled position. He didn't use a long armswing and momentum to get the ball into a cupped position at the top; it was pretty much that way all the way through the swing. I think his early timing helped alleviate most of the muscling effect by allowing the ball to descend from the top as soon as it got there. He never was holding the cupped position stationary at any point because his swing was in constant motion.

For Holman, the energy is applied to the ball, while the ball is behind his shoulder, so it would have to be a pull.

Take Wes Malott, he applies the energy to the ball after the ball is ahead of his shoulder. That would be a push.

You pull something to you, and push it away from you.