2 problems 2 different people

[coreyds012778]

start with the one closest to me. my wife.

she had weight loss surgery back in june. She has lost over 65lbs, with all the weight loss, everything including her bowling ball has gotten lose. I was thinking of getting her a new ball for christmas but with the rate is losing weight we will be having it changed every few months. Think the vise IT or turbo switchgrip for the thumb may be the best option? of course span is going to be the next problem, that may change too...



second

I got a friend, who is throwing a 12lbs ball at an avg of 21mph with a top speed of 23mph. that would be fine but for one thing accuracy. one ball will hit the pocket strike the very next frame. gutter. would a heavier ball help him (speed wise)? his approach is pretty slow and I think his is muscling the ball a lot.

[jnv32185]

Well as for your wife. Congrats to her on the weight loss. Can't really help with the question though because I do not know much if anything about vise it or turbo switchgrips.

As for your second problem. WOW that is pretty fast. A heavier ball will slow him down and I would definitely suggest a heavier ball. Accuracy does not necessarily have to do with ball speed. If he is muscling it he probably is twisting his wrist all different ways as well as having his arm in different positions when releasing the ball causing him to be inconsistent with his throw. But that may only be part of it, there are a lot of variables when it comes to accuracy and consistency.

[rv driver]

Well as for your wife. Congrats to her on the weight loss. Can't really help with the question though because I do not know much if anything about vise it or turbo switchgrips.

As for your second problem. WOW that is pretty fast. A heavier ball will slow him down and I would definitely suggest a heavier ball. Accuracy does not necessarily have to do with ball speed. If he is muscling it he probably is twisting his wrist all different ways as well as having his arm in different positions when releasing the ball causing him to be inconsistent with his throw. But that may only be part of it, there are a lot of variables when it comes to accuracy and consistency.
It *seems* to me (and Rob can feel free to correct me) that a heavier ball will aid in a more consistent, pendulum-shape arm swing. If the ball's too light, you're more likely to swing your arm all over the place, because you have no "weight" to help keep the swing straight.

[mike_thomas93]

Definitely a heavier ball I would recommend, as well. congrats to your wife's weight loss. More weight will prevent your friend from throwing it so high in the air, assuming if his thumb were to come out late out of the ball, and maybe even hit a few extra lanes in the process. Definitely don't want that to happen. But yeah, I'm another vote for heavier ball.

[coreyds012778]

both the wife and I have been telling him he needs a heaver ball for some time.

I know I can break 20mph but sheesh I use my approach anymore when I go for those speeds.

[Shaneshu87]

tell your wife congrats! i too have lost over 100 pounds while bowling, i would say the IT thumb would be good, my ring finger went down 5 ring sizes during my trek, now my span didn't change much really maybe 1/8th inch total. as for your friend tell him to man up and get a real ball

[coreyds012778]

as for your friend tell him to man up and get a real ball

been trying too, he has more bulk then me. I roll a 15lb ball 17.5mph on avg, (working on slowing it down to play the outside more). really don't see why he could not handle a ball in that weight.

[MiggityMatt]

Congrats to your wife on her weight loss.

I have a handful of friends that love the switch grips. All the guys in the pro shop use them, as well. Some pro shop operators don't care for them, so make sure you get someone with experience installing them. If you decide to go that route.

A grown man throwing a 12# ball is quite silly. Unless he has an injury that prevents him from throwing a heavier weight, he should be throwing at least a 14#. However, if breaking the sound barrier (tried to include pic) is what makes bowling fun for him, to each his own.

[MiggityMatt]

1190

[manke]

Congrats to your wife!!!

[Aslan]

really don't see why he could not handle a ball in that weight.

He can...he just doesn't want to. He wants to throw it really hard and make the pins go "kaboom". Just like thumbless and 2-handed players that want to rev the ball up to 600 and watch it go gutter to gutter. It's fun and you don't really have to learn how to bowl.

But I'd say his issue isn't how heavy the ball is...it's that he's throwing too damn hard. He might try to throw a 16lb ball that hard...and have the same issue except the shoulder and elbow problems will develop much sooner than with the 13lb ball.

The decreased speed of a heavier ball is only the weight of the ball...gravity is still the same. So a heavier ball will only be slower if the weight as it goes into the backswing is significant enough to lower his backswing and the resistance of the heavier object physically impairs him from throwing it as hard. I think he'll just use more muscle to throw it just as hard.

It's not unique. I see a LOT of new bowlers FIRE the ball straight at the headpin. Most of them have 120-130 averages...maybe a 165-175 game in there every now and then.

[coreyds012778]

if breaking the sound barrier

when My brother was in the navy, I got a chance to go out on the carrier he was station on. those sonic booms are a real thud to the chest and cool.

I do have a 16lb hammer I picked up at the goodwill type place. just needs to be set up for him.

[coreyds012778]

we got my friend to throw an 15lb house ball to see what he can do with it. he throw double X right off the bat, next frame, cleaned up a spare, had him at an range of 18.5 avg speed. I do have a hammer blue I can give him at 16lbs. offered it too him tonight

[coreyds012778]

Spoke to my driller today about my wife's ball, he suggested installing slugs and drill a new thumb hole to her new thumb size. Still worried in 3mo time, her thumb will shrink again and we be doing this again. May talk with him again see if he does any interchangeable inserts

[Amyers]

It's easy to make changes for different size thumbs all you do is drill the old slug out insert new and re drill the hole to the new size you can do it in 15 min. I don't know the cost in you area but my guy charges $10 bucks

[coreyds012778]

Have to see. He does some work free. Don't think this time. Seem that he is on par with everything I read. Kinda shocking since he is the one for close to 100miles.

[Lloyd6770]

Regarding your friend throwing really fast, I have a friend that was just like that. He was sitting around 20-21mph with a 15lb ball. I tried to get him to add more steps to his approach, as he had a 3-step approach from the 2nd set of dots. However, my friend used to play volleyball, so he was used to the 3-step approach. One of the guys we've made friends with that works at the alley suggested instead of adding more steps, start closer to the approach line. That way, he can still take his 3-step approach, but it forces him to slow his body down. He dropped down to throwing in the 18-18.5mph range, but he is much more consistent. He cut his approach distance roughly in half. He now starts in front of the first set of dots.

[coreyds012778]

i have to see where my friend is starting at. I know cutting my own approach down helped with my speed. I was at 17 to 18mph brought mine down to 15.5 avg.

[coreyds012778]

tell your wife congrats! i too have lost over 100 pounds while bowling, i would say the IT thumb would be good, my ring finger went down 5 ring sizes during my trek, now my span didn't change much really maybe 1/8th inch total. as for your friend tell him to man up and get a real ball

congrats on yours.

my wife can feel an change in her hands, she was complaining about it tonight