Advice for my girlfriend

[jnv32185]

My girlfriend is a new bowler. Only bowling for about 8 months. When I bought her first bowling ball she wanted a 10# ball even after I explained that it was going to be to light. Fast forward 8 months later and 5 weeks into her first league, she understands the ball is too light. So she wants a 12# ball for Christmas.

She currently has a plastic ball and I was thinking about getting her away from the plastic ball is that a good idea or is it too early?

She is right handed but when she throws the ball hooks at the end of the lane to the right, because of this I have her throw from just left of center. I can not figure out how or why her ball is hooking that way. So my question is if I buy her a beginner performance ball is it going to cause that hook to increase?

Also does anyone have some tips on how to stop her ball hooking that way?

Last question. Should I try talking her into 13# instead of 12#?

[RobLV1]

One simple suggestion to help you with both of your dilemmas: find a qualified coach and get her some help.

[dnhoffman]

Find a bronze coach ob bowl.com and you're set.

[Amyers]

What she is throwing is what used to be called a backup ball it has to do with the release. As stated earlier invest in some coaching before buying more balls.

[bobforsaken]

Does she use a finger tip grip or conventional grip?

I'm guessing if its a plastic ball and its hooking, that she is throwing it pretty slow. Is that true?

As a blanket statement, I don't think its too soon to get her into a reactive ball. It opens up a whole world of complexity and nuance for sure and it can be frustrating... but I can imagine it would be even more frustrating to tackle that challenge after years of bowling with a straight ball and getting pretty good with it.

My wife is new to bowling as well. She started with a 13 lb Tropical Breeze. It is too light for her now, but it helped to get used to a finger tip grip and the idea of getting a good side roll on her release with a lighter ball. She now uses a 14 lb Diva Pearl. If she's used to a 10, going to 13 may be too much too fast.

[jnv32185]

Thank you everyone. I am currently looking on bowl.com for a coach. It is slim picking for where I am but I am going to email the closest 2 and see what kind of prices they charge. One is a silver and one is a bronze coach that is all there is in a 20 mile radius.

[Aslan]

Is she hot??

I only ask because it affects the advice I would give her.

Wait..."bowling" advice?? See, thats not my fault...the title of the thread was not specific!! Come ON people! It's a well known fact that Aslan is looking for a replacement for his older model woman...her warranty is up, there's a knocking/nagging noise coming from her...lookin for a newer, sportier, relatively low maintenance replacement...and then people want "advice for their girlfriend"? If she's cute and not annoying....my advice is to dump you and go out with me. But see....THAT isn't the advice you were asking for.

THAT is why you seek out a Bronze level or Silver level coach.

And yes...if she's right handed and it hooks right...she's probably bringing her hand up the wrong side of the ball after her release...it's called a "back-up ball"....it's not generally recommended for adults...but I've bowled with both an adult male and an adult female who threw back-up balls and they both averaged in the 130s. Advanced bowlers will often learn to throw a back-up ball intentionally at certain spare leaves. If she's not that into bowling...most coaches will likely just let her throw it that way and work with her on other parts of her game. If she wanted to actually be GOOD and advanced...then especially for an adult, they would probably work on breaking her of that habit.

[austin]

As a general rule of thumb, most women when starting bowling tend to throw the ball a little left to right. It has to do with a natural curve of the arms. If you get a female to hold there arms out in front with palms up there is a noticeable curve from the elbows outwards.

[Blomer]

If you can't find a coach, see if you can find a good pro shop guy. Have her go in and talk to him and they can help her out. Most pro shop guys will be able to help and a good,one will watch her bowl before sell her a ball.

[DLP]

I've seen some amazing backup bowlers though. It was how I bowled right handed for the first 8 months of my bowling. I was forced to switch to left hand and then things really got weird.

When it was commented on that it's just the way a woman's arm works, I can attest to that. I stumbled, crawled, and was dragged kicking and screaming by several different coaches and nothing literally clicked as far as throwing a "forward" hook. My PSO conceded and my RH equipment was drilled to help promote a backup ball (RH grip, LH pin/cg position).

What is interesting is that what I could do so easily right handed, it is now impossible to do left handed.

Since she is relatively new to bowling, it should be easier to fix now. If she had been doing it for quite a few years, I would say to not even bother.

A few things I've learned a long the way:
A fingertip grip is easier to get to move than a full finger grip.
A ball that is not drilled properly to fit the hand will have more impact on the ability to hook consistently than imagined. You can't out bowl a bad grip.
One thing that I worked on was throwing a small nerf football with my bowling hand. Throwing it with an under handed (vs. over) and working on getting the spiral (like a typical football looks when throw). The goal is to throw a spiral ball without it wobbling - this will start to develop the feel of how the ball should come out of the hand to get the hook going the right direction.