Thumbhole frustrations!

[AlexNC]

I struggled for awhile to get a thumbhole I was comfortable with. For a time, I had issues with the ball coming off my hand early. A few weeks ago, I had a pitch adjustment to remove some of the reverse pitch and also changed to an oval thumbhole (plus a very minor change in span.) It felt great and so much more relaxed. I waited until early this week and decided to have the changes made to the other balls in my arsenal that I use for league (except for my spare ball which has some cracking and needs to be plugged first. We had a warm front move in a couple of days ago and all of a sudden I can't exit the ball cleanly and I hung up completely at the line twice. Worrying about it after problems started likely made it worse. I had to take out all of my tape and use my grip ball like a crazy man just to get out. Now I am second guessing the pitch change. I had no difficulty getting out of my spare ball. But if my thumb was snug at all it was not going to exit the other balls. I'm thinking a lot of the comfort I was enjoying was from the oval thumbhole adjustment. Frustrated that I had the pitch change made in several balls.

[LyalC52]

I used to fight thumb holes too
my solution was to have switch grips installed on all my balls
and then my PSO and I experimented with several combinations of pitches and oval shapes
I have two inserts that I regularly use and two others if I'm having trouble getting out

Also for me, using HADA patches on the back of my thumb gets me out so much faster

[vdubtx]

Switch grips or Vise IT's are awesome. No idea why I waited so long to make the change to them.

[AlexNC]

Im not sure it would have helped my situation last night, though I totally want to do IT. I had enough room in my thumb hole to add or lose tape. I usually like to be snug so I don't feel like I have to hold on. But last night any snugness wouldn't let my thumb clear - hell, I couldn't get my thumb out with my fingers in just standing there unless I used my other hand. Seems like it was catching on the front side at the top. My spare ball however (which still had slightly more reverse pitch) was coming off fine and was snug.

I am leaning towards keeping the oval & span adjustment, but going back to the original reverse pitch - which for me is like 1/4" (I have a longer span). I know minor pitch adjustments can be made just by getting a new slug (although sometimes a larger diameter slug.) If I did decide to do go and get my stuff changed to IT, are pitch changes able to be accommodated in a similar way? Or should I get these issues figured out before I make the change?

[djp1080]

Alex, I previously had reverse pitch thumb holes from years ago. My first resin ball was drilled reverse, too. After a couple of years getting back into the game I came across Ron Clifton's website about relaxing the hand, etc. I went back to the PSO and talked to him about it. He suggested going to a zero pitch, which we did. It was fine. We continued and made two or three more adjustments going to more and more forward pitch. He was afraid I was going to hang up in the ball, too. It never happened. I think I could probably go another 1/8 or 1/4 forward. Of course, I added a tape wedge at the bottom of the thumb hole near the bottom so that the tip of my thumb has something to feel so that I can't squeeze the ball at all. I've gotten so used to that feeling that I likely don't need that wedge any more, but I used it just as insurance. Maybe you might want to consider the wedge idea. Hope this helps...

[AlexNC]

I am familiar with the Ron Clifton articles, and it was part of the reason I wanted to move my pitch slightly forward in the first place. I went from 1/4" to 1/8" reverse pitch and it worked great for a while. At the same time, my new PSO slightly increased my span and we changed to an oval thumb. When I had this work done, the weather was cold and dry. Right now, I can't clear my thumb even rolling into a pillow at home. I am not bending or squeezing and I can feel my thumbnail contact the back of the thumbhole. I can feel my thumb stick between the joint closest to my hand and the middle joint while maintaining a straight but relaxed thumb. If I don't use any tape and apply rosin I can get out, but then I don't have any snugness.

It is worth mentioning that my thumb falls under the 90 degree average tight class and on the thumb angle pitch conversion chart my recommended starting point is between 1/4" to 5/16" for my span. I think to make the current 1/8" reverse work on the stuff I had changed I would probably need to shorten my span.

So I guess when it was super dry out it worked great. As soon as there was any humidity/friction I started hanging up. I still like the oval thumb, for me it means a more reasonable amount of tape (i was between 7-10 pieces on my old stuff). Oh, I do also use the Vise Hada tape. Its just that the issue again seems to be on the front side of thumb catching.

[Amyers]

I am familiar with the Ron Clifton articles, and it was part of the reason I wanted to move my pitch slightly forward in the first place. I went from 1/4" to 1/8" reverse pitch and it worked great for a while. At the same time, my new PSO slightly increased my span and we changed to an oval thumb. When I had this work done, the weather was cold and dry. Right now, I can't clear my thumb even rolling into a pillow at home. I am not bending or squeezing and I can feel my thumbnail contact the back of the thumbhole. I can feel my thumb stick between the joint closest to my hand and the middle joint while maintaining a straight but relaxed thumb. If I don't use any tape and apply rosin I can get out, but then I don't have any snugness.

It is worth mentioning that my thumb falls under the 90 degree average tight class and on the thumb angle pitch conversion chart my recommended starting point is between 1/4" to 5/16" for my span. I think to make the current 1/8" reverse work on the stuff I had changed I would probably need to shorten my span.

So I guess when it was super dry out it worked great. As soon as there was any humidity/friction I started hanging up. I still like the oval thumb, for me it means a more reasonable amount of tape (i was between 7-10 pieces on my old stuff). Oh, I do also use the Vise Hada tape. Its just that the issue again seems to be on the front side of thumb catching.

In the future only make one change at a time. Unfortunately here you don't know what the real culprit is here. It could be the longer span, the oval thumb, or the pitch causing the problem. Span adjustments are a little more problematic but pitch changes and ovals can easily be changed out by just reslugging the ball. You may need to have the PSO work out the area where your catching may work with the existing set up. If not your going to have to changes some of this back and experiment until you find something that works again. I've learned this lesson the hard way too. I won't even make changes to the right and left pitch at the same time as changing the forwards reverse anymore. Is there any roughness to the slugs that were installed? If there is you may want to work them a little with some drywall sanding screen to slicken them up. I have that problem with new slugs sometimes.

[AlexNC]

In the future only make one change at a time. Unfortunately here you don't know what the real culprit is here. It could be the longer span, the oval thumb, or the pitch causing the problem. Span adjustments are a little more problematic but pitch changes and ovals can easily be changed out by just reslugging the ball. You may need to have the PSO work out the area where your catching may work with the existing set up. If not your going to have to changes some of this back and experiment until you find something that works again. I've learned this lesson the hard way too. I won't even make changes to the right and left pitch at the same time as changing the forwards reverse anymore. Is there any roughness to the slugs that were installed? If there is you may want to work them a little with some drywall sanding screen to slicken them up. I have that problem with new slugs sometimes.

I hear ya there. It was such a small span adjustment that it also was accommodated with just the slug. No roughness in the slug, the big difference that I can feel seems to be friction just caused by my own hand not being as dry as it is during the winter. So I feel some tackiness - not something i would call sticky - but the ease at which my thumb can exit is different. I tried to rosin up, but i still could not use any tape. I think I just got over excited by how great it felt for the weeks prior. I plan on talking to the PSO about what to do next, but I kinda feel like I want to try the oval thumb with the original pitch. Luckily, I didn't get all my equipment changed, so I have a ball I will just have the slug switched to an oval.

[scottymoney]

Most PSO's will drill an IT in the ball at zero and do any pitch adjustments as long as they aren't too crazy in the IT itself. This allows you to drill up more ITs at different pitches if need be without al the hassle of drilling the ball again.

[Jessiewoodard57]

I use the Turbo Switch Grips and I have 3 different size grips. As my thumb shrinks during bowling I proceed to the next smaller grip. I like that no matter which ball I use I can have the same grip feel every time.

[djp1080]

I am familiar with the Ron Clifton articles, and it was part of the reason I wanted to move my pitch slightly forward in the first place. I went from 1/4" to 1/8" reverse pitch and it worked great for a while. At the same time, my new PSO slightly increased my span and we changed to an oval thumb. When I had this work done, the weather was cold and dry. Right now, I can't clear my thumb even rolling into a pillow at home. I am not bending or squeezing and I can feel my thumbnail contact the back of the thumbhole. I can feel my thumb stick between the joint closest to my hand and the middle joint while maintaining a straight but relaxed thumb. If I don't use any tape and apply rosin I can get out, but then I don't have any snugness.

It is worth mentioning that my thumb falls under the 90 degree average tight class and on the thumb angle pitch conversion chart my recommended starting point is between 1/4" to 5/16" for my span. I think to make the current 1/8" reverse work on the stuff I had changed I would probably need to shorten my span.

So I guess when it was super dry out it worked great. As soon as there was any humidity/friction I started hanging up. I still like the oval thumb, for me it means a more reasonable amount of tape (i was between 7-10 pieces on my old stuff). Oh, I do also use the Vise Hada tape. Its just that the issue again seems to be on the front side of thumb catching.

If I you're sticking between the thumb joint closest to your hand and the middle joint, your PSO might just need to bevel the thumb hole a little is my guess. With my forward pitched thumb hole while swinging the ball here in the basement, I can feel pressure just above the knuckle joint engage with front of the slug. I've got no sticking at the joint closest to my hand. I've been using Hada tape on my thumb for quite a while and I've added a piece of Teflon tape to the back of the slug (i.e., Shur Out tape). I've likely made it a tape nightmare, but it works for me. Consider just beveling the thumb hole a bit and get your thumb joint clear. Glad that you're not squeezing the ball while trying to roll it into a pillow. Some Easy Slide powder might get rid of the tacky feeling on your thumb, too. Good luck!