Hooking

[wimberlyt]

I tried out my new Tropical Storm today. Man, hooking is harder than it looks. My high was 147. I either twisted my wrist too hard and ended up in the gutter or not twisting enough and bowling almost straight. I can't figure out why it won't hook the way I want it too. Any ideas?

[Graaille]

Hooking can be easy, just depends on what streetcorner you get that evening. ;P

Seriously, don't try to hook the entire lane the first attempts. There are people who are very impressive laying the ball down on board 40 and having it scream off the breakpoint on board 2, but the people who do it consistantly aren't doing the 'grip and rip' - it's all in technique. I'd love to say I know what the technique is to do it - I've watched videotape of many major hookball pros (Smith, Mallott, Jones, Fagan, Nolan, etc...) and the two things I can point to are 1. their fingers are well below the equator of the ball when the thumb comes out and 2. they flip their hand around to around 45 degrees during the release. Notice I said their hand, not their wrist, not their elbow. Sort of a snapping of the ball off of their hand versus a pulling up/ripping of the ball around using wrist strength.

[Coach 3G]

The vast majority of people lose revolutions from breaking their wrist as the ball is on the downswing to the release. Make sure you are leading with your elbow on the downswing and don't let your arm exceed the speed of the ball, else your wrist will be forced to break. Keep the wrist firm and as Graaille says don't twist the wrist.

[wimberlyt]

Thanks guys. I may have to start using my wrist brace. When bowling straight, I did better without it, but with hooking I may need it.