Newbie questions about release, starting position, and other stuff...

[bfreshour]

Hi everyone. I bowled quite a bit in High School, because I worked at the bowling alley. I was never really taught however and mainly threw a backup ball because it was the easiest method. I think near the end of my stint, I moved to a regular hook...

Fast-forward to 12 years later... I'm now 30 and trying to start bowling again. I bought a 15lb Loud Noize ball as I figured it'd be a good ball to start again. I had it drilled by the local pro fingertip. I guess just the standard drill layout as she didn't ask me any questions and she's never seen me bowl.

Anyway, I almost feel like the ball is too heavy for my wrist, but maybe it's just the way I'm trying to throw it... I think the first night I threw it, I was throwing it suitcase style with a lot of speed. The ball looked like it was turning but it'd mostly go straight. Yesterday, I went again, tried to slow down everything, tried to pay attention to my release, but I just can't get down how to let the ball roll off my fingers...

Half the time I feel like my thumb comes out too early leaving my fingers helpless and I get no rev. Other times, my thumb gets stuck (which leads me to something else mentioned later) and the ball gets too airborne.

Is most of the strength from bowling in the wrist, or am I trying to throw the ball wrong? I've watched so many video and read so many tips the past few days just trying to figure out what I'm doing...

Back to the thumb stuck issue, in the third game with this ball, my thumb had swelled up (this ball doesn't have a thumb slug, is only finger-tipped) and I couldn't get my hand out of it. At the line I had to turn around and tell them I couldn't, they said pull your fingers out first, but I couldn't get them out either. My hand was literally stuck. Is the width between my finger tips and thumb perhaps too far? Should I get my thumb drilled out further and use tape to help if my thumb isn't swollen?

How do you decide where to stand before throwing the ball? Some people start on the left side and produce a wide arcing hook ball, others start on the right and produce a small hook into the pocked, and others start in the middle and have a small arcing ball. I just don't know which of these I should try to do... I think it depends on how much you want to rev the ball, but I'm not 100% sure.

Any tips for releasing the ball such as finger positions at release and palm position?

[Graaille]

Greetings and welcome to BB.

Let me suggest some things in no particular order if I may.

1. In theory, if you put your thumb in the ball and lay your hand flat on the ball, the line under the first knuckle of your middle and ring finger should be somewhere between the midpoint to the upper edge of the fingerholes. That's the best way to determine if the fingerholes are too close or too far away from the thumbhole.

2. When bowling, a majority of people's thumbs swell, however there are some people who's thumb shrink. But the thumb will be dynamic - so thumb tape will be your friend depending on what your particular thumb does. If your thumb sweats, you might want to spend a couple of extra moments holding your palm over the fan they have at the ball return.

3. You may be knuckling your thumb. If the thumb is drilled correctly, the thumb when you put it in will feel snug, and if you grip/flex at all you shouldn't be able to pull it out. This will mess with you (at least it messed with me) for a good while until you realize that the ball will come off _only_ when you relax the thumb. Now this may seem to contradict what I said in #2, but it doesn't. You want the ball drilled when your thumb is it's biggest - and in the winter, low humidity, or if your thumb shrinks instead of swells - you can add tape to the thumbhole to maintain that 'snug' feeling.

4. Release. In my opinion, the best way to start is to keep the thumb straight up and the fingers directly below until the release of the ball off the hand feels comfortable. Provided the thumb fits correctly, all it's doing is keeping the ball in the palm of your hand - and the fingers/base of fingers are doing the pushing forward during the forward part of the swing. Motiv Girl posted a link to where Norm Duke does some release drills where they are kneeling on the floor, and when I find it again I'll put the link right here. (http://www.nextlevelbowling.com/page.php?page_id=9) He does a fantastic job of breaking down the release, so I feel that's the best place to start 'training' your hand.

5. Where you stand depends on how you play - what you're good at. If you can put a ton of revs on the ball, you'll stand farther left. If you're still working on increasing your rev rate - you'll stand farther right. A good place to start is straddle the center dot on the approach - throw the ball over the 2nd arrow, and see what happens. If you hit in the 1-3 pocket, stay there. If you hit the 3-6 or the 6-10 pocket, move right while still aiming over the 2nd arrow. If you hit the 1-2 pocket (etc...) move left while targeting between the 2nd and 3rd arrow.

(Edit: Found the link)

[bfreshour]

I took some pictures of my grip.

http://fldash.imgur.com/bowling/U3ZI6

I asked some people on another board and they seem to think my grip is too big, probably by as much as 1/2".

[Graaille]

They're right. You've got what we affectionately call "gorilla grip" - meaning an overly stretched grip. It's good for not having a good sense of control, and potential hand damage if you keep bowling for a long period of time. You see in the picture where the line under your first knuckle joint hits - right at the bottom of the fingerhole? It should hit somewhere between dead center and the top - depending on your comfort level - I aim for 3/4 mark myself. So yep - that ball is drilled about 1/2" too long.

Took some pictures of some used equipment that I have that show all 3 possibilities. The first one is like yours (http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp17/Graaille/Other/TooLong.jpg)-- too long. The second is correct (http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp17/Graaille/Other/Correct.jpg)- the line is across the center of the fingerhole. The third is too short (http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp17/Graaille/Other/TooShort.jpg)-- especially the ring finger, it's almost a "Sarge Ester" grip. (I just haven't bothered to get it plugged/redrilled yet.)