New Bowl, Old Habit

[LippinOff]

Pretty average guy here; righty league bowler with a 177 average. I typically stand 5 boards left of center and throw to the 10 board. I throw very slow around 13-14 MPH. In the past when I had a new ball drilled, I would just have them measure my old ball. The last time, about 5 years ago, I decided to have them measure my hand. The result was something completely different that I'm accustomed to. I expressed my concern that the thumb hole was too tight. He told me it was the way it should be and talked me into trying it. Due to bad timing, the first time out with it was league warm-ups. I nearly threw the ball straight through the ceiling because the thumb stuck. I ran to the pro and told him to make the thumb hole bigger and I didn't care if it was 'right' or not. So he did. Fast-forward to today. I had a new ball drilled; different shop, same result. He told me it was the way it should be. I couldn't get it off my thumb. After two drillings, my conclusion is they knew what they are doing and I just bowl wrong. My problem is I've been bowling like this for 25+ years and I deciding if I should try to learn to do it right with this ball, which is a 14# Track Kinetic. My last bowl is a 15# Storm Eraser Blaze.

My question is, in your opinion, is it worth trying to retrain myself on using a properly fitted ball or should I have it drilled to what I'm used to even if it's wrong. The way I like it is a large thumb-hole where admittedly, I have to grip the ball. I know that's not good, but its the way I've been bowling for years now.

Does anyone have any advice or opinions of what I should do? Have new ball drilled comfortable, but wrong or drilled right and 'relearn' how to throw. There isn't much time in the season and I'm anxious to use my new ball, but there's no way I can right now without embarrassing myself.

[Strike Domination]

I say it's up to you. If you eventually learn how to do it, you'd probably say now this is nice. Because he probably drilled the ball so you don't have to grip it very much if at all to hang onto it. If you relax your hand before you release the ball it could roll well, depending on your form and hand position. It's pretty much up to you whether you want to deal with the frustration that comes with trying to learn this along the way. A coach with the same philosophies as these drillers would probably be a great help.

[LippinOff]

I guess what I'm looking for is finding out how unorthodox this is and how inhibiting it is as far as increasing my average. Is it uncommon and automatically devastating to my game or is it more common and something that work for some and not for others? One part of me feels I should change one variable at a time and have it drilled the same way and another part says I need to learn how to do it right. I feel like I'm relearning the release 100% and its very uncomfortable.

[PSBA10]

I think the Pro shop guys are right, but then again so are you. The real question is: do you want to improve? If you do, ask the pro shop guys to watch you and see what you are doing wrong. Or, see a coach if there is one close.

The old addage applies here: If you do what you've always done, you will get what you've always gotten.

[J Anderson]

I guess what I'm looking for is finding out how unorthodox this is and how inhibiting it is as far as increasing my average. Is it uncommon and automatically devastating to my game or is it more common and something that work for some and not for others? One part of me feels I should change one variable at a time and have it drilled the same way and another part says I need to learn how to do it right. I feel like I'm relearning the release 100% and its very uncomfortable.

From what little I know about this game, having a fit so loose that you have to consciously grip or squeeze the ball to keep from dropping it makes it very difficult to be consistent in your release. That said I have always been told that a well fit ball should feel comfortable on your hand. I suspect that while the hole diameters might be right, the span or some the pitches might be off.

[bowl1820]

Does anyone have any advice or opinions of what I should do? Have new ball drilled comfortable, but wrong or drilled right and 'relearn' how to throw. There isn't much time in the season and I'm anxious to use my new ball, but there's no way I can right now without embarrassing myself.

DON'T HAVE A NEW BALL DRILLED, BUT DO HAVE IT DRILLED RIGHT.

Have your old ball plugged and redrilled with a properly fitted grip and use it to learn getting your thumb out. Also so you can tweak the fit (adjusting pitches and such) till the fit is spot on. Then have your new ball drilled with that fine tuned grip.

I'm going to take a guess here. I assume your using a fingertip grip.The reason you probably hanging in the smaller thumb hole is your mostly likely "Knuckling" your thumb.

Meaning your bending your thumb in the thumb hole, from squeezing the ball to hang on to it. This locks your thumb in the hole, that's why you hung up in the ball with the tighter fitting hole. I'll say you got in the habit from using balls with too big thumbholes all the time.

Also it can affect your speed, squeezing the ball it's harder to release at the proper time so you wind up throwing slower. In other words it affects the consistencies of your release.

With the season winding down don't be in a rush to punch up a new ball. Use this time to work with the pro-shop and get the grip and your release right, then get your new ball drilled and use it over the summer.

By next winter season you'll be fully ready.

[JAnderson]

My question is, in your opinion, is it worth trying to retrain myself on using a properly fitted ball or should I have it drilled to what I'm used to even if it's wrong.

What is your goal in bowling?

If you want to be as good as you possibly can be, then your equipment should fit correctly. In my opinion, 95% or more of bowlers have a thumb hole that is improperly fitted by being too large. This causes squeezing and "knuckling". Unless you can squeeze and knuckle the same way every time, whether you're bowling 3 games or 10 games, whether you're tired or well-rested, whether you have a blister on the back of your thumb or not, you've introduced inconsistency into your game and your scores will be lower. It's much easier to consistently not squeeze the ball. If you do that and your thumb hole is too large, you'll lose the ball in the back swing.

If you just want to be a 200+ average bowler on a normal house shot, there's probably little room for concern. The error-room provided by the lane conditions and modern equipment is enough to overcome inconsistencies caused by squeezing the ball.

However, you also asked about options. This is not an all-or-nothing process from the start. It takes time for most bowlers to learn to throw the ball without squeezing. There are inevitably corresponding changes in thumb hole pitch, size, and bevel along with changes in span that need to be made as you learn to squeeze the ball less and less.

Tape can help. A thumb hole that is too large can be adjusted with tape. Too many pieces of tape are another sort of problem, but in the beginning, you can practice squeezing less and less by adding tape to your thumb hole. When you have too many, it's time to have the thumb hole redone. If you want to go this path, I suggest using thumb slugs. They're cheaper and faster to replace when you're making a bunch of changes to your thumb.

I can tell you all of this from experience. Before I started with coaching some 6 years ago, I looked like a lumberjack trying to start a chainsaw when I was bowling. Too-large thumb hole with a death grip and bleeding thumb knuckle after 3 games was "the norm" for me. It took about 6 months of effort, and many changes in thumb hole size, pitch, bevel and many changes in span, but now I can go 20 games in a day without any strain on my hand and no sore or swollen thumb.

[Strike Domination]

Jay, in your opinion, does squeezing the ball hinder the release more, or the swing? Also a big concern of mine when it comes to trying to get a ball fit "properly" is if the fit controls the release, then how do you apply loft? Or is that a time when it'd be okay to hang onto it a bit?

[JAnderson]

Assuming that squeezing at the wrist/forearm doesn't trigger a corresponding squeeze from the bicep (upper arm) and/or anterior deltoid (front of shoulder), squeezing inhibits the release more than the swing.

If it does trigger the corresponding squeeze from the bicep and shoulder (I'm guilty of this when I'm bowling poorly) squeezing can inhibit both the swing - usually causing a "pull" and the release.

There's a couple of different ways to apply loft when it is needed. A younger guy by the name of Abraham Desmond shared with me one of the techniques used by the Wichita State bowling team: less knee bend and stand up straighter through the slide. This naturally gets the ball further from the floor at the release point.

Sure - delaying the release point to somewhere in front of your slide leg is the other way to create loft, but it's pretty natural to catch more of the fingertips as the ball begins to rise. Is it squeezing? I supposed it could be seen either way. Well, if we don't keep the fingers firm, we'll get less on the ball, and it takes muscle to keep the fingers firm at that point.

[randwool]

Just had my 2 Columbia's checked out and both thumb holes had to be oblonged a bit to allow the top of the knuckle to slide out properly. The Pro Shop guy made no issue fitting my thumb to the ball, making fine instead of coarse adjustments. The result was a huge improvement on feel and confidence. Balls need to be fitted to the individual, not the other way around. Being told "that's the way it should be" wouldn't have worked for my situation. Hope you get it worked out.