Do revs come with time?

[broncofan27]

I am not a new bowler but new to 3 finger hook bowling. I throw with pretty low revs from what I can tell. Is this something that will increase as I become more comfortable with the 3 finger release?

[The Mayor]

Most definitely. It takes time to learn the feeling of "hitting" the ball. It will come.

[broncofan27]

Most definitely. It takes time to learn the feeling of "hitting" the ball. It will come.

Well that is reassuring because I feel like I have enough to focus on with my release as it is.

[DanielMareina]

revs come from having good timing, wrist position and motion, and being able to accelerate your follow through. You will get the hang of it, but there are many more important things to work on before they will come. Work on having a consistent shot first, then learn to adjust your shot itself. Good luck!

[broncofan27]

revs come from having good timing, wrist position and motion, and being able to accelerate your follow through. You will get the hang of it, but there are many more important things to work on before they will come. Work on having a consistent shot first, then learn to adjust your shot itself. Good luck!

Yea thats what I really working on right now. Consistent release and accurate with my throws. I finally went all out this weekend and got myself a good solid setup and fitting. Got a Track 607A and worked with a great pro shop guy to track my axis point.

[Motiv Girl]

Generating a higher rev rate begins in the stance.To increase your rev rate, set your fingers in a stronger position by turning your wrist to place the ring and middle finger in the 7 and 8 o’clock position.
To set your hand in a strong position, at the point of release, you must keep your fingers in this position through the pushaway and into the swing. As you are developing a feel for this method, focus on holding this strong position until your hand passes your ball-side leg. This will establish the habit of keeping your hand in a strong position as you enter into the upswing setting the stage for a strong finger position at the top of the swing.
The easiest way to accomplish this is to focus on maintaining your ring finger in the same position, from the stance, through the push, into the swing. Keep the ring finger in the strong position.
It is also important to establish a leverage-producing body position. This will promote a later body position at the finish as well as increase your target accuracy.

This can be done by leaning to the ball-side after setting your hand. You are leaning at the shoulders to place your ball-side eye directly over your arm and the ball, which is aligned with the target line.
With this lean at the shoulders, you are placing your body in a position to promote dropping the shoulder as you release and finish. Ideally, you want the bowling hand under the ball-side eye at the point of release.

Watch for early turn, this is when a bowler begins to turn their hand too soon in the downswing. This early rotation leads the hand to be rotated around the ball before the release. This minimizes the potential of the hand to be in this strong position. Worse yet, this eliminates the potential of generating different ball reactions by changing the axis rotation, at the release.
To eliminate early hand rotation is to simply wait until your bowling hand reaches the intersection of your slide shoe heel. This requires patience and practice.Basically, you want a short acceleration point just in front of the ankle. By focusing on the heel of the slide shoe, you will be able to approximate this position.

[DanielMareina]

I highly disagree with putting your fingers in the 7 or 8 position. Having your wrist in that angled of a position at the start isn't a good way to creat revs. Although it may manufacture some extra revolutions, it also creates a large amount of axis tilt that isn't benefitial to good bowling. The revs will come from proper form and rolling the ball off your hand properly.

[JAnderson]

I agree with Daniel on this one. While Motiv Girl's post may be well intentioned, it assumes a wealth of additional knowledge a beginning bowler (the original poster acknowledges being a beginning bowler) isn't going to have and isn't provided/linked in the post.

For new bowlers, the biggest obstacle is learning how to not break the wrist going into the release. By "break" I mean open - picture a waiter with a tray on his/her shoulder. The wrist is broken or open. The opposite would be cupped or closed.

It is probably easiest to learn to hook a ball with a straight wrist through the release. From there it is a matter of wrist position at release to ensure the weight of the ball transfers to the fingers as the thumb exits the ball first.

Once these basics are learned, increasing rev rate is a matter of learning proper swing timing, release timing, balance through the release, wrist position, and creating a flat release spot in the swing. All lessons for more advanced bowlers.

Cliff - I'm also in the Atlanta area. Despite you being a Bronco fan, I can help you with some on-lane coaching free of charge. If you don't want to work with me, I can recommend some certified coaches in the area.

[broncofan27]

Mr. Anderson thank you so much for that offer. I have been so slammed with work lately I haven't been on here in a bit. I wish I would have caught this earlier as I have been taking some lessons from a USBC coach near me but they were not free. I did make a major discovery last weekend. I was really starting to think my thumb hole was too loose. I was getting big time soreness in my hand that I determined was from squeezing the ball because my thumb was so loose. The guy I am taking lessons from gave me a couple pieces of tape to slip into my thumb hole to try. Talk about that ah ha moment! Revs were way up, power was way up, reaction way up. I could not believe it. I had to pre-bowl for league after my lessons that morning and rolled 201, 195, 217. Keep in mind my league average right now is 170ish. I had no idea how much the thumb actually played into this whole thing. And to top it all off my hand was pain free the whole time.

[The Mayor]

That's great! The thumb is the most important thing when it comes to the fit of a bowling ball. This is the major advantage of the 2 handed approach. The 2nd hand acts as the thumb, meaning that it is the stabilizer during the swing. However, you never have to worry about it getting stuck, being too loose, swelling, having the wrong pitch, etc. I'm glad you were able to find that out on your own though!

p.s. In no way was I trying to infer that you should switch to two handed! Keep up the good work!

[JAnderson]

Broncofan - great to hear. Squeezing is bad on so many levels. It's especially a rev killer because it prevents free and quick wrist motion. I believe most bowlers' thumb holes are too large. However, better to be too large and add some tape than risk injury. In fact, if your thumb swells, you can take tape out while you're bowling to accommodate. Buy bowling tape specifically engineered for this. It doesn't leave a sticky residue behind when it is removed - as long as you change tape once a month or so.

However, 16 pieces of tape (I've seen this) is too much. Even 6 pieces is pushing it. At the point, it's time to have the ball refitted, which is a good idea once per year anyway.

[broncofan27]

Broncofan - great to hear. Squeezing is bad on so many levels. It's especially a rev killer because it prevents free and quick wrist motion. I believe most bowlers' thumb holes are too large. However, better to be too large and add some tape than risk injury. In fact, if your thumb swells, you can take tape out while you're bowling to accommodate. Buy bowling tape specifically engineered for this. It doesn't leave a sticky residue behind when it is removed - as long as you change tape once a month or so.

However, 16 pieces of tape (I've seen this) is too much. Even 6 pieces is pushing it. At the point, it's time to have the ball refitted, which is a good idea once per year anyway.

Yea right now at most I use two pieces and by the third game I usually pull one piece out because my thumb does swell a bit. I bought myself a roll of 100 pieces so I should be set for a good long while. I actually like the feel of it better too. Just something about the grip of the tape that eases my mind off of my thumb and more to a good solid release.

[Mark027]

I have been bowling on and off for about 8 years and my game (not in the bedroom hehe) has suffered due to severe injuries, school, and working a lot. I am not by any means a great bowler. During the past two months, I have had an average of about 140-150 (Kinda blaming my ball and the fact that I was changing my form). 2 weeks ago, I got a new ball, Motiv Cruel C51 LE, and have been working on my technique. 26 games later, my average has went up to around 200. I give all the credit to the revs I am able to throw now. From my experience, these are my tips on throwing a good ball and increasing your revs...

1.) Get into a routine before you throw the ball, EACH AND EVERY time! Mine is short but I noticed it has helped me to become a more consistent bowler and help to get in a "groove.". This is it;
a.) Wipe off my ball every time, to clean the cover of extra oil/conditioner and aide me to throw a more consistent ball.
b.) Put my hand by the air, to dry off my my hand. Thanks to my genes, I get sweaty easily.
c.) Ensure that I insert my fingers into the ball the same way every time. This helps your release from going to the right or left of your target thus increasing your accuracy.
2.) Master your approach. Keep it the same every time. This is often over looked but I can tell you for a fact that this is a very important part. When I screw up my approach, many bad things can happen. I;
a.) Throw the ball to the left or right of my target.
b.) The ball slips out of my hand and misses my mark, loses speed, and revs are decreased.
c.) Sometimes I even hit my leg and most of the time that happens it means it's an automatic gutter ball.
3.) On the backswing, make sure your elbow is in, comfortably, and keep your hand behind the ball until it gets to your foot. Once it gets to that point, you can begin to turn your wrist. This is, in my opinion, the most crucial step. A lot of bowlers (Including me 2 weeks ago) have low to medium rev rates because they keep their hand on the side of the ball instead of directly behind it. Last part of this process is to ensure that your thumb comes out of the ball before the fingers. If you master this step, your revs are going to increase dramatically.

Let me know how that works out and feel free to contact me with any questions you have. I'm not bragging or anything but increasing your average by 50 pins is a great improvement and I just want to try to pass on my knowledge.