Swollen Thumbs and Thumb Holes

[DaveAyotte]

Hello all,

I have a question regarding the drilling of my thumb holes, but first - let me give you the back story. I bowl 1 night a week, and don't get around to practicing very often. It's a typical 3-game league, although the summer league I bowl is a 4-game league. With that said, every once in a while I'll bowl a 9-game state tourney, or go to nationals with a few friends, and bowl the 9 game series there along with that wacky 40-frame game.

Now, for a rugged (ok, chubby) guy, I have pretty petite hands. (remember that BK Whopper commercial?) So, my finger holes are pretty small. However, after 3-4 games, my thumb swells pretty considerably. I keep some 80-grit in my bag for just such occasions. With that said, now i'm in my winter league, and I need to put 4-5+ pieces of tape in some of my balls just to get a good grip on them. Knowing that gripping the ball is hurting the consistency of my release, I am really contemplating getting all my balls re-slugged, or making the change to the switch-grip, but at the same time, I feel like this is just going to happen all over again when I bowl another tourney, i'm going to get fat-thumb, and need to sand the crap out of my thumb holes in order to bowl comfortably. I do like the feel of tape, but 1 piece is all I need. I think there is 7 or 8 in my Mutant Cell, 5-6 in my No Mercy and at least 4 in my Tropical Storm.

Any Suggestions? Thanks in advance.

[The Mayor]

The Switch Grip would be the perfect solution for your problem. The best part of a Switch Grip is that you're able to have different sized slugs for this exact problem. You start with your normal size and as your thumb swells or it gets warmer, you switch to a larger slug.

[DaveAyotte]

multiple switch grips... such a simple solution - yet I never thought of it.

[The Mayor]

Glad I could help :)

[Windwalzer]

I have found if I keep my bowling hand/thumb above my shoulder, and use baby powder around the joint my thumb doesn't get stuck as I bowl and my thumb tries to swell. The other suggestion is to use ice between turns.

[K3ntFIN]

Hi,

When I coach I see this problem cropping up time and time again, rarely with the juniors thought, it is mostly adults that suffer from this. There are a few things to consider to alleviate the issue.

1. Multiple switchgrips, costly, but quick and easy.

2. Some of the guys I coach had this issue because as they released the ball, their hand was in the wrong position and every release would "pull" on the thumb. Solution: make sure the release happens with the thumb pointing forwards and it is the first finger to exit the ball. This puts less stress on the limb and prevents swelling. Harder to get right, but enormous help with consistency. And as a side-effect you might experience higher revs and ball speed. :)

3. Taping the right way. I assume this is something everyone knows, but I list it for completion. 1, yes one piece of grip tape on the inside of the thumbhole, the one facing the palm of your hand. All other tape bits should be the slippery black tape and be added on the opposite side of the thumbhole. There is a reason for this, and has helped quite a few bowlers. The reason is, if you add tape on the palmside of the thumbhole you are changing the length of your grip, thus also changing the angle of the thumb. So your balls may be drilled right but you change them so the grip is no longer a good fit. Easy to learn, cheap to do.

Usually when a person comes to me for the first time asking for advice, I check the grip, if that's ok, then we move on to other things.

Just a couple of pointers.