Revolutions

[JCasey1992]

Hi all!

I recently had a discussion with one of my friends at league. He was telling me about bowling on the open tournament oil pattern and told me that it requires a LOT of revs to make the ball hook. One of these days, I hope to attend a national tournament but have limited revolutions on my ball. How do the pros achieve so many revolutions on their shots and how can I work on achieving that?

Thanks,
Casey

[billf]

Hi Casey. Not sure why this thread didn't show under new posts but I still saw it.
Here is the link to the kegel oil pattern library. They have a lot of useful information and suggestions for lane play. http://www.kegel.net/patternlibrary/default.asp
Now to part one of your post. Revs do not make the ball hook. Literally. Axis rotation actually plays a much larger role. Revs actually make the ball skid FURTHER before hooking. The pro's will actually use less revs but more axis rotation on the longer oil patterns. High revs are not needed to be competitive on ANY pattern. The key is to know and understand your personal game well so you can play in a way that hides weaknesses and exploits strengths.
Now for the second part. More revs. That is definitely the number one goal of most bowlers. Very basic is; the further under the ball you have your hand at release combined with the speed of rotating your fingers just prior to release will create a higher rev rate. Personally, when I want to increase my revs over my normal, I will have my hand cupped and INSIDE the ball. Just prior to release the thumb is at the 2:00 position with my ring finger at 9:00. The thumb comes out while I uncup my wrist and rotate my fingers to 3:00.
Here is an article by Joe Slowinski that may help http://bowlingknowledge.info/images/stories/slowinskijune11.pdf
Ron Clifton also has a nice archive of articles with helpful tips www.bowl4fun.com
It will take practice increasing and then controlling your rev rate but you will enjoy the results. Good luck!

[abishai]

Some good info there. Glad Casey asked this question because I've been curious myself about how ball physics and lane conditions effect each other but have been too lazy to look it up myself!

[martinezsam2495]

Casey, very good question,
but what I know throwing 2 handed gives a lot of revs itself,
I'm not saying to switch, as Bill's advice will help you achieve your goal,
but the main thing is too practice.

[billf]

Sam, if you don't know how to do something, how do you practice it? That is a common reply but doesn't really answer the question. Once you learn how to do something, then you can practice it.
2 handed in and of itself does not create revs. I saw an attempt at it this summer that lets me laugh every time I think about it. A guy on my fall league team doesn't throw more than a 2 board hook. He tries but doesn't succeed. This summer he decided to bowl 2 handed in our Tuesday league. It was real slow and no revs. Funniest thing I've seen in a long, long time.
He hasn't asked for my help so I haven't offered any advice.

[Hampe]

Sam, if you don't know how to do something, how do you practice it? That is a common reply but doesn't really answer the question. Once you learn how to do something, then you can practice it. In fact.....practicing the wrong technique can be very counter-productive.

[The German Shepherd]

I agree with Hampe. Practice may make perfect but not if the practice is poor. Better to say "perfect practice makes perfect."

Jay


In fact.....practicing the wrong technique can be very counter-productive.

[DanielMareina]

I agree with Bill, revs are not required to succeed on any oil condition, but they can help. Despite the fact that people like Norm Duke can be amazingly good and have lower rev rates, if you look at the winners on tour this year, you will see a trend. Belmonte and Rash did really well and both have high rev rates. The way they oil the lanes for the PBA now a days is catering to the higher rev rate bowlers. I don't know if it is on purpose, but I don't think anything in professional sports is completely on accident. The key is to not try to have the highest revs possible, but to have the most controlable and comfortable rev rate for you style. I used to have a rev rate of about 415, and I was inconsistent. I lowered my revs down to about 390 and feel much more comfortable, and my average has increased because of it. Good hand positioning, consistent release, and balance at the foul line is what you can work on. Good, consistent revs will come from those three things.

[The German Shepherd]

Right on Daniel. The secret to good and consistent scores is not to see how much you canmake a ball hook, or even to see how hard you can rev the ball. The key is to find your optimum rev rate - one you can repeat consistently. Norm and RWR have made a great living with their 275 RPMS!

Jay

[blong4133]

Agree with what everyone has said so far.

The thing that I focus on is making sure to lift the ball with the fingers. I can't do this unless I have a fairly loose fitting thumb hole. I used to have the thumb hole real tight and would jam my fingers in the ball, and that will make it hard to lift the ball.

Make sure that your thumb is out of the ball before the fingers. just before the ball leaves your hand, the thumb should be out, then you come around the ball with your fingers. The faster/harder you come around on the ball, the more revs you're going to get (obviously). It took some time for me to do this and be accurate, but as with anything in life, just practice and you'll get it.

Speed also plays a role in it, I'm sure. If you're throwing the ball slower, you're going to give the ball more time to grab the lanes and don't need as many revs as one of those guys who's hurling it.

But at the end, more revs will improve your game in general in my opinion. You get better pin action and once you get accurate with it, you'll notice more strikes.

But in short, Just before the ball leaves your hand, the thumb should be out, while your fingers are still in, then come around the ball with your fingers.

[got_a_300]

The key is to not try to have the highest revs possible, but to have the most controlable and comfortable rev rate for you style. I used to have a rev rate of about 415, and I was inconsistent. I lowered my revs down to about 390 and feel much more comfortable, and my average has increased because of it. Good hand positioning, consistent release, and balance at the foul line is what you can work on. Good, consistent revs will come from those three things.
I agree 100% with Daniel as I used to back in my younger days on the old wooden lanes
throw the ball at around 20+ mph and had a rev rate well over 690-700+ rpm and I could
carry a decent 200-218+ average but it was very hard to hit the same board or the same
small area every time back then. Yes I could really devastate the pocket most of the time by
just picking out a large area on the lane to hit but I was also very inconsistent on getting the
ball to the pocket every time with any consistency back then. I do believe that might just have
played a roe in all of my back problems that caused me to take a 12 year break from bowling.


Now fast forward 12+ years on synthetic lanes and I now throw the ball around 15+ mph with
a lower rev rate in the 350-400+ range now days. Yes my average has dropped quite a lot since
I came back to bowling I'm down in the 180+ range now but I'm a lot more consistent on hitting
my mark and getting the ball to the pocket now days. The only thing is the ball just doesn't have
the explosive hitting power as it had back then when it hits the pocket now days.

I have to agree rpm's on a ball isn't everything in bowling it takes a lot more than say 700+ rpm's
to score well in the game it takes good timing, good balance, a really free arm swing a consistent
repeat of shots and a consistent hitting of your mark.

[billf]

I have been working on changing my rotation, wrist angle when cupped (less cupping) and less revs. The best part is, the revs are a little lower but not a lot and with a rotation more around 45 degrees instead of 90, the ball motion looks better and is more controllable.

[DanielMareina]

Good for you Bill! 90 degree tilt is definately not the way to go. 45 will give you a nice medium between forward and side roll. You will see your scores increase quite a bit with that change. It is a hard change to make though, so I think it is worth congratulating you on it ;)

[billf]

Thank you Dan. The funny thing is, to relax the cupping I just used a wrist brace for a few days of practice. Most people use them to get more cup, I just set it at the first setting. The change of axis rotation was by use of a lot of video to see where I was coming out/around the ball.

[billf]

Just a quick thought;

If revolutions were the end all of bowling then Tommy Jones and Robert Smith would be the all-time tournament winners. I like both of them and I'm sure there are others with stratospheric rev rates but they came to mind first.