Graaille

EVER WONDER WHAT PEOPLE carry in their bowling bags aside from a ball, a pair of shoes, and a bowling glove? I have compiled a list of items you may or may not have heard of, and the reasons for carrying them with you when you bowl. (I have just about every item on this list in my own accessory container.) Let's start with the item you should use to hold all your other bowling tools:

YOUR BOWLING "BAG"

There are the three preliminary rules of selecting an accessory container: It must be durable, easy to use, and you must be able to easily locate everything in it.

I have tried pro shop bowling bags, but they are too small for all the items I want to carry, and they are not usually very durable. They can also be high-priced for what you get.

There are also pre-made accessory containers, but again, they do not adhere to all of my rules. I always find something included with pre-made containers that I don't use or need to have handy, and such containers also tend to be on the expensive side.

Be creative. Spend some time in a Wal-Mart--or somewhere comparable that sells small storage containers--in the camping/fishing section, and you might find something just perfect for you, at a reasonable price.

Remember: Make your bag fit you. Don't try to fit your equipment into a bag that isn't right.

GETTING IT ON TAPE

Tape is an ignored aspect of so many bowlers' games. I could spend this whole article writing about how much the benefits of tape outweigh the detriments.

Your hand reflects the amount of fluids currently in your body, as well as any calluses or wear and tear from the friction of throwing a bowling ball. I tend to develop calluses on the right and left sides of my thumb.

Think about it this way: Your thumb is generally not round in shape. A drill bit, however, is round. Even though today's pro shops can create oval shapes for the thumb hole, they can't account for the small fluctuations in the fluids of your tissues.

My recommendation is to have a thumb hole just large enough to keep a very light amount of friction between you and the ball, but large enough for a few pieces of bowling-specific tape. This way, if an extreme condition should increase your thumb size, you have room to take the tape out and resize your thumb hole. Tape itself is secondary to the customized feel you need to have to relax your grip, but tape is an important factor that can enhance your fit.

The choice between black and white tape is personal. Black tape is generally thinner and smoother than white. If you have some extra space to fill, try this tip: Use the thicker white tape--you will not have to use as touch--but if you like the smoother feel of black tape, add a piece of it on top of the white.

White bowling tape has been around for more than 20 years. Use bowling-specific tape instead of surgical tape because its adhesive does not leave a residue in the ball, like surgical tape does. I use three-quarters-of-an-inch tape because my thumb is small, and the key to a proper fit is to position tape in the ball where it won't touch the spot that has the most drag between your thumb and the ball.

If you have a larger hand, you might want to invest in inch-wide tape. If you have a small hand, you have two choices: "finger tape," which is precut at three-quarter-inches wide, or one-inch tape that you cut yourself. You may purchase tape in 12 or 30 pieces, or in larger increments, like a 500-piece roll.

Finally, tape can take a beating in your bowling bag, so find a place for individual pieces. That way, they will stay protected from dirt and folding.

MOLDING YOUR TAPE

You will need something other than your fingers or a scoring pencil to move tape in or out of your thumb hole when it gets dirty and old. Tape tools are available for this, but I like the efficiency of a tool that has multiple uses. This is why I use surgical scissors. They come in handy for all types of jobs: cutting a thumb patch, tape placement, and cutting tape. There are also specially made "tape tools" that can be purchased inexpensively, allowing you to insert your tape precisely.

GET A GRIP WITH ROSIN

Gymnasts in the Olympics apply white, powdery rosin to their sweaty hands before they mount an apparatus. This rosin is located in a community container, and it helps them grip an apparatus without slipping. This is also rosin's purpose for bowlers.

I have heard a variety of reasons for using rosin, among them to have your hand release the ball more easily, to release out of the ball later, to dry the hands, and, of course, the famous "everyone on my team does it, so I do it" or the "I don't know why I use it." But if the hand dryer on the ball return isn't enough to give you a good grip on the ball, consider tapping some rosin on your hands.

Even those people whose excessively oily/sweaty hands give them gripping trouble don't need to pour it on. A little rosin goes a long way, which is why you do not purchase it in one-pound containers.

Rosin is marketed and sold in very small Ziploc bags, and it can make a mess if not properly handled. Any type of messy substance in my bowling bag is a recipe for disaster, which is why I double-bag my rosin if I carry it in my accessory bag/box.

You will also see "rosin bags" that are mislabeled because they contain kitty litter. I don't know the technical term, but it is kitty litter and acts as an absorbent for your skin's oils. These bags are usually decorated with fun designs and come in a multitude of sizes. There is no mess, no residue, and no chance of it getting on the shoes of a bowling neighbor.

SLIDING EASILY

Easy Slide is a great thing to have for emergencies. If you use it regularly, however, it may be masking a problem with your fundamentals that you should address.

Easy Slide has a silicone base, so it is very slippery. It was originally created to help bowlers slide more easily (hence, the name), but it also can be used on hands to provide a quicker release from the thumb hole. It replaces the baby powder bowlers once used for the same purposes.

However, use it sparingly. Easy Slide tends to get everywhere, due to its powder form. I bowled a pro-am a few years ago in which one man heavily patted his shoe with Easy Slide before every shot, and I had to get him to stop because this overuse led to the rest of us on the pair oversliding at the foul line. That's a very dangerous situation. I would love to introduce "Easy Slide etiquette" to the bowling world, because some people do not understand how the overuse of such a product affects the others around them.

So, in the case of very tacky approaches, I'd suggest tapping some Easy Slide onto your fingers, then gingerly applying it to your shoe. As with rosin, I keep the powder in its bag, and then add another Ziploc bag to hold it. The outside of the inner bag becomes quite powdery over time, and a second bag protects your accessories.

WORKING OUT

You may use a bevel knife only once or twice in your bowling career, or you may use it regularly. It's one of those items that you will never be sorry to "just have" in your accessory case.

A bevel knife is used to carve material out of your ball in the finger or thumb holes. It has three sharp sides, and by scraping the hole edges (and inside the holes), you can adjust your grip closer to the initial fit and drilling your pro shop operator gave you. I have used a bevel knife at times when I had initially thought holes were large enough and then, as I bowled, realized that was not the case. There is nothing sadder than realizing you cannot relax your hand all the way in the holes of your ball because your hand doesn't fit. (An easy answer to why your hand size might change is because of the environment--high humidity or temperature.)

Many other tools fit into the "bevel knife" category, but they are more specialized. Again, I favor tools that can be used for several proposes--I have even used the tip of a bevel knife in a bind to insert my tape.