How high of an upswing should one have after release?

[Blomer]

How important is the up swing after releasing the ball? How far up should one arm/hand go?

I generally try to bring it up above my head, but I have been noticing several bowlers at my house who have a low upswing and they do rather well.

[bowl1820]

How important is the up swing after releasing the ball? How far up should one arm/hand go?

I generally try to bring it up above my head, but I have been noticing several bowlers at my house who have a low upswing and they do rather well.

As they say "The pins are not on the ceiling!"

You project the ball and release it down the lane toward the pins, your follow through will still go up, but it will go up later after the ball is off of your hand.

Bringing it up above your head (following through toward the ceiling) is from the Old school thinking of: Apply lift to get the ball to hook. Keep the spine straight to encourage lift and follow through to the ceiling.

In today's game with today's balls you don't want to put lift on the ball, you hit through the ball, not up on the ball. project it down the lane and let it do the work.

[rv driver]

As they say "The pins are not on the ceiling!"

You project the ball and release it down the lane toward the pins, your follow through will still go up, but it will go up later after the ball is off of your hand.

Bringing it up above your head (following through toward the ceiling) is from the Old school thinking of: Apply lift to get the ball to hook. Keep the spine straight to encourage lift and follow through to the ceiling.

In today's game with today's balls you don't want to put lift on the ball, you hit through the ball, not up on the ball. project it down the lane and let it do the work.

Norm Duke doesn't seem to have a lot of height on his follow-through. he appears to project more "out" than "up." Then there are the guys whose hands go so far up they almost go behind the head.

[got_a_300]

You do not need a long high follow through now days
as bowl1820 said that is the old school way of thinking
just watch guys like Stuart Williams he has a very short
chopped off follow through and does very well with it.

[Aslan]

According to the new youth bowling program/manual...you want to try and get your elbow above your head.

Granted, the youth program still teaches a much more conventional type of shot/posting than what more modern, advanced adult players are learning.

That being said, what I've found effective in teaching extremely new, new adult bowlers (3 of my teammates are totally new) is a "hand to ear" follow through. It gets them in sort of the right direction...and focuses more on the elbow (which follows the hand) than having a straight arm to the ceiling.

I no longer use the arm to the ceiling approach. If you look at my older videos (a link to my videos is clicking on my USBC # in my signature) you'll see a very "hand to the ceiling" type of posting. The newer videos is using Rob's advice of more having your hand go toward the target...like you're trying to grab the headpin.

I still bring my hand up the side of the ball more so than modern players. I'm still working on a release that allows me to stay under/behind the ball...rather than come up the side of it...but cannot do it with enough accuracy for me to be comfortable with it (yet).

[mike_thomas93]

got_a_300 pretty much said the example I would've given. Adding to that, Stu probably has one of the shortes follow-throughs in the sport, but he puts a lot of power on the ball at the point of release. Another example could be like Dom Barrett

[foreverincamo]

My coach preaches get your right bicep up by your right ear for right-handers.

[rico]

It seems that the bottom of your elbow should reach shoulder height or higher to ensure a complete, slightly accelerated follow through motion....