Release close to your ankle question

[jbeck]

I've watched pros and read from others that your release should be close to your ankle. Now I've never watched my actual release, but my strike zone is usually left foot on board 18 or 21 aiming at the 2nd or 1st arrow. I'm not sure where my slide ends, but I'm sure it's no where near board 5 or 10 so my guess is neither is my release. I definitely haven't learned to bowl from inside to out yet so I'm wondering if releasing near the ankle a must?

[Zothen]

If you watch the pros or any good bowler,most of them release ball close to ankle. The ankle is kinda like a plum line(Line use to keep things straight)! I usually stand anywhere from the 15-22 board depending on the oil condition and throw over the 5-10 board. Keeping the ball close to my ankle keeps my arm straight!

Zothen

[RoccoRock]

Just don't pull a Bill O'Neil, and bounce it off your ankle. This years summer shootout, in the middle of a miserable performance, he made his day worse when he whacked himself in the ankle with the ball. I laughed, he didn't.

[UBowling]

You should have a "V" shape made from your arm, ball, foot and leg around your release. Most people release pretty close to the ankle. I am sure if you watched yourself you would see yourself being pretty close too. Listen to Rocco, don't try to get it close and then smash your ankle. It doesn't feel good, trust me I would know!

[billf]

Nothing in bowling is a "must" merely suggestions based on what works for the majority of people. There is a science to it but there are exceptions to everything.
Record yourself or ask a trusted bowler to watch and see where you are before worrying too much about it. You may be swinging it out more than you think or even drifting. You can't correct what you think is wrong, only what you know is wrong.

[Hammer]

When you swing close to your sliding foot ankle that will mean that your bowling side shoulder and arm and ball are directly under your head. That is what you want to accomplish because that is how you get accuracy and the most leverage into the shot. If your ball is let's say a foot away from your ankle you will have trouble with accuracy because you will probably pull the shot and you will be off balance and unable to put power into your shot. So it would be a good idea to practice this with a friend to watch you. On league night I have one of my teammates watch me throw a shot and make sure I am close to my sliding foot ankle.

[jbeck]

Thanks all! It makes since, though I just couldn't figure out that if your sliding foot is close to board 18, and lets say your ball comes as close as 16 or 17, but your target is board 5 or 10....I'm guessing if I were doing it the correct way and that was the case then my ball must be rolling as it hits from 16 to 5 or 10 then straight up before hooking back into the pocket. I, however don't see my ball until it's close to rolling over my target. Guess I will get someone to watch me or video record it.

[J Anderson]

Thanks all! It makes since, though I just couldn't figure out that if your sliding foot is close to board 18, and lets say your ball comes as close as 16 or 17, but your target is board 5 or 10....I'm guessing if I were doing it the correct way and that was the case then my ball must be rolling as it hits from 16 to 5 or 10 then straight up before hooking back into the pocket. I, however don't see my ball until it's close to rolling over my target. Guess I will get someone to watch me or video record it.

One of the problems with getting and giving advise is even when we're all speaking or writing English we make assumptions that may not may not be the same as the person we're talking to. For example my foot is at least four boards wide, which of those boards do I mean when I say that for the typical house shot I stand on 17 and target 8. Some where there may be an unofficial rule that you go by the toe of your slide foot. I however didn't take bowling lessons and got in the habit of gauging my position by the inside edge of the ball of my right foot.

The other problem is that very few of us walk as straight as we think we do. You need to check what board you wind up on after the ball has been released. Since we're not machines its going to vary a bit but the less variation the more accurate you'll be. Of course to make things more interesting as you play different angles your drift will change as well. playing straight up 10 you might drift one board right, shooting the ten pin you might drift four to the right.

Now back to your example of where the ball is in relation to your ankle. Assuming you didn't read the book and gauge your position by inside of your slide foot. and you have zero drift the edge of your slide shoe is even with the right edge of 18. The ball is approximately 8" in diameter. The closest the center of the ball can come to your ankle is board 14 and more likely 15 since most of us have a hard time deliberately swinging heavy objects that close to our bodies. Therefore your ball should be going from 15 over 10, hitting a breakpoint around 5 and hooking back to the pocket.

It really does help to have someone watch to see where the ball is crossing the foul line.

[UBowling]

One reason your shoe is sliding on 18 and your target is 10 is because of how wide the ball is. Put the ball down on the lane next to your shoe and see what board the ball is touching and what board your shoe is on. You will see that it makes a lot of sense to see such a difference.

[Tampabaybob]

If you have a copy of this months "Bowling This Month" magazine, (or can get your hands on one) there's an excellent article in there that will show you haow to keep the ball in the correct position to your ankle. The article is: "The Ron Clifton Scoot by Ron Clifton". Excellent piece, and it may help you a lot.

Bob