Utilizing arm span

[snugbucco]

Hello fellow bowlers, I'm 6'4 and i have slow ball speed. I have diagnosed this to my weak approach to the foul line, and not having enough back swing. Any drills for speeding my timing and expanding my arm swing??

My team mates say my form is really good looking but its just in slow motion.

My ball speed is a little over 15 MPH with a 15 pound ball.

[billf]

Unless you're purposely stopping your back swing, it's where it should be given your individual flexibility. The easiest way to increase your ball speed without messing up your timing is with your feet. The faster your legs go the faster your arm will go to keep up. As Ron Hatfield told me in March, "walk like you're angry". At first it will be too fast a tempo but as you get more comfortable the tempo will slow slightly and it all ends up matching.
Another thing I've tried with success is LOWERING the ball in my stance. When you lift up (an inch or two) and out the weight helps to get the legs moving.

How many steps do you take and where do you start from? Do you take full steps or partial steps?

[bowl1820]

Might take a look at this Bill Spigner article about improving your the acceleration zone.

http://www.billspigner.com/pdf/0404_Bill_BD.pdf

[billf]

I particularly like how he listed many different things that can slow the ball down including track flare.

[floridanative772]

That was a really good read, thank you for posting that.

[snugbucco]

Unless you're purposely stopping your back swing, it's where it should be given your individual flexibility. The easiest way to increase your ball speed without messing up your timing is with your feet. The faster your legs go the faster your arm will go to keep up. As Ron Hatfield told me in March, "walk like you're angry". At first it will be too fast a tempo but as you get more comfortable the tempo will slow slightly and it all ends up matching.
Another thing I've tried with success is LOWERING the ball in my stance. When you lift up (an inch or two) and out the weight helps to get the legs moving.

How many steps do you take and where do you start from? Do you take full steps or partial steps?

I usually take 5 steps. I start between the set of dots but just a little further back then halfway between them (like a half step back).

[snugbucco]

Might take a look at this Bill Spigner article about improving your the acceleration zone.

http://www.billspigner.com/pdf/0404_Bill_BD.pdf

That was a very nice post by the way. I was just letting gravity take it off my hand, I'm gonna try and give it a little umph 12-18 inches from the bottom of my swing.

[billf]

That little umph will also give you more revs. This is from the fact that this acceleration takes place after the thumb exits the ball. Sounds like given your height you are starting at a decent spot. You can also try taking 3/4 of a step back and seeing if that gets you moving quicker.
I use a 5 step. I'm 6' and was at the most forward dots with my toes. A Gold coach (Ron Hatfield) moved me to the rear dots to get me to lengthen my steps and quicken my tempo. This is all in an effort to get my revs and speed to match as I'm very rev dominate.

[snugbucco]

well I started the ball lower and that got me moving quicker and I also started further back with the arch of my left foot on the first set of dots and that naturally opened me up.

When I gave the extra umph today my arm naturally snap/ swing up after releasing the ball like tony rucco's follow threw, as opposed to coming across my body (left side of my head), it was awesome. I just started working with it and now it just swings back and forth after the release. My accuracy seemed to greatly improve along with my consistency, with this follow threw.. I think the umph helped me stay under the ball more. I really found my groove today with my new ball ( storm's frantic), once the outside dried up after the first game I was standing on 4 1/2 looking at 9 and i was just soaring into the pocket. Messengers galore, this ball hits like a freight train.

[snugbucco]

thanks for the tips guys, really brought me out of a slump.