My Buddy's Form

[rab91787]

I have a friend that can throw a big hook but keeps hurting himself with his form. He would really bend elbow and contort his body to get under the ball and crank it. I took a video of his original form and today we worked on changing his swing so that he was able to throw a decent hook without having to injure himself. Here's the before and after. If anyone has any more things for him to work on he'd appreciate it.



I'd say that is a huge improvement.

[75lockwood]

The arm work does look better, but its hard to tell with the different video angles. his balance could still use some work, have him practice staying in his end position after throwing the ball instead of falling away the the right.

Other than that, just practice hitting target every time.

[billf]

A 'perfect' finish position has the knee bend (around 47 degrees) with the toes, knee and chin in line and the balance foot should be close to the floor if not on the floor. The footwork looks decent and the arm work is vastly improved.

[Ball99999]

I think the term "crank" the ball and "cranker" have really given people the wrong impression of what to do.

[CeKnauss]

When I first really got into bowling, I used to do the same sort of thing. Took me a whole summer of practice, but I really noticed my accuracy rise when I stopped using my elbow for ball rotation. Using the elbow really hurt. I understand everyone has a slightly different release, but minimizing other unnecessarily moving parts will reduce the number of things one needs to focus on during release. Good luck with it!

Corwin K.

[Tampabaybob]

rab, definitely an improvement, but going along with another comment is fixing his balance. #1, he's planting his left foot instead of sliding, so that's throwing his balance way off at the line. he needs to slow his feet down (his approach should be slow, slow, quick, quick) and attempt to slide on the ball of his foot. #2 If you look at his leg position in his third step, he's in a pretty good position to finish, but then during that let step his slide leg starts to straighten instead of continuing with the bent knee (as Bill had mentioned earlier **point for Bill** ). #3 try to get him to slow down enough to get his 'right foot' on the floor and to his left. If necessary have him stand at the fouling 'in that position' and throw a couple of balls so he can feel what it's supposed to feel like. Then have him do a couple more approaches with the ball.

I think the biggest thing is to slow him down so he has time at the line to gain his balance which in turn will also give him more leverage. Good luck and he's lucky to have a good friend like you that's willing to take the time to help him.

Bob

[Tampabaybob]

Just replayed it several times and yeah, he's getting to the line way ahead of the ball. Get a rope and tie it around his waist and slo'em down !! LOL

Bob