I would bet that your thumb is staying in the ball a split second too long and chances are the release is a tad late.
Need hook help :(
I normally bowl down the right side with a subtle hook into the pocket. I would like to be able to move more left and increase carry, but I can't seem to get the hand motion correct. I am able to get insane revs with my thumb out of the ball, but once my thumb is in I can't duplicate the same action. I can put 600+ revs and adjust the angle on a thumbless grip, but when I consciously try to do the same hand motion with my thumb in my ball, I get the right rotation but with very low revs and the ball ends up skidding. Another weird occurance (which hopefully tips off someone as to what I'm doing wrong) is that my ball speed actually increases from 17 to 19 mph when I try to add revs. I would think that consciously trying to put side spin on a ball as opposed to forward roll would slow down ball speed, not up. I have a good idea of what I need to do, but I must be messing up some critical part. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I would bet that your thumb is staying in the ball a split second too long and chances are the release is a tad late.
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Tweener Rev Rate of 420, Speed 19 mph
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When you bowl thumbless you have to cup your wrist and rest it against the forearm to keep control of it. Do you notice that with the thumb in you don't have that cup anymore?
Im in the same situation, every time i try to increase revs, my ball speed goes up to 18mph with a 14lb ball. I will be getting my 15b HRR tomorrow and hopefully when trying to increase revs my ball speed would be 16mph.
Yeah I read on that and thought that may be the problem but also saw read that if you use a wrist support so that your wrist is firm you should still be able to get revs as long as you do the hand motion wrong. Is that correct? I tried it last night and the result was what I originally posted.Originally Posted by Ball99999
As far as the thumb, I don't know how to change thatWould I just delay the hand rotation even longer? I start my league tonight so I'm going to go with thumbless until I can practice thumb-in again this weekend. I'll try to get some videos so that I can see what I'm doing exactly during release.
rab,
I'm in agreement with Bill and ball99999. As far as your thumb coming out late, I would say, that pretty much hits the nail on the head. You really have to feel your hand, and particularly your thumb during your downswing. Not the easiest thing to change. If you're getting 600+ revs without your thumb in the ball, I would think that you should be close to 500 revs "WITH" your thumb in the ball. It's just going to take a lot of practice.
My question to you, is, why are you changing? Is it an accuracy thing, consistency, or what ? I bowl on a league with guys of every style and I'm always in awe of the guys with a lot of revs, mainly because of the amount of carry they get. Because I'm a Senior, and have been bowling since God invented balls, I'm a text book stroker but I would love to be able to shoot with more revs. I know there are inherent problems that guys have bowling with no thumb. What are you averaging now ?
Bob
I haven't bowled consistently for a couple of years. I just started up two weeks ago and alternate between straight down the right side and thumbless. I hate just going straight at the pocket and leaving a lot of 7's and 10's. Thumbless is a lot more of a challenge to me and when I hit my mark I love the carry, but it's much harder to be consistent. If I could somehow be able to achieve a higher rev rate and have the improved accuracy from using thumb then I would definitely average higher. Tonight was my first week of leagues in years and I only averaged in the 170s. I was all over the place. So if I learned how to maintain a cupped wrist with my thumb in the ball and then uncupped it at release my thumb would be out in time to put revs on it? I saw they have new wrist supports that allow you to stay cupped but I don't know if that would help at all.
Thanks!
Yes, stay cupped and as your arm swings down you un-cup at the 5:00 position, taking the thumb out then rotating at the 6:00 position.
Braces help to feel the cup and improve side roll but restrict the un-cup needed for great revs, in my opinion. Also, if you're throwing too fast now, with a brace it will be harder.
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Tweener Rev Rate of 420, Speed 19 mph
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If you can keep your wrist cupped until the last second before your release and if you can rotate your wrist and fingers the same as you do with having no thumb in the ball, you should be able to pull this change off. As Bill mentioned, if your speed is to fast, you will be overpowering the ball and not giving it a chance to go into a roll. What are you using for a ball and what is your speed at when using your thumb?
I would suggest staying at about 16 mph at most until you get the handle on throwing it this way. Also, if you're not using a fairly aggressive ball it'll slide too far if you overpower it.
Bob
I have a Virtual Gravity for when the lanes are oily and use an old Brunswick Power Groove that I've had forever when they dry up. Thanks for the responses, though. I'll have to practice the wrist cup/un-cup this weekend. With thumb I usually throw around 17.
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