i dont let my thumb fall completely dead, i just put the tiniest pressure i could do on the bottom of the downswing.
Grip/thumb pressure?
Do you use any?
I think I mistook "shouldn't have to squeeze the ball" to mean literally no thumb pressure whatsoever, just let the ball hang on me 100%. I find that makes things often too tight and hard to get out of. One piece of tape less + some pressure gives me more swing control and release ease.
i dont let my thumb fall completely dead, i just put the tiniest pressure i could do on the bottom of the downswing.
I have a retired guy on my 3 person team on Mondays for seniors that recently had his ball drilled where his thumb only made it to the tip of his thumb! His average has gone way down since he made this decision.
He kept dropping the ball!! I told him it was a mistake that it would not give him more rev’s, and that he would have many problems! ( I like this guy, X engineer College advanced degrees)! His theory was that with the wider thumb hole span, (to where it JUST MADE it to the top knuckle his thumb would come out sooner and it would have more Rev’s)!
Wrong!! Wrong!! We went,,, ( Iceman, Manic, from 1st place to 3 place!) His average dropped from 170 to Just above 100!!
He, like many engineers knows it all, I kept telling him it was not going to get better,,,, He kept dropping the ball in his delivery, and was far less accurate!
I even offered him one of my balls, and said that I would give it to him, all he had to do was pay for the drilling,,, 30 bucks! This went on now for 3 weeks!!!!
Good news,,,, after a less then stellar day Monday, he went to the Pro Shop and is having it redrilled, with THE CORRECT Fitting!!
Maybe now we will climb back into first place!! LOL…… and he won’t be dropping the ball on his right ankle as much!!! lol
If he is having so much trouble getting his thumb out, maybe he just needs to angle of the thumb whole changed.
at this point he might as well just switch to two handing it without thumb, from what can tell, his train of thought was that this grip would give him more leverage on the ball, but if you don't have enough grip to hang on to it revs wont matter lol, i would be interested in seeing a two hander like belmo try this grip to see what would happen...Originally Posted by MICHAEL
tell him to plug that thumb!
High Game: 246 (300 soon)
High Series: 627
In The Bag: DV8 MARAUDER, Brunswick Nexxxus, Brunswick T Zone
USBC Level I Certified Coach
Youth Bowling Canada Member
I am a proud member of http://BowlingIntel.com bowling Forums
TONIGHT WE BOWL! DV8 DAMN GOOD BOWLING
The base of the thumb keeps the ball balanced. The less grip pressure the quicker and easier the thumb can come out to generate revs. Ball balance and revs. Centrifugal force will keep the ball on the hand on the down swing, you don't need to grip it. Of course, the further under the ball you are the easier this becomes.
USBC SILVER CERTIFIED COACH
Gold Coach Candidate
Owner/Operator of Bowlerz Score Coaching
Tweener Rev Rate of 420, Speed 19 mph
Key Bowling Staff Member
Key Bowling Coaching Staff
IBPSIA member
Former Staff Bowler at www.BowlerX.com
I can understand it. I did not realize I had a problem until I took a lesson. The coach made me aware that I did not have enough span, so I had the thumb hole redrilled and now I can snug the thumb into the hole, snug finger tips in and the ball rests on my palm when supported.
Now I am focusing on breaking the habit of gripping the ball throughout the swing. I think of holding the upright position with twisted palm through the swing until the release point then I rotate fingers out towards my mark, flicking the ball out as I go, as if I am shaking hands with the mark on the floor. It's a light, quick motion and only works for me if I Deliberately place fingers in the ball, turn it palm up, immediately push away and release the ball. If I think about it too long, my mind wants me to pull the thumb part way out due to fear it will get stuck. Once i start to back the thumb out: stop. Start again. do it right.
I live by three simples rules:
1. Don't ever ask about my business
2. Never discuss business at the table
3. Don't ever side with anyone against the family
I honestly don't think about how much I'm squeezing the ball with my thumb. I guess that's a good thing? When I first switched to fingertip I squeezed quite a bit - but that made sense since I also squeezed when I threw conventional grip. I made a conscious effort to stop squeezing for a while, but it's become second nature to me now I guess. I'm sure I squeeze a little bit, but my thumb isn't getting torn up like it was back a few months ago, so I'm good.
"If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know?" - Steven Wright
The guy I am talking about will be bowling with us in a practice format this coming Friday! I will get back with you all and let you know how it turns out! He bowled soooooo much better before he had the span increased… sometimes even a 200 plus game (once in a while)! He is a retired engineer and smart older gentleman! He is in his mid 60’s. I can’t wait to see the improvement!!!!
I had a thumb slug put in my ball and redrilled because I lost weight since buying the ball and my thumb got smaller. The pro shop that drilled it said the pitch was drilled for a right hander and I am a lefty. How about that? So anyway it is good now. Now I don't feel like I have to grip it on the way down. In practice recently I tried to see how lightly I could grip it to see if the ball would stay on my hand okay. It is amazing how light you can hold with your thumb and the ball stays on your hand.What I noticed when I did this the revs on the ball were better. When I grabbed it with my thumb on purpose the revs went down on the release. I guess with the thumb light is right for better revs and a stronger hit in the pocket.
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks