Intermediate Bowler New Ball questions

[Zothen]

Definately fingertip! Fingertip allows you to play more of an angle to the pocket,while conventional you are limited to stright and a lot of deflection of pins.

Most ball manufacturers have multiple drillings! Most new fingertip bowlers get a generic drilling which is a controlled hook and once you get good at that then you can go to a more aggressive hooking pattern or ball.

You should get comfortable with the fingertip in about 1-2 weeks! DO NOT USE AN AGGRESSIVE BALL WHILE LEARNING TO THROW FINGERTIP! I would suggest a Slingshot for learning and it will be good spare ball later. I think the Arson(Unless it's low flare)might be to much for learning fingertip.

Zothen

[Tampabaybob]

Thanks guys. I took your advice and went fingertip. The pro, Jim Hintze at Madison Plaza Lanes, took a great deal of time listening to me and drilled it using the pattern he decided upon while I waited. We then took to the lanes and he helped me tremendously. The ball feels comfortable and I was hooking it and felt like I have some control almost immediately. Jim is really easy to talk to, answered all my questions and gave me some excellent tips on my whole delivery. Right now, aside from inconsistency (if I remember what he said) my speed can be a bit too high compared to my rev rate and I have to slow some things down a bit. Obviously, there is a lot more to it than that and I have a lot of practicing and learning to go, but for a new ball, and a new way of bowling, in both grip and arm/hand position, I felt much more comfortable than I expected. Tomorrow night will be my first time out bowling games and I'm really looking forward to it.

Sounds like you found a great driller that's willing to spend some quality time with you. pay attention to what he's said and get out there and get some good practice in. Glad to hear you went with the finger tip drilling. You really won't regret it. See if you can get into a summer league. That will give you the opportunity to get to know some other bowlers and you'll learn a lot from them as well.

Good luck and let us know if we can answer any questions along the way.