And she throws a hook!

[billf]

The tear is from gripping. Basically you're still bending the thumb at the nuckle to keep the ball from feeling like it will fall.

This applies to back up bowlers only;
In your stance place your hand under and to the outside of the ball. The lower right quadrant. Try to keep the ball in that position as far through the swing as you can. It gets easier with practice so be patient. As the arm goes by your slide ankle, rotate it as you naturally would, clockwise so your fingers come up and through the ball at the lower left quadrant. Keeping the pressure between your index finger and BASE of the thumb will help keep the thumb open. Imagine your thumbnail hitting the hole in the ball as it comes out.

Properly having the thumb exit the ball is one of the hardest parts to learn about throwing fingertip and one that most amatuers don't even realize they do wrong. At one time I actually used modeling clay and made an insert for the thumb hole to teach myself to keep my thumb open. The more I get use to it, the smaller the thumb hole becomes. The callous on the back of my thumb is now also a tenth of the size it was last year.

The part that has me perplexed is the line you're playing. It sounds as if your ball isn't moving much if you're laying down left of your target. Almost as if your guiding it towards the pocket. It could be your just creating less axis rotation and revs than I'm use to seeing from a back up ball bowler. Your coach sees you bowl so we should probably just leave that part up to him.

[billf]

To help with the thumb in the meantime, get some thumb tape and wrap it. Not only will it help to fill the gap in the hole, it will give something other than your skin to rub the ball.

[J Anderson]

Ya hooked right.... eventually I'll get the nomenclature down because I'm a righty throwing like a lefty so, I have to think of things bass ackwards now...

I feel like I'm back in high school when I was trying to learn to read bass clef after reading treble for years (if you know how to read music and didn't learn how to read both at the same time as in piano) you'll know what I mean!!!

Okay, If it hooked to the right, it looks like on those few shots you did every thing right with your release. As Bill says you probably need your coach to watch, and maybe give you some drills to practice doing it right.

I know what you mean about music. I went from playing violin to singing baritone/bass. Someday I'll get back to learning to play the banjo which will mean reading tabs, which is really confusing because it looks like a staff but its not.

[DLP]

Just applied a layer of Nu-skin liquid bandage and then spent some time whimpering like a sissy. After I get tape around it tonight, I should be okay :9

[Tampabaybob]

WOW Donna !!......... Bill, John and I will be getting on a plane today to maryland and will need a ride from the airport to your bowling center to spend at least 6 hours
coaching you !! Well, Plans changed, have to go food shopping with my wife ! LOL Anyway, it'd be great if we all could do that and get everyone on the right track instead of doing this with words. I'd love to have the "fortunes" it would be to be able to do just that. Until then we're stuck with what we have....bowling forums. You're making leaps and bound in the game and finding out just how difficult this game 'can be'. It seems the more you apply yourself sometimes the harder it gets.

Yesterday, I had the father of one of my Junior bowlers ask me to bowl with him to help him out. Usually on Saturday, I've been bowling after the kids leagues, with another Father son duo and we just added a third. So as I'm trying to bowl/practice I'm helping all 3 out and trying to explain where to move when their ball does "X". By the 3rd game, 2 of the 3 have now gotten it and the 3rd (the Junior bowler) who by the way is averaging 200+, is ready for his head to explode. So it was the fathers 2 and the junior 0 yesterday, and we'll probably be doing the same thing next week. Sometimes, even trying to explain moving one's line, to adjust for different lane conditions, in person is difficult. They'll eventually get it, hope I live long enough to see it...(Just joking !)

[classygranny]

Donna, I was watching the gal on our Friday am league (she throws a really nice reverse hook) and thought about you and some of your struggles.

Just my humble opinion, but I believe you should start back at the basics (and maybe you have already). You will need to remember that your stance, approach and footwork will all be related to a "righty" and that your release and lane activity will be related to a "lefty".

I would suggest (only a suggestion!!!) that you start with finding your drift. You might notice that when you move more to the left of the lane, you may walk to the line differently. Most coaches use at least 5 or more approaches (with or without the ball) to determine how much drift you have (hopefully, it is minimal and is consistent). If it is consistent, great - use it to your advantage...if you think it is too much, you might want to work on your approach. There are varying ideas about what is too much...and keep in mind women do seem to drift a bit more than men. Some coaches allow up to 7-10 board while others say this is way too much.

Let's say your drift is a consistent 5 board left drift (that is what mine is). And for arguments sake let's say you want to play straight up 10 board (lefty) to find the reaction of the ball initially. You would want your landing foot to end on board 3 - as the middle of your ball should be laying down about 7 boards to the right of your left toe (righty), thus you would start with your left foot on board 8 (so you could just remember that with a 5 board drift you would always lay the ball down 2 boards right of where you are standing (less calculation).

From there you would just adjust to the lane conditions as a lefty would, as you would watch the ball's reaction to the lane conditions.

Also, as far as the release drill. Where we righties use the football underhand toss, you would want to use a round type ball, softball, nerf ball, soccer, etc...something you are comfortable with. Stand a few feet from the wall (unless you want to chase the ball for additional exercise - or have a dog retrieve it for you) and do a one step drill concentrating on the release and turn of the fingers "clockwise" like a lefty - keeping your elbow inside toward your body (that is what actually makes a person naturally throw a reverse hook). Using a multi-colored or a designed ball will help you see the rotation of the ball-just like your bowling ball would rotate.

I think once your brain adjusts to what is lefty and what is righty you will become a great bowler. You have the desire and the passion to make this work for you.

Also, if you think any of this will screw you up, then ignore away. Sometimes I believe we tend to "listen" to too much and we don't always toss out the stuff we don't need.

[DLP]

Talking about targeting and drift and such... I got curious so I found an old thread on here that linked back to a Slowinski article I'm going to go read re: eye dominance.

Any input on eye dominance? I sometimes think maybe I should just bowl learn to bowl left handed at this point.

I'm a left-eye dominant right-hander throwing a reverse hook....

[classygranny]

Talking about targeting and drift and such... I got curious so I found an old thread on here that linked back to a Slowinski article I'm going to go read re: eye dominance.

Any input on eye dominance? I sometimes think maybe I should just bowl learn to bowl left handed at this point.

I'm a left-eye dominant right-hander throwing a reverse hook....

Left-eye dominance should work to your advantage throwing the reverse hook. I understand that left-eye dominant right handers or vice-versa have the most problems in aiming. I haven't read the article in some time so maybe I will revisit that as well. You may find you are hitting a bit left of your mark (by someone else's viewing) than you believe you are. But that happens with all of us, as eye-dominance and depth perception varies with each of us. I always tell my coach I hit the 8 board and he tells me it looks more like the 9....go figure.

As far as bowling left-handed...you might find that the left hand may want to also throw a reverse hook...what then?

Stay with what you are comfortable with...it will come to you. I am curious...when you hold your arm straight out in front of you with your palm up...how far can you rotate your thumb to the right without bending your elbow?

[DLP]

About 45 degree degrees. It can go ever further if I hold my arm what is "visibly" straight (which to me feels slightly bent). I have some slight hyper-mobility (read double jointed) in my elbows that's always equated to some pretty neat party tricks.

[classygranny]

About 45 degree degrees. It can go ever further if I hold my arm what is "visibly" straight (which to me feels slightly bent). I have some slight hyper-mobility (read double jointed) in my elbows that's always equated to some pretty neat party tricks.

Wow...that is a lot of flexibility. You should have no problem perfecting the reverse hook.

I just learned a few things you might be interested in....

From a friend that does competitive shooting, and plays most sports that is opposite-eye dominant..."she could be missing her targets to the left. Some correction, is that she could look further away to help with targeting." In other words applying this to bowling you would look farther down the lane...ie a foot or so, or more down the lane towards the pins. Just be sure it is comfortable for you and that you don't have a tendency to rear-up at the line.

Also, one of the guys we bowl with that use to coach the women's teams around town says, "The exact same principles of hooking a ball are applied on a backup ball, except the hand rotates clockwise. A backup ball comes natural for some women, as the construction of the female wrist/elbow allows for it to rotate clockwise more naturally."