My bowling Journey.. Bowling Release 6.0

[bobforsaken]

I feel like I'm going around in circles. I'm getting some coaching on Thursday, but I wanted to put it out there for comment and insight.

I've been bowling for almost a year now. At first I was very speed dominant with a straight wrist release barely getting back to pocket when throwing straight up the boards. Then I started wearing a wrist support device and although I was coming around the side of the ball early and "pulling up" or hitting up on the ball I was getting some good motion, but poor carry. My wrist started getting stronger and I could cup the ball with a very slight arm swing and low speed (moved way up on approach). I was now hitting the pocket hard with plenty of carry. The only issue was I was moving after every couple of shots.

Next I bought a couple of used balls (higher RG) that needed to be redrilled. Before I even got them redrilled I threw my best game with one of those balls. (Hyroad pearl/257) A new proshop guy looked at my thumb and saw a bump/callus I was creating.. looked at my fit and adjusted my pitch a bit and drilled the new balls that way. I used to have a very loose thumb hole, now I started playing with tape a bit more getting a tighter thumb. After a couple of months of struggling, I just couldn't get consistent release with my slight arm swing and low speed due to the sensitivity of how much or how little tape I had in there. My best success was with looser thumb hole and really "hitting up on the ball" as I try to push it out into the air to the arrows. (although in actuality it only landed a few feet in front of me)

I started experimenting with a much higher back swing and the more speed that came with it. I could use a tight thumb this way but I was back to being speed dominant and could barely get back to the pocket. *Sigh* In trying to make it work I really started moving my elbow into my body and twisting my wrist to keep my fingers on the inside . I was able to get enough on it to get a nice curve back to the pocket when playing the track area. A bit of success... But my thumb tape, powder/etc has to be perfect. (And I better manage my thumb's perspiration)

Finally I lined up the coaching session for Thursday. This past week I started experimenting with what I call the "yo-yo" release. I'm now playing a completely different part of the lane, my carry is much better, my accuracy is just as good, and I'm expending less energy "hitting up" on the ball. It comes with its own set if "issues", namely, I'm burning up my line much quicker and now my balls actually behave differently in a significant way. (a good thing)

I'll try to describe it to get some sense of whether this release is "right" or not and possibly help someone who is having a similar journey.

First I start with my wrist cupped/cocked "twisting" so that the weight of the ball is outside of my wrist. (Thumb is pointing to the ceiling over the right gutter.. Index finger pointing straight down lane.. middle and ring on the inside of the ball closer to my body than the thumb) I try to stay with my elbow in towards the body and palm facing towards the right gutter during the backswing. On the down swing my hand migrates more behind the ball and I start to feel the balance point of the ball on my hand where the index finger (which is flared out) and middle finger meet. I concentrate on trying to maintain a "cup" at this point and think of making a flat spot at the bottom of my swing as I slide toward my target.) At this point, I don't think anything I've described is technically wrong.. but now comes the part that I just can't believe is right...) Now I feel myself "pushing" the ball in the same direction as my target on the same vertical plane as the lane surface. As my hand gets towards the foul line (or slide shoe perhaps) my cupped wrist uncups to a bent back position (like tossing a yo yo) popping the ball off of my thumb (thumb pointing toward the target or maybe just to the right of it).. The ball weight is on my fingers slightly and sometimes I feel the fingers "pull up" on the ball as I go to my follow through.. but largely I don't feel much weight or tension on the fingers at the point of release.

This is what it "Feels" like to me but when I look at it in the mirror it looks like my fingers quickly going from inside the ball (ball side closes to body) to outside the ball (ball side closes right gutter) or from a clock face looking down from above... from 10 o'clock to 4 o clock. Have I finally figured something out or am I using a gimmick to get more revs? For the record, I threw my second best set with this release in practice and have been striking a LOT more... however, I've also been burned my more splits than I had in the past..

[Amyers]

Bob this sounds right to me but I'm probably the last person that should give release advice.

[bobforsaken]

Bob this sounds right to me but I'm probably the last person that should give release advice.

Thanks AMyers... I spoke with the coach and he said my new release was good.. nothing unusual about it. After almost a year of "hitting up" on the ball I almost can't believe how much easier it is to generate more rotation using the "Yo-yo" release. Now I just have to learn to play better deeper as necessitated by the higher rev rate. Yesterday I posted 228, 197, 185 playing track or outside with a weaker ball... I played 3 games inside with a more aggressive ball and was living in splitsville with 140's for all 3 games..