Expert: - 7/22/2009

Question
QUESTION: I recently picked up bowling due in large part to my dad bowling when i was younger. Been bowling for about two months and started with an avg. of 120 but now with an avg of 170. I have one ball with a urethane coverstock and one ball with a reactive coverstock. the urethane is actually a hand me down that i had redrilled and the reactive is one that was custom drilled. ive gotten pretty consistent with a straight ball so the next step was to start putting revs on the ball. i have tried every method from the underhand spiral with a football, hand shake release, cupping the wrist, bending the elbow and staying behind the ball and turning at the ankle. none of these methods have given me any improvement on revs. as strange as it sounds, my revs on the urethane ball is actually greater than the reactive ball, but because of the coverstock, it will not move anywhere even if i get more revs. my question is what else can i try to increase my rev rate having tried all the other methods?

ANSWER: Brian,
Not being able to see what you're doing, I must assume that your intention is being sidetracked by execution.

Trying to get more revs often results in gripping, late release, collapsing the wrist to soon, and over turning.

Start with a very basic one step drill, where you start up near the foul line swing the ball to it's highest point then as it begins it's path down, push into your slide and just let the ball roll off as quickly as you can.

Isolating your delivery will help you get a feel for what's going on. If your hand is turned so you can see the back, your twisting the release too much. If you are behind the ball and launching it out onto the lane, the loft is characteristic of gripping, hitting up doesn't maximize the effect you want.

Try the drill and let me know what you discover. Thanks for the question.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: After trying the drill, I think my problem is a combination of gripping and collapsing the wrist too soon. What would you recommend doing from here to fix these.

Answer
Brian,
The fix for gripping is a better fitting ball. Have a ball driller evaluate your grip. If the ball doesn't just hang in your hand, you need to control it (subconsciously you're afraid of dropping it).

Using the one step drill, work on keeping the wrist from collapsing by pressing the tip of your index finger on the ball. This action will keep the wrist straight, until you release.

Thanks for the follow-up. Let me know what you do to the grip.