Expert: Susie Minshew - 1/23/2010

Question
I use a relaxed fingertip grip and have always wondered about where the ball should be placed in the hand. I am talking about  the feel, whether it should be placed equally in the palm as much as possible, or rolled toward the fingers with a gap in the palm. I feel most of the weight on the middle knuckle area and palm pad of the index finger. I do it to keep my hand straight in line with the forearm so I don't break my wrist doing the swing. How does the shifting of the ball left, away from the index finger towards the little finger, affect the roll?        Thanks,   Gordy

Answer
Hi, Gordy!

Where you hold the ball in your hand depends on what you want the ball to do. Let's talk about it this way.

First, we are going to assume a straight wrist, (one with no wrinkling of the skin on the outside of the wrist). We'll talk about the ball and your hand position as if the ball were a clock. Put your hand in the ball and have it on the exact bottom of the ball. That's 6:00. The top of the ball is 12:00. You know where 3:00 and 9:00 are.

If you rotate your hand more toward 4:30, you'll feel the weight shift toward the pinky. That will give you a totally different release and axis rotation than the 6:00 or 3:00 positions produce. By the way, having your hand at 3:00 puts all the weight of the ball in your left hand.

The only way you will know how each position causes your ball to rotate is to do it. Having said that, it is not uncommon that the 3:00 position produces close to 90 degrees of axis rotation. It doesn't do that for everyone so it can't be said that that position creates always 90 degrees of axis rotation. That's not a given. It's likely but not for sure.

Starting with your hand at 6:00 or directly under the ball, can often produce your version of zero degrees of axis rotation. Not always, but with many people it does.

So, only you can answer your question. I suggest you get some white tape, put it above your finger holes, and practice rolling the ball with different hand positions. The tape will help you watch how the ball rolls differently with each different hand position. The changes might be subtle so watch carefully.

In addition, you can get different rotation effects by spreading your index finger or tucking your pinky or spreading it or placing your index finger next to your middle finger, and every combination thereof.

Just to be sure you know, you can't have that tape on the outside of your ball in sanctioned competition. So, I suggest you use white or yellow thumb and finger inserts. That way you'll be able to watch your roll to be sure you are producing what you intend.

Susie