Expert: Russ King - 9/18/2006

Question
I'm sorry that I may have not been clear. I didn't change anything to the ball itself. I simply changed how I held the ball. In other words, I had been holding the ball with the thumb pointed in the 10 o'clock position and just let it come of the hand. This resulted in a straight ball, no hook whatsoever. My accuracy was improving dramatically but my strikes were limited. As a result, I moved my setup thumb position from 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock as recommended by the USBA handbook. I did not twist my wrist at all to gain rotation I just focused on making sure I had a strong follow through. This change resulted in some rotation but not a strong hook(I wasn't looking for one as I am still trying to become deadly accurate).

However, as I previously stated, just this change in thumb position and technique resulted in the described injury. Again, I did not change the ball at all, just my set-up and swing grip.

The head of the pro shop drilled the ball initially. He saw me practicing one day and was showing me the exact same technique as I described above. He never warned me that I could injur my fingers by trying this traditional technique with a ball that has a conventional grip.

Does any of the clarified information that I just provided help your understanding or change your answer(s)? I don't want to be a cranker at this point. I just want a very slight hook(maybe 5-7 boards and some rotation) combined with my increasing accuracy.

Thanks very much. I look forward to your reply.  
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Followup To

Question -
I have been bowling for about 3 months. I use a 13 pound Hammer Big Deal drilled for a conventional grip. My average has been steadily rising bowling just a straight ball(trying to increase accuracy). Recently, I adjusted my grip to a 2 o'clock thumb position(I'm left handed) and increasing the "snap" in my follow through to get more rotation. This initially caused some minor soreness in my middle finger. Yesterday, I followed through during league play and my middle finger had a very sharp pain right where the finger meets the main hand. The finger is swollen to about twice the normal size.

I'm wondering if my ball was drilled with insufficient span. Even with my two fingers inserted to the 2nd knuckle and the thumb inserted, there is a gap between the hand and the ball unless I really shove the fingers and thumb in. I had my teammates(who are very experienced bowlers) look at the hand on the ball and they said it doesn't look right and they said they could easily see why I would have some pain in the middle finger 2nd joint as I try to "shake hands with the pins". Have you heard of this type of injury and will fingertip grips help to solve the problem? Or is the problem simply bad technique?

Thanks very much for any help. This injury is extremely frustrating as my game was improving significantly.



Answer -
 When you change the thumb pitches,you change the span & feel in the fingers & added stress to other parts. When you change anything in your grip, you will run into other things that need tweaking also from the change.When you changed the thumb angle,you also changed your release & style.By changing to 2 o'clock,you are probably twisting around the ball or even spinning it. Rotating around the ball is not how you get lift to hook.You lift thru the back of the ball.
 WHY DID YOU CHANGE THE THUMB ANGLES?YOU NEVER MESS WITH THE THUMB IF IT DON'T HURT!!!Conventional grip is made for accuracy not hook!
 If the thumb was not hurting you,you DON'T mess with it!!!
To get more revs & action on the ball,you go fingertip.To go fingertip,you need to plug all 3 holes & start over.I would use a ball that you don't care about or a used ball thats cheaper & if you mess it up you don't mind it as much.To go fingertip you need to drill at LEAST 1 test grip
in an old ball.Drill it without grips so you can change things(span , pitches , feel) by adding the grips.Beveling says it all in a fingertip & should take a while to get it right.Once it feels right, then drill the good ball.
         TWIST
 NEVER CHANGE THE TWIST IN YOUR THUMB!!!ONLY PITCHES!!!
IF THE DRILLER SUGGESTED THIS CHANGE FOR MORE HOOK,
         GO TO ANOTHER PRO SHOP!!!!!!!

Answer
Fron 10 to 2 will make your arm twist around the ball with a flying elbow.You don't know you are doing it untill you wake up soar.SOAR MEANS WRONG! Master your accuracy first. Then go to fingertip if you want hook & strikes .Conventional grip is for a straight ball NOT NOT NOT HOOK!
 SPARES FIRST THEN STRIKES WILL COME!
This will make you a stronger bowler working one step at a time.
A maxed out straight ball bowler will average between 185-210.I think it was DAVE FERRARO who used conventional grip back in the 90's.

THIS IS NOT THE ARMY!
I DON'T YELL TO TEACH!THATS THE WRONG WAY!
I USE CAPS TO POINT OUT WHATS MOST IMPORTANT!
& ALSO IF I ASK A QUESTION  SO IT GETS NOTICED.