Expert: Russ King - 12/4/2006

Question
Hi Russ,

I have been bowling for about 6 months here in the UK with house ball, and averaging about 140-150 (still havn't broken 200!!) I joined a Sunday league a few weeks ago, and bought an Ebonite polyester straight ball on saturday. On sunday, i tried it with my new shoes and had good results, however, I had a go with a hook ball, and I'm now, well, hooked!! I only got a couple of strikes on my first go, but I can kind of see where I'm going wrong (not bowling straight etc) in your opinion, what would be the best type of hook ball to begin with, looking at your profile, you seem to know your stuff. Hope to hear from you soon,

Regards
Mark Willis (UK)

Answer
You bowled with a conventional grip house ball & soon went to a conventional plastic.A conventional grip is for mainly straight & a plastic is for straight.You are just beginning here.If you skip too fast, you will fall down!Only 2 PBA members that I know of bowled a hook with conventional grip.They mainly went off the one board into the pocket. If you want the best way to have a hook & heres the key > be consistent<,you need a solid game. If you learn to throw straight first & get accurate, you will make all of your spares while throwing a hook for strikes.Many hookers (crankers) start out by missing all of their spares.Then panic when the strikes aren't there.They go get a spare ball (plastic) & try to still hook it.Thats all they know period!For a hook ball to work, you need control & consistancy.If you say you can hook it around trees & keep hitting the tree,a hook ball is useless!You might hit a 225 but when the strikes aren't there, you hit a 123.
 So if you didn't buy that , here it is.
You need to slightly cup your wrist . Keep the weight of the ball in your palm.Bring in your pinkie & spread out the pointing finger.As your armswing passes your side, lock your elbow & keep it locked.At the release, go straight thru the ball & up with the follow thru.That means do NOT NOT spin your hand around the ball like a top (a top spins very fast & goes nowhere!)Your thumb should point up to the sky as you release it. Your fingers are under your thumb & slide out.This will give you lift & a minimum hook for now.
Depending on lane conditions, you can get 3-10 boards hook.

I really do NOT recommend what you are wanting to do.I have seen many (thousands)of bowlers after their quick fix for hooking, fall hard without learning their basics first.
I CAN HELP YOU START THE RIGHT WAY & AFTER A FEW MONTHS, YOU MIGHT JUST BE READY TO START A LITTLE HOOK.IT IS UP TO YOU! LET ME KNOW EITHER WAY.OR I'LL PROBABLY HEAR FROM YOU NEXT MONTH WHEN YOU THROW UNDER A 100 GAME.