Expert: Russ King - 12/15/2007

Question
I'm a new bowler - joined a league for the first time this Fall and threw a straight ball for most of it. Now I've started to throw a hook, using my brother's 13-lb Columbia Shadow (standard drilling and his hand is quite literally the exact same size as mine).

Almost immediately I begin experiencing pain in my thumb, specifically in the "digital nerve" that runs up the thumb from near the webbing of the thumb/hand. It hurts specifically at the lower thumb, near where the actual webbing is. This is actually a mix of total numbness in the thumb with excruciating pain. The numbness goes away immediately, and the pain is very minimal when I'm finished bowling, but I'm fairly certain that I'll permanently injure my thumb if I keep doing this. As it stands, I have to only place my thumb halfway in the ball to bowl now which is, of course, a bad habit to get into.

Could be I'm just bowling poorly (though my hook is getting me some nice 180 - 200 games, while my average is only 165). I'm wondering if I should look into things like an extremely beveled thumb hole, perhaps reverse thumb pitch to take pressure off the thumb, or even lateral pitch to help with this. I just don't know for sure what would be the best approach, or if I should perhaps go with all three (bevel, reverse thumb pitch, lateral thumb pitch). I've ordered two inexpensive balls to have plugged and re-drilled just to experiment prior to buying "the" ball I'm going to use, but I'd like some idea of what to tell the pro shop guy when I go in.

Suggestions?

Answer
TWINS CAN BE EXACTLY THE SAME AT BIRTH. BUT EVERY STEP THERE AFTER CREATES DIFFERENCES. YOUR BROTHERS HAND MAY SEEM THE SAME. BUT, YOU ARE HURTING! THIS MEANS YOUR HANDS ARE >>  NOT << THE SAME!ARTHRITIS,INJURIES,JOBS,WEIGHT & MEDICAL CONDITIONS WILL ADD DIFFERENCES.

A >GOOD< PRO SHOP BALL DRILLER CAN CURE ANY PROBLEM YOU COULD GET BY DRILLING A PERFECT GRIP FOR YOUR HAND.THERE MAY BE LITTLE TWEAKS TO ADD PERFECTION TO YOUR NEW GRIP. THIS IS COMMON SINCE EVERYBODYS HANDS ARE DIFFERENT & TWEAKING THE GRIP PERSONALIZES IT TO FIT YOU.

      DO >> NOT << USE ANYBODY ELSES BALL ANYMORE!

 PLUG UP THE USED BALLS. PICK ONE & EXPERIMENT WITH THAT ONE FIRST. TWEAKING THE GRIP TO GET IT CLOSE. THEN DRILL A CORRECTED GRIP INTO THE SECOND ONE.

PITCHES WILL BE ON A PERSONAL BASIS.THE DRILLER WILL ADD CORRECT PITCHES TO FIT YOUR HAND.EVERYBODY STRIVES FOR A GRIP THAT IS EXACTLY FITTED TO THEIR HAND.PITCHES ARE CHOSEN ON THE WAY YOUR HAND WAS MADE. EVERY LITTLE IMPERFECTION WILL BE ACCOUNTED FOR IN CHOOSING THE CORRECT PITCHES.LET THE DRILLER KNOW IF YOUR DOUBLE JOINTED OR HAVE HAD INJURIES TO YOUR ARM OR HAND. THEY SHOULD ASK THIS ANYWAY. IF THEY DON'T ASK QUESTIONS, I WOULD GO SOMEWHERE ELSE TO GET THEM DRILLED.UNFORTUNATELY, THERE ARE PRO SHOP OPERATORS WITH MORE MONEY THAN EXPERIENCE.SO CHOOSE WELL!

NOW AFTER YOU GET YOUR PERSONALIZED GRIP DRILLED, GO OUT ON THE LANES & LET YOUR OWN PERSONAL STYLE TAKE FORM. DO NOT COPY OTHER PEOPLES STYLES. YOUR OWN STYLE WILL DEVELOP BY ITS OWN.YOU CAN TRY THINGS.THERE WILL BE MUCH TRIAL & ERROR. THIS IS HOW YOU LEARN.ONCE YOU HAVE AROUND 15-20 GAMES IN ON YOUR FIRST GRIP, LET ME KNOW HOW THINGS FELT. IF THERE IS ANY ABRASIONS,RUBBING,HURTING,PULLING OR ANY DISCOMFORT. I CAN SUGGEST WAYS TO CURE THOSE PROBLEMS.