Expert: Russ King - 6/17/2006

Question

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Followup To

Question -
i was wondering if you know how to drill the odd grip that robert smith uses on the pro tour? i have a very high rev rate and need to cut it back. i'm a 209 average who has no idea how to drill balls. my pro shop owner doesn't know the grip so i was tring to find info online.

Answer -
No, I do not know his drilling pattern.
If you want to, I can probably help in reducing the revs.
I used to rev it up myself & learned thru trial & error
to go all the way to stroker with very little if any change to my grip.And I can go full range with every ball I own.Messing with a grip that feels good is I think, going in the wrong direction.I think you need a little tweaking on your approach.209 is nothing to throw up in the air.
  LET ME KNOW?          the problem is i bowl in three different houses and in one of them i need all i can get out of the ball. in that house in summer league right now i'm at 226 ave. but when i go to the house in the next town over, throw the same ball, i hit the four pin. if you have any advise i would be more than glad to try it.

Answer
It is great that you bowl in 3 houses! I know many bowlers that can beat almost anybody in their home house. But, cannot bowl their way out of a wet paper bag any where else.
This is the whole idea of bowling.Being able to adjust to not all but atleast a few different conditions.The secret is suttle changes.You stay with 90% & adapt 10%.
 Stay with the same approach but move back a few inches from where you stand.Take a bigger first step maybe 2 inches
This will slow you down just abit maybe 1/2 a mile an hour & a few less revs.It won't change much but will give you more backend for that wet house.On oil you want a heavy roll with less revs.Take a few dry runs with this one before attempting a full release.As this slowes you down, you will get less slide & may have to move up closer to the foul line after awhile.
For that dry house,if you bring in your pointing finger maybe 1/4 inch & loosen up your pinkie & stick it out just a little.This relaxes the hand & cuts down the revs & hook.PUT THE PINKIE WAY OUT & IT SHOULD STRAIGHTEN THE BALL OUT EVEN FURTHER.This may feel abit odd.Work it out slowly!
For a bit more change,I trained with a roll of masking tape 2" wide.Tear off 8" hold your wrist cupped? as if you were at release point.UNCUP your wrist 20% & put the masking tape on the back of your hand & wrist from your knuckles & go up your wrist.Now this will train your feel on this position.Try to cup your wrist. It wont go past the position that you stuck the tape on your wrist.Now straighten out your wrist past the point where the tape is flat. It will bind up behind your wrist as you straighten it past the position of where you stuck the tape on.You will feel this.Now try it throwing the ball. As you try to cup your hand under the ball, the tape will fight that action & keep your wrist in that position. Now, this will straighten out the ball some & lessen the revs.This is what a wristband should do. But , most everybody without an injury uses the wristband as a crutch.If you don't have an injury, you shouldn't use a wristband in anything but practice sessions. But a wristband
only gives you one position & costs a lot more than tape. Use that money to pay for practice games.As you sweat,wipe off the sweat & replace the tape.
 Try these things one at a time in the oily house.See how the ball changes lines.Throwing a full out shot you will hit the pocket. Then try the finger positions then the tape.Then try them all together.Throw the same marks & line to see the changes in the ball. You should be hitting the 3-6 pocket cutting down hook & revs.Don't worry about the score! Remenber,IT'S PRACTICE!This gets you used to the change.You will go from the 4 pin to hitting alot further right maybe the 1-3 pocket in the dry house.
 As you get used to this, straighten your wrist another 10% & use the tape.I pulled out a lot of arm hair but It really is worth it. And the hair grows back!
A session should be 1 warm up game,1 game thrown the normal way then 1 game with changes & finish off with a regular game.Suttle means it will take a while to work.Work it in slowly & it will pay off without messing you up.
It took me one full summer to get my wrist fully straight while not messing up my cranking game.I rounded it down to 4 wrist positions to keep it simple.You may see a little drop in the 226 but the 209 will pick way up.The 226 will be back & even STRONGER with time.
There are more ways also. But start with these.When your ready to try more,write me back!
 Let me know if you tried any of these tweaks & how they worked.