Does anyone know why the oil Track on my ball would go over my thumb hole? I know that this is not normal and I would appreciate anyone's input on how to correct this problem. Thanks everyone.

Tracking over the thumb hole can be caused by a few different things. Two of the most common are the way the ball is drilled (balance) and the bowler's release. You might try releasing the ball using differt hand positions. Also, some balls, because of their balance/coverstock, are better suited to more or less oily lane conditions.

In response to the question as to what causes the tracking over the thumb hole, I pretty much agree with SteveB's answer. I tend to believe that it most often happens as
the results of your release. I believe that you would find that if you release the ball
off the back of your hand causing it to have somewhat of a backward rotation that it could cause the ball to Track over the thumb hole. releasng the ball so it comes off the back of the hand and off the finger tips puts the thumb hole at the 6 o'clock position at release and may cause the ball to rotate right over the thumb hole. Thst's my opinion.

Dear streakymike,

A ball that tracks over the thumb hole is usually the result of the release. If there is little hand rotation or wrist **** throught the release, the ball will tend to Track high(on or near the thumb). To try to get the hand rotation without much effort, keep your pinky right next to your ring finger and spread your index finger away from your middle finger some and see if you naturally move the Track.
If that doesn't work, see where your hand is during your swing, and where it is at the release point in relation to the ball. A semi-roller is accomplished by keeping the hand behind, or slightly inside the ball going into the release and turning the hand slightly toward the outside of the back of the ball at the release, which should have the thumb coming out of the ball at or slightly before the sliding ankle.
If you can visualize a clock face under the ball with 12 o'clock pointing toward the pins and 6 o'clock back toward the settee, you can use these for a righty. The hand should start with the thumb in the 12 o'clock position and move toward the 10-11 o'clock position at release with the fingers starting at 6 o'clock and ending up in the 4-5 o'clock position.
Some people try to keep their hand in one position through the entire swing, but if you can rotate your hand without over-rotating(spinning the ball) you can be more effective in changing your roll and getting more power in the back end.
Don't forget about the other basics, though. Keep your shoulder relaxed, along with your thumb, while keeping your wrist and fingers firm. If you have trouble feeling where your hand is, have a friend watch, or get a video camera. Hope this helps.

Mike, I used to have the same problem, and an old pro taught me to curl my pinky up against the ball. It felt very awkward at first, but after a few games it was quite natural, and gives my ball (Ebonite Turbo) quite a powerful finish. My oil Track is now a narrow circle about an inch away from the thumb hole. On dry lanes, simply straighten you pinky out to flatten out the trajectory. Hope this helps you, it bumped my average up from 179 to 195.

Just thought I'd have this old thread updated since it is a good one. I've always wondered how the ball ends up rolling over the thumb hole and thumping down the lanes.

coachjim is pretty good at telling you how Track works. he's posted a couple of sites that help you with your Track and release. he can explain a lot on it.

RLD digs up another dead body from the past.

There are several things that cause the ball to Track over the thumb:

1. Releasing the ball with the fingers not rotating counter clock wise, either lifting straight, or slightly clockwise (full roller) is the most common.

2. The pin being too close to the vertical axis line causing the bow tie to raise up and the ball to flare over the thumb. Mo Pinel recommends not going closer than 20 degrees or 1 1/2" from the val unless you are a pro level bowler with a very consistent release then you can go to 10 degrees.

3. High Track bowler with a high rg ball with low differential will bring the flare closer to the fingers and thumb and catch the thumb if the bowler's Track is high enough.

4. Drilling the ball with a full roller drilling if the bowler doesn't throw a full roller will sometimes cause the ball to back flare over the thumb or finger holes.

5. Drilling the ball with the mass bias in the Track will sometimes cause the ball to back flare over the holes.

So the ball tracks from the bottom up then? If that is the case that explains so much then. I have been killing myself trying to stop this from happening on my ball. My oil tracks are run from right at the finger/thumb hole down about 6 inches, but if the ball actually tracks from the bottom up then there probably is not much I can do about it.

Thanks.

Maybe I should just change my name to the "Grave Digger." Thanks for the update, CoachJim!

I'm not sure what you mean by "tracks from bottom up", but the ball comes off your thumb first, if your fingers lift straight then the ball will Track next to the thumb if your fingers turn counter clock wise, the thumb hole will move away from the Track, if the fingers turn clock wise the thumb hole will move into the Track.

Well I guess what I meant was that on my ball due to flare I have several oil rings on my ball. One tracks dangerously close to my thumb and occasionally runs over it, then spaced about an inch or two apart getting further away from the thumb. Generally there are between four or five rings. So when I asked if it tracks from the bottom up. I was asking about tracking from the furthest from the thumb up to the thumb.. Or is it first Track right next to the thumb and progressively move away from the thumb?

Your first Track should be closest to the thumb. So, if it sometimes is over your thumb, as Jim says, it seems that you are twisting your hand clockwise instead of the reverse.

The Track should start next to the thumb and move away unless you use one of the drill patterns I described in my first post with either a full roller drilling or mb on the Track then it will flare back wards.

Ok, that's the way I thought it was I was just a little confused . I don't rotate my wrist at all, so I guess when I drive my fingers through the ball on my follow through; if my fingers are above the equator it could rotate the ball clockwise. If my fingers are under the ball and I drive my fingers through the ball it should rotate counter clockwise. Would that be right?

Brian, your hand must be under and behind the ball at the release point. Under the equator, as you correctly say. Your thumb comes out first, which leaves your fingers in the ball. The continued follow through finds your fingers rolling up the outside of the ball. This gives the ball its axis of rotation and rotational energy, creating revs.

I went out yesterday and video taped myself. I kind of messed up and the camera was pointed a little low, but I could see my hand on the outside of the ball on follow through. Upon release you can clearly see my fingers coming up the side of the ball, and it was like that on every shot yesterday, but somehow I still had a couple shots where the oil Track caught the corner of my thumb hole.

My camera is an old Hi8 and I don't have a capture card in my computer at the moment, however I do plan on purchasing one in the near future. When I do I'll post some video as I am in dire need of help .

Do you know if your thumb hole is offset? It is not uncommon since every person has a different shaped hand. Your thumb could have lateral left drilling.

Too many things to guess at. Is your ball an internet ball? Where mismarked balls often appear. CG could be mismarked.

Are you sure of your drill pattern. What is it? Is it right for you?

What is the exit angle of your fingers? Fingers at 6-5 o'clock have different results then 5-4 o'clock. Any higher should result in ball spinning, and away from the thumb.

I purchased the ball from our Pro Shop.. It is a Pin-in ball where the pin is right next to the CG the MB is just below and to the right of the thumb hole (maybe 2.5")

I can't tell from the video what my exit angle is.. Best I can tell is my fingers look to be close to 5 o'clock and thumb at 10 o'clock.

Ok I was able to upload my video to youtube, maybe you can give me an idea of what clock position my fingers are at:

Brian, what house do you bowl at?

Mark

I just finished a league @ Wayne recreation.. But I'm bowling in the fall league @ Georgetown Bowl.

Your fingers aren't comming up the side of the ball. You hand is on top of the ball instead of behind it. Your wrist is broken back in spite of your wrist brace.

EDIT: At this point, your fingers should be at about the equator of the ball, not on top of it.

EDIT2: My guess is that your fingers and thumb are comming out at about the same time and that is causing you to Track over the thumb hole. If your kept your hand behind the ball more and had your thumb exit before your fingers, I think your Track would move down (along with adding more revs).

I agree with lefty, your fingers and thumb are coming out at the same time, on the positive side it doesn't look like your fingers are going clockwise (full roller style), but your fingers aren't turning counter clockwise either, this is why it is tracking over the thumb. If you could get your fingers below the equator of the ball it would probably move your Track off the thumb by an inch or so.

Look at the angle of the ball rotation that your release gives you. Your first roll will be right at or over the thumb. Get your hand under the ball and roll it up the side of the ball after the thumb is out. Your Track will be off your thumb.

Thanks, that helps a lot.. I will try that tomorrow when I go out for practice.

When I get home I'm going to go through the rest of the video.. I'm thinking that clip might be from the game where I was trying a straighter line... I noticed that my ball didn't have much of a hook to it in that clip.. So I'm thinking that is what I did to take some of the hook out to run the straighter line to the pocket.

This one is from yesterday afternoon. I run it through slomo in windows media player and it appears I'm more on the side of the ball. I don't know for sure you can be the judge.. I didn't go through the whole hour of video, I just pulled my first shot of the day.

Please don't make fun of my shirt.. wasn't expecting to leave the house yesterday... LOL

You have a muscled armswing and your thumb comes out of the ball around the same time your fingers do. IMO, you should work on the armswing before anything else. It looks like you are slowing the ball down on the way back, then pulling it up. If you let it flow, it will be much easier to keep your hand behind the ball and get it to roll off your hand at the correct point.

Yeah, I have been working on that. I have been having my grip adjusted trying to get it right. It's a lot better, but I still feel like I'm going to drop the ball. I have the kung fu grip with my fingers and have been trying really hard not to grip with my thumb. Almost concentrating on pushing my thumb nail to the back of the thumb hole. And because of all that I end up muscling the ball. I feel like I have to control the swing or I'll drop the ball. I need to get that out of my head so I can have a more free swing.

The thing I'm real disappointed about though is that my coach has not mentioned that at all. He is more focused on my release and trying to keep me from turning my wrist.

He hasn't even mentioned me chicken winging the follow through. I didn't know it till I just watched this video.

It looks about the same to me too - Hand on top of the ball, broken wrist and thumb comming out at the same time as the fingers. as cgeorg said, you've got to get your armswing fixed first. As far as your release, stop trying to hook the ball. If you just let your arm swing all on it's own, as you rlease the ball, just think about your palm being behind the ball and pushing it down the lane. If you get your palm on the back side of the ball instead of on top of it, you'll get your thumb out of the ball before your fingers come out of it and the ball will hook without you having to try and make it hook.

Funny thing is, is that my coach tells me not to get my hand behind the ball. He keeps telling me to keep my hand on the side of the ball at all times.. And that is proving to be harder than it should be. Every time he watches me bowl he tells me to stop trying to get my hand behind the ball, so I have been trying to make an effort to not do that.

Should I be looking for another coach?

I would look for another coach, hand on the side of the ball is hard to unlearn and is not proper technique. Hand on the side of the ball doesn't apply torque to the ball torque is what helps the pins move sideways and carry more strikes. You can only go but so far with a hand on the side of the ball release, where the sky is the limit with the hand behind the ball. NONE of the pros on tour use the hand on the side of the ball and only a few of the women still do. If you are able to bowl with your hand behind the ball until the release point then please do so. If you are throwing a back up ball or tracking over the thumb while doing this try c0cking your wrist so the ball will have some side rotation off your hand this should move the Track outside the thumb.

It seems to me that your coach wants you to stay with a beginner release. If your hand is naturally behind the ball during your swing I don't think he should be telling you to stop that, as that is the correct hand position. I believe CoachJim has mentioned a few times on this site before that if your hand is on the side of the ball your ball can't impart torque or something along those lines. That hand position nearly kills the backend of the ball, and possibly robs you of carrying something you otherwise could have. At least I think that's right, someone correct me if I'm wrong here. You should talk to your coach about having a stronger release or consider getting a different one.



I want to touch on a slightly different subject here. Does this mean that you shouldn't turn your hand to try and get revs and that the ball rolling off your hand and the position of your fingers will apply the revs/rotation? I was bowling after league on saturday and I was playing around with this. What I noticed was if I keep my hand in the position I normally do but just roll the ball without trying to turn my hand, I got just as many if not more revs/rotation. This was with my fingers on the inside of the center of the ball(at least it felt like it), though, and I was wondering if I had my fingers at center or outside of center, would the result be more forward roll and possibly less revs assuming I didn't turn my hand at release and just let it roll?

Thanks, for the insight on the subject... I'll go out tonight since it's buck a game night and see what I can come up with.. If I need to try and cup my wrist I might have to take my wrist support off. I'm not sure if I can cup my wrist with that on.

I'll take more video tonight.. Should I start a different thread in the video section for this.. This one looks more like it's heading for a training session for me instead of helping the OP. I don't want to highjack his thread although it already appears to have taken that route..

I apologize to the original poster.

Wow. Amateur, you don't turn your hand like you are opening a door knob. That is the common misconception of most people. Hold your hand in front of you. Now turn it as if to open a door knob. Notice what your hand does. Now, with hand in bowling position, place your thumb in the palm of your hand and rotate your hand counter clockwise. See, you hand doesn't turn, your fingers have. Your thumb never turns down. When you release the ball, the thumb comes out and your fingers rotate around the ball.



Now you've got it. Let the ball roll off your hand and the natural rotation of your fingers around the ball will give you the rotation you want. You don't lose revs. in fact, learning this release may increase revs.

The dirty little secret is that your hand will turn anyway. Don't try and force your hand to stay diretly behind the ball, but if you relax and don't "try" to turn it, things will happen all on their own.


Brian - One of the problems is that you aren't keeping your hand behind the ball either. It's on top of it like you're holding on to a handle. At the point of release your hand should be more in a position to push the ball towards the arrows, not slide something that has a handle. See if you can get the feel for that difference.

Thanks for clearing that up Dennis and Lefty. I will have my chance to try it out in league tonight .

Hi new to the community. Had my first league game last night and also used a new ball for the first time. I think I have the same issue as the OP is for the most part except the Track sometimes runs over the middle finger hole and thumb. After reading this tread I am thinking my thumb and fingers are being released at the same time which may be my issue.
I attatched a picture of my ball layout. My ball is a Brunswick Fury. Can someone describe what layout I have and could this cause my problem, i'm pretty new to this.

The layout doesn't look like it would cause any flare issues - the problem is probably in your release. You need to learn to stay behind the ball and let it roll off your hand. Check out the "Slo-mo release video" thread by luksa in the video section for some Pro Release that show staying behind the ball. Note that if you have to squeeze to keep the ball on your hand, you will not be able to consistenly perform a good release. CoachJim, tell him how he can check his grip?

I've been working on this particular issue for the last few weeks and I believe I have it under control now. I started cupping my wrist a little to try and keep my hand behind the ball more. Now I'm almost under the ball and am no longer sliding it out there like a suit case.. If I can remember to bring my camera out next practice I'll take another video for comparison. Since I have been doing that I have not had any more issues with it tracking over the thumb hole.

Although the only caveat that I am seeing with cupping my wrist is that it is causing me to have a lot more hook and causing me to play further left. Which in it's own is fine I can play anywhere on the lane that I need too, but I am losing my pin carry. It's kind of hard to explain, but when the ball hits the pins it's like the pins just fall over, there is not any mixing going on. Does that make sense?

If we could see what's happening, it would help a lot. It could be technique or it might even be how you're getting lined up. Hard to tell without seeing.

Yeah I figured that.. Like I said I'll go out and get some video next time I go out to practice.. Unless I can talk the wife into video taping league Saturday. Although I did just take my ball in to the Pro Shop for a rejuvenation/resurface.. It just might have been a case of an oil logged ball that lost it's energy. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

edit: When I do my next video for comparison would it be easier if I didn't wear my wrist support? I prefer to wear it, only because if I don't wear it my wrist is killing me after about two games. And it definitely helps with the pain.

Do whatever you normally do when you bowl.

Well i just came back to the Pro Shop and had my ball polished and asked the pro to take a look at what i was doing. I was basically just rolling it. After cupping my wrist more and making sure to turn the issue was solved, man the ball hooked like crazy. I also did feel a little more sore doing this and I feel like I can't get quite as high with my back swing when my wrist is cupped as much. Probably will just take time.

Well the rejuvenation must have helped.. I now have pin carry again. My ball hits like a freight train again... now if I can just figure out what line I need to take on my new ball.