Not enough can be said about understanding exactly how your ball is set up. The fact you can't get the ball to finish may simply be that it's not drilled to. I'd like to know a couple things. How close to your grip is your flare rings? Where is your pin relative to your fingers? Where is your CG (this will be a punch mark or some symbol below the pin 3" or so). What ball are you using?

Those are the most "funkiest" lanes i've ever seen. Wood approaches and heads, then synthetic the rest of the way down. No wonder you lob the ball.

to be honest i can not answer those questions because i do not understand what they mean. and i am using a 13 and a half pound brunswick fuze purple pearl

so if i get my span fixed and get the ball drilled for a more aggressive back end will that help? i did not realize it before but now i can feel that my span is off, because i have like a rough spot at the base of my thumb.

Fixing the span will help you relax and free up your swing. Freeing up your swing will help you be more consistent, increase your revs and control your speed.

Your swing is very muscled right now.

When aiming try to have two targets, a near and far target, it's easy to hit a single mark and still not get to the pocket, with two targets it's much easier to develop a line and then adjust as necessary.

If you haven't seen bowl4fun.com go through Ron Clifton's articles, a lot of those articles can be applied to your game.

Thanks I will do that, I recently finished second in my team league and was inconsistent but when a made these videos I tweeked a few things and after the videos were made I bowled a line much the same as Norm Duke and had success. I guess the reason I didn't know my span was off is because I used to bowl with no thumb.

When we talk about a ball fitting your hand, it's because really that's THE most important thing. If your ball doesn't fit correctly, you're going to have to hold onto the ball, which means your using your muscles, and that gets in the way of a natural, pendulum swing.

But I have to use my muscles - well, okay, but not as much as you think. If your ball is drilled to fit your hand properly, you won't have to hold onto your ball. I don't - I can let it hang by my side without holding onto it - but when I swing it, the ball will come off my hand as it releases me.

Note, IT releases ME. I do not release IT. That's what goes through my mind (and not what actually happens, physically, necessarily) - if I focus on the ball releasing me, then I don't grip it and I let it come off my hand naturally. . .

So - the pics.

It was said that it looks like your span is too long. The closest edge of your fingerholes should be about half-way between your finger-seams. This is really very important. Look at some other pics of ball fit on this site and you'll see what we're looking for. . .

Thanks guys I went to my Driller today and he said my span is perfect and he said he can tell because my finger nails touch the back of the holes, and he said he thinks I'm not putting my thumb all the way in the hole, what does the pencil between the ball and the hand supposed to prove and what other things can I check? I will be bowling on Sunday anything y'all think I can or should try?

It means your span is stretched, which in the modern game means it's wrong. Your nails aren't supposed to hit the back. A pencil should fit between your hand and the ball. If I were to guess he also probably drilled reverse pitch in the thumb hole as well.

It's how balls used to be drilled when the game was based around lifting with the fingers, that's not part of the modern release technique.

It can be very intimidating for a new bowler to go into a Pro Shop and have the confidence in telling a "professional" how you want your ball drilled, and that you think they aren't doing it right. I have been there, recently. Until I found this forum and then read many articles on www.bowl4fun.com and bowlingknowedge.info.

I am absolutely no professional, and I could in no way measure my own span or anything. However, because of the knowledge of articles on those two sites, and talking and reading through posts here, I have a much more knowledgeable arsenal to assist me in talking to my driller. In fact, they are happy when someone is somewhat knowledgeable.

They are getting paid to drill, and if you tell them how and why you want it drilled a certain way, then they should oblige. If not, find a new driller.

It comes off much better to a driller when someone says, "Hey there. I am looking to get more backend skid\snap from this ball. Currently it gives me more of a weak arc shot. Can we possibly drill it Pin Up somehow and see if we can get more backend without buying a new ball?"

I am sure that most of the balls they drill are for people who don't care (or don't know) that they can drill differently to get the ball to react differently. They just drill the ball to fit their hand and then send them on their way.