Thanks, and welcome to the board.

I'll try that in practice before league tonight.

I practiced 12 games last night -- 4 with a wrist brace and a slightly lighter Radical Inferno. It hurt my fingers a bit but I was able to throw hooks. The hook was unpredictable, but it gave me a much larger margin of error to strike. I'm not ready to use it in league yet -- will take lots of practice.

With my current straight game, I either have to nail the 1-3 pocket perfectly or cross over and hit the 1-2 pocket with a slightly higher margin for error. It's a dangerous game though, hitting the head pin is *risky* and can result in open frames!

What's really frustrating is to see what looks like a very well aimed straight ball hit the 1-2 pocket and leave something like a 7-9 split. I wish I had a dollar for every time that happened.

If anyone reading this thinks that a straight ball is the way to go, think again. Its the path to frustration in today's bowling environment. If my hand was healthy I would have abandoned the straight ball long ago.

I'm sure this was covered already, but what is the weight of your bowling balls?

My straight ball is a 16 pound conventional drilled AMF Orbit Extreme. I use it 95% of the time.

The ball I tried last night in practice is a 15 pound fingertip grip Radical Inferno. Its too heavy for me to keep my hand underneath without a wrist brace (which I don't like to wear). Its very hard for me to control the amount of hook. It goes long. Sometimes it makes a sharp turn and sometimes it doesn't.

The other ball is a 13 pound Brunswick BVP Mammoth fingertip grip. It has a big, smooth arcing hook and I can keep my hand underneath it for maybe 6 frames without a wrist brace. Being 3 pounds lighter, it deflects off the pins more a lot and requires a higher degree of accuracy than the other two.

Tonight was the end of my Fall League, and the next one starts in early January. So I have 4 weeks to practice if I decide to switch balls. If I'm going to do it, now is the time. But I'm not sure what I should do. Any advice would be welcome.

Brett, what is wrong with using a wrist brace (support)? I generally use one. I don't understand the big differences in weight of the balls. 13 to 16 #'s and conventional to fingertip grips? There must be a weight and grip that is more comfortable and manageable? Stay with one combo.

My take is on the Rad Inf. 15#. You could use this ball coming out straight up as you explain you do. The asymetrical weight of this ball will let it turn on it's own, without cupping your hand too much. It also is heavy enough to minimize deflection that you would get with a 13# ball.

I have a teammate on Wed who uses this exact ball. He literally drops the ball behind his sliding foot on delivery every time. Really, the ball is behind his foot. So you know he has very little wrist in the ball. He can manage a nice hook and carry, with a 192 average. Wouldn't recommend his style, but would the ball.

Dennis, does your teammate have a conventional or fingertip grip?

Conventional is much more comfortable for me. Fingertip grip puts painful amounts of strain on my fingers.

The thumb hole on my Radical Inferno is way too big. Since I have to get it plugged and re-drilled anyway, do you think I should change it to conventional?

I would stick with a 13 or 14 pound ball for now. Maybe 14 and a wrist brace. I would like to know exactly what causes the pain you spoke of. Is it having the ball roll off of your fingers? or is it turning your hand so the ball rotates at an angle? I also wouldn't worry about carry too much. Your carry will still be much better with a lighter weight and slightly hooking the ball over a straight heavy ball delivery. It's the axis rotation that will create the pin carry. Hopefully the extra speed created with the lighter weight will help fend off any extra deflection.

Smooth, deflection would be my concern with the lighter balls. Coming out straight up doesn't create favorable rotation except what the internal weight of the ball will generate on itsown. He needs to rely on his fingers to create the rotation, I agree.

I hate to say this, but in my neighborhood, there are quite a few 'finger only' bowlers, mostly younger. They can't generate rotation from a normal release, and have resorted in this cranking motion to compensate. It is very inconsistent, but it gets my point across. The fingers generate the axis of rotation. Brett has to learn that.

I also believe a wrist support would be helpful to remove any stress in the release. It holds the wrist steady and better ones can be adjusted, like the Pro Release I use, to get better finger action. My guess is that he may be coming out more on top rather than under the ball.

The pain is in the first finger joints of my ring and middle finger. They get bent backwards when I use a fingertip grip. Its not from turning my wrist, because it hurts just as much if I throw it with no wrist rotation at all . The heavier the ball, the more pain. Maybe I'm doing something wrong to cause this -- like trying to get too many revs?

Dennis is suggesting that I switch to the Radical Inferno without changing the release very much from my current straight ball. I'm leaning towards getting it re-drilled conventional. It has a much higher hook potential than my AMF Orbit, and should help me avoid leaving 5's (like I did several times in league last night).

Bad night to ask this. He really struggled tonight, only 456 series, well under average. Anyhow, he has a conventional grip. Stands left of center (left foot 3-4 boards left of center dot), rolls about 17 at the arrows to about 15 and a slight turn back. Tonight, he was getting it out too far, and leaving multi-pin spare shots, which he had trouble with.

Thanks for the help everyone. I think I'm taking the Radical Inferno into the shop tomorrow for a conventional re-drill.

Meanwhile, I'm going to see a hand surgeon and will see what can be done for my thumb and finger joint pain.