Actually that "old school" release is called a stroker release and it can produce a decent hook. Old people doing it... lol
Alot more people are using the release than old people. the release your describing is that of a cranker and is hard for someone learning to hook to be consistant. versatility and adjustment ? both releases offer about the same... Sounds like that "someone" told you that they are pro cranker...

Brian your release isn't wrong. Niether is the wrist flippy thing. Stroking and cranking are different styles of bowling
but for a beginer the stroker release should be a good foundation to start with because you take the same release and do the wrist flippy thing to get a few more revs outta the ball which again for a beginner can give a few impressive scores and a lot of bad ones ....

But what we are here to do is help this guy learn to get a decent hook started ... where he wants to take it is up to him ... if he wants to crank later its up to him

Ron cliftons tip "the link that was posted" describes the stroker release thedemolitionman, i hope not too many old people are gonna read it :P

The "thumb at 10:00" position is an old standby that seems to work OK for me. One good thing about it is that you just hold that position throughout the delivery and you don't really have to think about it. Lately, I've been experimenting with rotating my hand the additional 45 degrees at release to end up in a true "handshake" position; this seems to put a little more side roll on the ball than just keeping the hand in the thumb-at-10:00 position. But there's nothing wrong with the thumb-at-10 position, in my humble opinion. It's easy and it works.

FWIW, I use a plastic ball with conventional grip, so I have to work a little harder to get the ball to hook.

and to answer your question brian

Alot of people think that standing on board 39 and tossing it out to the 7th board hooking it back on a house shot is cool which it does look cool tearing thru the pins. But it isnt accurate at times and works well on a house shot only, that has a fair amount of oil. I bowl against alot people who bowl with it and their strikes are impressive and so is their leaves, tons of splits and the "how the hell am i gonna pick that up" spares which lead to alot of open frames.

Just get to where your consistant and every week you'll see the average go up and up

good evening dave

the thumb at 10 is the base release ... the more you move it towards 9 the more side rotation you get, the more you move it to 12 the less you will get. It does wonders to adjust for what condition your bowling on

No it was my dad and my grandfather that used to use it djb and they are both strokers. The only one in my family that even comes close to a cranker is my uncle but he's still more of a tweener. And I mislead you Brain because I was thinking of something else entirely. When I read what you wrote I visualized your hand on the side of the ball and your thumb at about 9. Not everything registered right. At that position you don't need to rotate you wrist because well it already is, and from the sounds of it you really don't need to very much at 10 either. My apoligies though. That's the third time that I've gotten confused today, I think I need to take a break.

And no it's not bad, it is actually very good as djb has already pointed out.

And as for crankers, I really don't have anything against them but I don't particularly like their style of play. It yeilds a lot of inconsistent results more often than not. And their is no way on God's green Earth that I could get that much arm and hand into my ball (and trust me, I've tried). If Brian was talking about how Crankers flip their wrists over then I again apoligize for not understanding exactly what he was saying. I thought he was simply talking about the rotation of the wrist that a stroker like myself would use.

Show me any pro that keeps their hand on the side of the ball. Even lower rev, straight players like Walter Ray, Norm Duke, Michael Haugen, etc. all keep their hand behind the ball until the release point.

I can't speak for anyone else, but my hand is still mostly under the ball when I use the "thumb at 10:00" position. I just tilt my hand to my left about 45 degrees relative to the floor. The only part of my hand that's really on the side of the ball before the release is my index finger.

Dave, excuse me if I am wrong, but don't you have a conventional grip and throw a full roller? Somehow, I get that from your posts. If that is the case, yes, your index will be on the side of the ball and thumb at 10 o'clock. But, that is not the preferred position for someone coming out of a fingertip as a 3/4 roller.

cgeorg explains it right. Fingers are behind the ball until the thumb comes out. Then, this is the common mistake most make, DON"T twist your wrist!!! Your fingers come out last and roll up the side of the ball making the axis of rotation that you want.

This video seems a good illustration of what cgeorg is describing:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Kennmelvin/VStroker.Htm

If you view the clip frame-by-frame you'll notice the bowler is NOT twisting his wrist, but is in fact rolling his fingers up the side of the ball after the thumb comes out.

Cgeorg himself gives some good demos here:
http://cmgbb.wordpress.com/2008/04/03/axis-rotation/

Here's a clip in which Fred Borden explains this release as well as the fixed "thumb at 10:00" or "secondary" release.


Dennis, I do use a conventional grip but I'm not throwing a true suitcase/full roller. I employ the "secondary" release for my strike shot, sometimes with a little added rotation (rolling fingers from 4/5:00 to about 3/4:00 at release). Naturally, my strike ball is more of a smooth arc than a sharp hook. It works for me, but of course if I were using fingertip I'd want to learn to take full advantage of it.

Disclaimer: I am not a particularly good bowler and I still have a lot to learn.

Cut shots from the movie and slowed it down as an animated gif.



Notice a couple things that I like to harp about: fingers stay inside the ball until the ankle, at the release point the finger holes are near level, reducing tilt.