I was thinking about changing the pitch in my thumb hole. I know that a ball fit is specific to each person, but i was wondering what the most popular thumb pitch angle was. I'm currently at 1/4 reverse and thinking about going to 0. Somwtimes the ball will want to come off my hand in the back swing and sometimes it will hang on my thumb. Aside from that, please post with your pitch so i can get an idea of what most use.

Thanks,

If you do a search, I think you will find many other postings on Thumb Pitch.

Your pitch will mainly be determined by your span.

for 1/4 reverse - you would want a span of about 4 3/4" as a general rule of thumb (pardon the pun.

The most common is reverse pitch, however, for most bowlers, they should have somewhere between 0 and forward pitch...Reverse pitch does exactly what you described, helps the hand let go of the ball. However, this is a bad thing for a free/loose armswing in most cases, causing the bowler to GRIP the ball. I would say go for it, especially if it already wants to come off your hand.

As Houston said, the ball is not holding on to your hand, which forces YOU to hold it. Sometimes you grip it without bending the thumb much and it falls off. Other times, you bend the thumb more and the ball stays on.

As far as your question is concerned, according to the charts, my pitch should be 0, but I actually have 5/8" forward pitch right now (4 1/4" span).

A student of my recently went from 1/4 reverse to 5/16 forward (his span is 3 3/4 I think) and couldn't believe how much more revs he got on the ball without even trying (just by his hand being more relaxed because of the forward span).

So I would DEFINITELY recommend you to try more forward pitch. If you know your span, we can tell you the starting pitch. But you can then try going more forward when you get used to it.

Check out other posts on the subject. Especially this topic: http://www.bowlingcommunity.com/b/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Main/4987/Number/39917 (read CoachJim's and Brian Longo's posts)

luksa what chart are you talking about? can i find one online anywhere?

i found one at http://www.bowlerspro.com/Greenlight%20Coaching.pdf

Yeah, that's the chart. It's also in Bill Taylor's book. There is also another variation of it, or maybe two. The pitches on one of them are + or - 1/8" when compared to BT's chart.

One other thing. The chart you posted doesn't mention that if a person has really dry skin or short thumb, an additional 1/8" forward is recommended. If the person has sweaty skin or long thumb, they need 1/8" more reverse than the chart says.

My skin is really dry, so I'd actually need 1/8", not 0. But I can handle 5/8" forward without ANY hanging. If anything, the ball sometimes releases too soon.

Also, I have learned that the bevel on the hole is really really important! If you have too much bevel, the ball will not be able to get a hold of your webbing at the base of the thumb.

Now, I'm thinking of drilling one ball with less forward pitch (as much as the charts dictate), but with the same bevel (virtually none) and see if I start dropping the ball then. I want to make sure that so much forward pitch is ok. I'm almost certain it's the way it's got to be... but I want to make sure once and for all!

You might also want to look into shortening your span a bit. With reverse pitch often comes stretched spans - if you move your pitch forward, but don't relax the span, you won't get out of the ball. Put your thumb in the hole and completely relax your hand - *don't* push it forward to try to make your fingers get over your existing finger holes. Halfway between your knuckles is where the edge of the hole should be.

I went from 1/4 reverse to about 1/16 forward, and I found that my span was stretched a bit too much, and I had to keep ez-slide on my thumb to get out of the ball. Shortened it 3/16", and now I'm golden. Probably going to go a bit further forward next time I get something drilled.

What is considered a short thumb and a long thumb?