I was just wondering how many of you that have gone with an unusual amount of forward pitch had the driller look at you like you grew a second head?

The reason why I ask is I went into the Pro Shop yesterday looking to go more forward with my thumb pitch (ball was slipping off at 1/8 forward) before the fall league starts. His assistant grabs my drill sheet and asks what I want done. I said that I'd like to go more forward and he asks how much. I told him that I'd like to go to 5/16 and he asks "Are you sure you want to go that far?" I said that I did and he takes my order. He takes my order and ball back to the driller and I overheard the driller exclaim "HE WANTS TO DO WHAT!?!?!".

I was amazed to hear the driller say that in such a shocking manner. It was like he never heard of anyone going that far forward before. Needless to say he wanted to talk to me about my order before doing any drilling and I patiently waited for my turn. He asks like his assistant did if I was sure about going that far forward and I answered to the affirmative. They then proceed to set up the adjustable fitting ball to my specs and ask me to try it out. Needless to say that they were shocked at how easy I was able to come out of the ball at that "extreme" forward pitch. In a way I'm actually glad to know that the driller was concerned if I would be able to get out of the ball. He did his job and I thanked him for that.

In the end the driller filled my order as I had originally intended. I'm sure I could have gone +1/4 to 3/8 forward but with league starting tomorrow I didn't want to take a chance on having the ball hang-up on me. I was able to get in some practice with the new drilling and it feels really good. I'm not grabbing the ball like I had been to prevent it from slipping. I'm sure with more practice my hand will relax even more and I'll move to a more forward pitch.

At the same time I went with a 60 over oval drilling. My initial was a 30 but as I bowled the tighter the hole became on the sides of my thumb knuckle. I had the 30 widened on numerous occasions and it was in need again. The 60 over cured that.

The good thing is that the driller will be in the same league I'm joining so I'll be able to tell him that the work he did is working fine for me.

Also, I'd like to send a thanks to Coach Jim and others for posting numerous times the forward pitch suggestion.

I always get that reaction, I had a client of mine go from 3/8 reverse to 3/8 forward a few weeks ago. He hung up in it badly and couldn't get out of the ball, I thought we were going to have to have the ball jack hammered off the guy's hand, come to find out the driller didn't shorten the span, and drilled it forward with the old stretched span. Lesson learned, always check the span before having a client try to throw the ball, just because you ask a ball driller to do this and that, it doesn't mean he actually did what you asked.

If you do go forward do not forget to have your span checked and make sure the leading edge of the holes is not longer than 1/2 way between the first and second knuckle with your thumb in the ball and your hand laid across the holes in a natural not stretched manor. If your span is already to this spec, don't forget to shorten your span 1/8" for every 3/8 forward.

This is also a work in progress for me. I started a couple weeks ago (referenced in a previous post). I made the move to help relieve soreness in my thumb callouses and to help reduce overall swelling during and after bowling.

I started at 1/8 reverse, moving 1/8" with each thumb slug redrill. Today, I'm at 1/2" forward. My driller already had me with a relaxed span, making this move easier. So far, the soreness has disappeared and overall swelling during and after bowling has decreased. The only time I hang up in the ball is if I break my wrist during release, which I tend to do when picking up spares. So, I stopped breaking my wrist

Anway, I've started to notice a few benefits with this change. Because I have to maintain way more relaxed grip presssure, my arm swing is more free/relaxed. My ball speed increased without muscling the release. My rev rate increased, giving me better ball reaction.

In the short term, i've decided to stay at 1/2" forward, to give myself time to get comfortable with the changes, then I will revisit the topic with my driller, to see if I should continue moving forward.

When you hang up because of breaking the wrist back (one of my teammates had this happen) it is because the thumb is slipping a little bit, causing you to squeeze the thumb slightly, as you know when you are this far forward the slightest bit of squeezing causes the ball to hang up.

What I had my teammate do was to reduce the side rotation by throwing a cupped straight ball. This was hard for him to do until I suggested him try to throw a cupped back up ball, he couldn't throw a back up ball (many men's wrists will not allow them to bend back enough to actually throw a back up ball), but doing this made his wrist not turn, and the ball went straight, it just had more revs. He has since learned to break his wrist back without squeezing by putting less bevel in his spare ball.

I have had other people who were hanging up when breaking their wrist back because the ball would lock itself onto the thumb, I found they were sweeping their wrist forward at the release like fred flinstone. This is fine as long as you don't squeeze the ball when you do it.

Exactly! I did discover that I needed to slightly cup my wrist. During previous practice sessions, I utilized a wrist support to assist with my retraining. It did help and I no longer need the wrist support. As I continue to work with keeping my grip relaxed, I am gaining more confidence and trust.

I just didn't realize till this move how much I squeezed the ball and tried to control my swing, to get more ball reaction, because of the squeezing. Talk about diminishing returns!

What a relief to discover that an old dog can still learn good 'new' habits, after decades of bad habits. Kind of a shame I didn't learn about this 20 years ago, but I do remember a ball driller back then telling me to not go with forward pitch since I have a flatter more oval shape thumb. Thankfully I have a driller in the present that has my best interests in mind.

Thanks for the feedback Jim, and I'm working a getting a video posted.

I'm sure the ball driller back then had your best interest in mind, but he didn't know any better. I would say the vast majority of ball drillers operating now would be shocked to see you get out of a ball with forward pitch in the thumb. Just because you have been doing something the same way for years and years doesn't mean you have been doing it right.

Some people (very few by the way) are born with the ability to let the ball go at the right point, and are fine with reverse pitch and stretched spans and for them they can keep on with the same old same old, but the rest of us need the ball to be drilled to hang onto your hand and come off on it's own.

It's posts like this that make me smile. There are so many people who get defensive and are resistant to change and end up posting a million questions.. and then there are post like this that show people taking the advice that was given and seeing immediate results.

+1 for Lefty's post

It also made me really happy to see your description of the Pro Shop's reaction. They were concerned that it might not be good for you, but listened, tried it, and (possibly) learned something in the process.