I started bowling about 6 weeks ago, and had a new ball drilled by an IBPSIA driller. Immediately after he fitted and drilled the ball for me, it would not come off my thumb at all. Finally, he kept making the thumb hole bigger and bigger until it would come off. Of course, this didn't really solve the root of the problem, but temporarily worked.

Since then, I have been to 3 other drillers, and still haven't really found a good fit. The guy I saw today, I could tell really new his stuff. He was very thorough and used a fitting ball to adjust pitches and span, and checked and double-checked everything. Well, after he was done I went out to the lane and threw the ball about 6 feet into the air.

He continued to work with me to try to get me to get he ball off my thumb, with little success.

I told him how long I've been trying to get this figured out and what all I've done. He said that he has drilled over 9,000 balls and this is a first for him. He is very determined to help me solve the problem, but I can't help feeling bad for taking up so much of his time, and frustrated as well that I can't figure it out. He spent about 2 hours with me tonight and charged me $12 for the thumb slug. He wants to see me Saturday to see what we can figure out.

I've been thinking that since I seem to be having a lot more trouble with this issue, that maybe there is something about my hand/thumb that is different than most, and is causing this. I came home tonight and just worked with the ball for a while trying to figure out what is happening, and the only thing I can come up with is that it seems like the skin at the bottom palm-side of my thumb is pretty loose and flexible and it sometimes bunches up when the thumb tries to come out, and this results in the thumb not coming out at all. Maybe I have an abnormal amount of loose/flexible skin on my thumb or something. I tried a thumbsaver that I had in my bag and even though I have to really jam my thumb in there because of the extra thickness, it came off a lot smoother.

Well, sorry to ramble on about this, and I don't really have a question I guess, I'm just a little bummed about this as it has really kept me from focusing on my game when all I can think about is getting the thumb out of the ball all the time.

Check your span, many times people hang up in the ball because their span is too long. Many ball drillers still stretch the span so the crease of the first knuckle of the fingers is over the center of the finger hole with the thumb in the ball, the edge of the finger hole closest to the thumb should be 1/2 way between the first and second knuckle on each finger hole.

If the span is right, your thumb hole may not have enough bevel if you have that much webbing at the base of your thumb, this may cause you to hang up.

Post back with your pitches in your thumb hole and let me know if your span is right. Make sure your hand is not stretched or scrunched when you check your span. You can also tell if your span is too long if you put your hand in the ball and your fingernails are pressing hard into the back of the holes then your span is too long.

Thanks for the response CoachJim.

I am confident that he got the span right. He took a pen and marked across the centerline between the two knuckles on my fingers, then made sure they were at the front edge of the finger holes when my thumb was in and hand relaxed.

He also beveled the thumb hole A LOT..he kept beveling and beveling and the problem got somewhat better, but still had the hangup.

Here are the measurements I just took:

Span: 4 7/16 & 4 5/8

I'm pretty sure the thumb is 1/8 forward and 1/8 under the palm.

How long is your thumb from the base to the tip?

If I measure from the tip to the lower crease on the palm side it is 2 3/8.

I'm not 100% sure if this is defined as the base.

Do you have a double jointed thumb? If you do I'm not sure if there is anything special you are supposed to do different than a normal thumb, maybe someone else could chime in.

If you don't have a double jointed thumb, then you might need a vent hole drilled into the thumb hole to prevent suction at the bottom of the hole, Magic Carpet also vents the thumb and prevents suction, but you may need your hole opened a little to use magic carpet.

If suction is not the problem then you have to be bending the thumb in the hole causing it to hang up. Keep your thumb straight, if the ball feels like it is going to fall of if you don't bend your thumb, then you need to go forward more with the thumb pitch until the ball stops slipping. If it slips even the slightest the thumb will clench the ball so it doesn't fall off.

It does sound to me like the only piece of the equation left to look at is the bowler... You may be knuckling without knowing it.

Other option - I have pretty sweaty hands, and recently started using tape on the front of my thumb, because I have a hard time getting a consistent feel in that area. It has helped me immensely. I did have to open up my thumb a bit more to make room for it. Something to consider.

Bry,

Are you sure you're not gripping the ball? This could be the cause. Also, use some resin/powder if needed, to keep moisture from creating friction.

Resin will only make the problem worse as it aides in gripping, and powder can cause the ball to come off too easily and too soon as well as lead to more bending of the thumb if this is the issue.

I don't doubt that I am gripping the ball to some degree. I don't really know how much I am gripping or squeezing it, because I am so new to bowling, that I don't really know what it is 'supposed' to feel like.

At this point I don't really know what to do. I'm gonna try to work on it at home and see if I can figure anything out. Other than that, the only solution I can see is start moving the pitch in the reverse direction until I can get the ball off my thumb. That may make me squeeze the ball to hold onto it, but at least I will be able to let it go. I may have to revisit the squeezing issue later on down the road after I have more experience.