Hi


This is my first post here so bear with me. Anyway, my question is how do I generate more revolutions properly? I've read countless tips online including ron clifton's articles but they left me more confused; specifically when they say your fingers have to be under the ball. How do I know that? What exercises can I use to get me to that position?

If anyone can a help a newbie like me I would appreciate it.

There are three important things when trying to get more revs:

1. your grip has to be sorted out, so you don't have to grip the ball with your thumb
2. you have to stop gripping with the thumb (yes, even if the grip is ok, you might still be gripping even though it isn't necessary)
3. you have to have good timing so you don't pull the ball forward

You need to have good timing, cause if you pull the ball, you won't be able to keep your hand under the ball, as the wrist probably won't be strong enough.

When you have all those things sorted out, getting good revs is pretty easy. All you need to do is cup your wrist sometime during the swing so your fingers are below the equator of the ball prior to the release. Then you basically just relax the wrist and let the ball roll off your fingers. Trying to pull up with the fingers can cause you to grab the ball, robbing you of revs.

So the idea here is that to have a good release, you have to set your wrist and hand up before the actual release.

If you don't know how much under the ball your fingers are, have someone look or better yet take a video of your hand from behind at release point and then look at the video frame-by-frame to see if your fingers are below the equator.

You can also try an exercise where you stand at the foul line in your final position and swing the ball slowly while trying to be under the ball as much as possible.

Seeing the title, I was ready to go for this thread, but Luksa's post was about as good as you'll get.

Without more information, however, we can't really tell where the process is breaking down for you, so it will be hard to give specific tips. If you have access to a video cameras (or digital cameras that takes video), try to get some video, both from behind and from the side, with your whole approach in the video, and we can take a look to give you a specific plan of attack.

Thanks for the reply luksa and cgeorg. In fact i've gone over video with a coach and was thinking of going back to ask him, but i don't know how. So how do I ask properly? The reason I ask is because I have other flaws but I want to concentrate specifically on my lack of revs. What terms should I say to point him in the right direction? Before you say he's a bad coach, he did find a flaw in my armswing that hindered my ball speed and corrected it. The end result was a 10-20 pin increase in my average.

Depending on what the other flaws are, this might be the smallest issue to worry about. Now if your speed is too much for your revs this might be a bigger issue since your ball won't have time to react or react properly. If your coach found other issues and didn't think the revs was an issue I wouldn't call him a bad coach since there are more important fundamentals including the armswing.

There are a lot of things that need to be correct before rev rate, including timing, a free armswing, and a proper fitting ball. Can you hit your mark? Do you have a mark, and can you tell that you've hit it? Some people can't. Can you watch the way your ball moves through the pins, to tell if you need to make an adjustment?

I'd say that all of these things are more important than a high rev rate.

Revolutions don't necessarily come from a cupped wrist and a large finger span. Look at Tommy Jones's release. He gets upwards of 500 rpm and his hand is never "below the equator." As a matter of fact, if you see his swing in slow motion from the front, his wrist is almost broken back. Where he gets his revs from are his quick release. The ball is in and out of his hand in an instant. If you examine his release from the back in slow motion, you can see as the ball descends, his hand is completely on the opposite side. Then as it nears the lane, he rotates it around the ball and releases it quickly, but not all the way around the ball, he still stays behind it. A quicker release can be achieved by having a slightly tighter thumbhole so that you don't have to hold on to the ball with as much effort. Then your release should just be natural.

Another thing that can get you some more revs (Randy Pedersen talks about this a lot) is a slightly bent elbow. Tommy Jones is again a good example. If you do bend your elbow, though, you have to extend it at your release so that you don't just loft it instead of release it. Another good thing that could come from this is the elbow movement will help the ball get off your hand smoother. You can also change the time that you extend your elbow so you have the ability to release it earlier or later (if you need to).

One thing to note about these techniques is that they require excellent timing and a very smooth release to work properly. I have this problem when I'm bowling badly. I'll start to turn my hand early and get around the ball, speed up my feet, miss my target, pull the ball, and grab it. It really takes much more effort to be able to control a high rev ball than it does to control a low rev ball, especially when you have to change your release to make spares. A lower rev release is definitely much more beneficial. Just look at Walter Ray Williams Jr, Norm Duke, Brian Voss, and Parker Bohn III.