thanks everyone for the advice! I tried a lot of this stuff out today and it went ok, I was still getting my average. Need more practice!

If you're practicing, don't worry about score. If you're worrying about score, you're not going to be concentrating on the right things. You will more than likely make bad shots trying something new, and if you're worried about the score, you're going to cheat to get a better score.

The score thing is a great tip, I finally got my son to quit looking at it until after his match. With a twist of what was posted here before I told him if he marks he will know his score is good if he opens he knows he has work to do no need to look.

Sure has helped his spare percentage.

Rocket if you really want your own or Jordan's spare coversion rate to go up, take a stopwatch with you next time you both go to practice. Have the other person time your first shot Afterwards, time the second shot. You should see a differnce in the times. Usually, bowlers will take more time on the first shot than their second shot. Simply trying to spend the same amount or more time on a spare shot should send the conversion rate soaring. However, the trick is do taking your time while still blocking everything out and not overthinking.

Kidrobot,
Also have your entire fit checked to see if it good, span, pitches everything. #1 deterent of a free swing is a bad fit. Also a free swing starts with your hand. So eliminating the kung-fu deathgrip and relaxing your hand is one of the hardest things to do.

I agree with everyone else in this post so far. Your wrist is hurting because you have to slow the ball up in order to let your feet catch up to the timing you create with your early ball movement. Try holding your bowling ball in front of you with your arm parallel to the floor and see if it hurts, this is essentially what you are doing by holding it at the back of the swing so your feet catch up. Your wrist will always hurt if you continue to do this, not only that but you have a very strong chance of ending up with carpal tunnel or arthritis in the hand.

After you fix the timing issue I would go up in ball weight. No less than 14 pounds unless you have some sort of physical problem with your body that inhibits you from going that high. A healthy adult male should have no problem with 14 pounds, 15 pounds is probably where you should end up eventually.

Thanks, again everyone. I think a main reason for me controlling my ball like I do is because my thumb hole is too big. I had it drilled about a 2 months ago, so I don't really want to pay to get it drilled again. Can anyone recommend me any thumb insert grip tape to make my hole a little smaller and provide more grip? Or should I just get it redrilled? What is the plastic thumb insert for? will that help?

Magic carpet.

Or lots of tape, black on the back.

Or white tape in the back with black tape over it. Works just as well plus it doesn't require you put a ton of black tape in the back of thumbhole. You'd probably be better off getting your thumbhole redrilled though.

I like the Magic Carpet idea. Ron Clifton has it on his site.

Thanks for the help everyone.. I put some electrical tape in the back of my thumb to provide a tighter fit and it worked great! Also, I took all of your advice and changed my throw and it worked out pretty well. I don't control the ball like I used to I let it fall, I start my ball after my second step, my feet sync with my back swing and release, and I ended up averaging 170+... After I get used to getting spares with my new throw my average should go up! thanks again.