Hi guys, this seems like a great forum, I hope someone can help me.

I rolled a straight ball for a long time, including some intramural stuff back in college. I had a little 8-pound ball that I'd had as a kid and had it drilled out. I basically just flung it as hard as I could. I wasn't bad, probably averaged 140-150 or so.

Now after a long hiatus (college was 15 years ago) I'm getting serious about wanting to learn to bowl the right way. Luckily my wife's into it too, so we're having fun with it together.

Here's my problem: I got a 15-pound Columbia Jazz for my first "hooking" ball. Since day one I've felt like I've had to grip the hell out of it with my thumb or it would fly off my hand. But then if I have tape applied (I've had TWO pro shops look at it), it hangs on my thumb at release.

I've never done a fingertip grip before, and I've never tried to make the ball hook before, so I don't know if the problem is ME or the ball. The other thing that bugs me is that I started out OK, although not hooking much, and now suddenly I'm pulling every shot to the left (I'm a righty). Doesn't matter how I adjust, I can adjust my position, or my target, or both, and the ball still goes 1-2 arrows left of where I'm aiming it. Still not getting much hook, but enough that, if I put the ball where I want it I get strikes. But that is rare and seems to be getting rarer. Been doing this for a month and I seem to be steadily getting worse.

I know my wife and I should have a coach, and we're looking, but haven't found anybody yet. In the meantime, any pointers? I've been told my footwork is OK, and I know I'm muscling the downswing/chickenwinging the ball a lot, but part of that is because the [censored] thing feels like it will fall off if I don't. But again if I have the Pro Shop add tape, my thumb starts hanging.

Any chance this is the ball, or is this just normal new guy screwing the pooch trying to get better? Any tips/help greatly appreciated--wish I had a video but I'm an old [censored] now and not that tech savvy lol.

Thanks,
L2H

I'm not a coach, and there are certainly coaches on this board who can give better advice than me, but here goes.

Pulling the ball is a symptom of poor timing. Usually it means your body is ahead of the ball and gets close to the foul line well before you're ready to deliver the ball. Consequently, in order to "catch up" the ball to the body, you pull the ball with your arm, causing your body to turn a bit, and your swing to go from a straight line to one that crosses in front of your body, thus pulling your shot.

My first suggestion would be to slow your feet down. The easiest way to do that is move closer to the foul line. Stand somewhere around the set of dots on the approach closest to the foul line. It'll feel really uncomfortable at first, but that's the idea: it will slow you down and make you more cognizant of the speed of your approach.

Another suggestion would be to lower the ball in your setup, prior to starting your approach. This will result in a lower backswing, which will bring your ball into closer timing with your body. But really even though it will require more work, try slowing your feet down first.

I agree with Dan on his quick points.

Another thing that can add to pulling the ball inside is coming around the ball early when you are trying to hook the ball to much. You have said yourself that you are gripping, pulling, and chickenwinging the ball, all of these lead to pulling the ball inside of your desired line.

Now onto the fitment. I would guess the reason its hanging up is not because its too tight with tape. If it is loose enough to fall off without any, adding one piece cannot make it so tight it hangs. My guess would be that you are used to bending the thumb and "knuckling" the ball, grabbing it and squeezing it like a football. There should be no grip pressure, enough to hold an egg in your hand without dropping it, thats it. If you are squeezing more than that, your thumb is bending in the hole and causing it to hang. Do you think this could be the culprit?

Hey shorty,

I'm sure you guys are right about my arm movement being the culprit for the left pull.

As for the thumb hole, Yes, I *HAVE* to "grip" the ball with my thumb or else the ball would fall off my hand mid-swing. I've tested it over my couch, it falls right off with a relaxed thumb. Same thing with 1-2 pieces of tape. But with 3-4 pieces of tape, I don't have to grip the ball as hard, but then it sticks on my thumb at release. (To release when it's loose, I'm having to "grip" with my thumb at the end of the pushaway, then try to "relax" my thumb just before release--which is a lot to think about to say the least).

I've just never felt like I could hold the ball with a properly relaxed grip without it dropping. It sits comfortably on my hand, I don't think it was drilled wrong, but I've had the Pro Shop look at it, they put in enough tape so I don't have the grip the hell out of it, and then it won't let go of my thumb on release. It's getting very frustrating. I'm wondering if, since I basically used a kid's ball before and haven't bowled much in 15 years, if 15 lbs was too heavy of a ball? Would that make a difference? Would a 12-lb ball be any different in terms of grip on the thumb etc? They put finger inserts in the ball when I got it, can't they do the same for the thumb? I'm at a loss for what to do--I can't work on my other problems because I'm always conscious of not holding the ball comfortably.

Again, thanks for the help. Any more answers more than welcome!

Ok, a couple more thoughts:

If, with 3-4 pieces, it is still loose enough to have to grab it after the push away because it feels like its going to fall off, I assume you are still gripping come release time. Have you tried adding another piece of tape in the hole past 4? If it feels like its loose, you have to add tape. Remember that some times the fix is going to be the opposite of what you would think. It could be sticking because the hole is to loose and your brain is making you bend your thumb to secure the ball. A bent thumb has a bigger overall footprint than a straight thumb, causing it to stick.

Next, are you adding all the tape to the front of the thumb hole (closest to fingers) or putting a couple in the back as well? Remember that every piece of tape you add to the front creates more forward pitch, more forward pitch means more security but if it goes to far forward you can risk hanging in the hole. Try adding it to the back.

Also, is your wrist staying in a strong position? Meaning, are you able to keep your wrist cupped all the way through the swing? As soon as the wrist slackens, the thumb will slip out of the hole, this is why I ask.

It happens with or without a wrist brace, so I think I'm OK with my wrist.

See, that's what I wondered, because somebody explained to me the reason my thumb was hanging was because I was bending it. I was wondering about loading the hole up with so much tape that I just COULDN'T bend it and see if that helped.

So far all the tape has been in front--it's the gritty feeling tape, they said it would tear up the back of my thumb, but I was wondering about electrical tape or something like that. Probably harder to put in without wrinkling it.

So, more tape? How much is too much? Just how tight do I want my thumb to feel?

You should use both black and white tape. Black tape goes so that the back of your thumb rubs against it while the white tape goes so that the front, or inside, of your thumb rubs against it.

A couple other things: tape should be inserted with the rounded end up toward the opening of the hole. Then each successive piece should be a bit further down into the hole. This will have a tapering effect and enable you to have a snug fit but still get out of the hole easily. I have no idea if one can add too much tape.

At some point you might want to consider having the ball plugged and re-drilled, or get a new ball and have your hand re-fitted so that the thumb fits better.

You might try Ron C's magic carpet. It really gives you the right feel without having to squeeze the thumb. it's a velcro type of tape. I understand you can get a free sample from his site www.bowl4fun.com. I used it for a while and it help me stop squeezing.

Well, I went to a different Pro Shop today...this new guy re-measured my hand with a bunch of tools I never saw the original shop use, and he just kept going "tsk" and shaking his head.

Long story short, it turned out my hand and his were almost identical, and he gave me one of his balls to roll with to test out. INSTANTLY BETTER. I no longer felt like I was in danger of dropping the ball, it felt "tight" on my thumb but came off smooth. I started hitting my target, getting more hook than I had been, and the ball just felt much better.

I reported back to him, and he's going to rework my thumb hole at a different angle, like his ball. Unfortunately now I have to work for the next several days and won't get to test it out until Monday lol.

Thanks all for your help guys...I'm sure I'll be pestering y'all with plenty more questions as time goes on.

Please find out what the difference was and let us know. It will probably involve a different span, different forward/reverse pitch, and possibly different left/right, or under/away pitch.

Bad ball fit makes it real hard to bowl correctly. Hope the change helps.