First we will start with a simple question: “Do you have to squeeze your bowling ball to hold on to it?” If the answer is yes, then you have a fitting issue. Back in the old days, bowlers had their holes drilled a little larger than necessary in case they experienced some finger or thumb swelling. I would like to touch on why your fingers or thumb might swell and why you have to have a death grip on your bowling ball.
Swelling can be caused by a few things. Let’s first start with your diet. The most common cause of swelling is the retaining of fluids. If you’re the bowler that likes to have a couple adult beverages while you bowl, then it’s only a matter of time before your hand is going to swell. It is not just a matter of what or how much you drink. What you eat can also cause swelling. Food that contains high levels of salt can have a double hit. Eating high salt foods will not only leave you thirsty, resulting in drinking more, it will also cause you to retain more of what you do drink. Possibly the most common cause of swelling is repetitive use. When you are working out lifting heavy weights in repetition your muscles will swell with blood in the short term and grow in the long term. The same thing is going to happen when you bowl frame after frame with a 15 pound ball that you are squeezing with your finger muscles to hold on to.
So how can you avoid squeezing your bowling ball?
First look at your hand and the way it fits in your bowling ball. If you have to use a lot of grip pressure to hold onto the bowling ball, then your gripping holes are too big. That’s the easiest way to tell. What if you feel that they fit fine, but you still find you are squeezing the bowling ball because you think it will fly backwards in your swing? Well, the holes might be right, but your pitches might not be correct! What do I mean by pitches? Every hole in the bowling ball has either forward or reverse pitch in it. For example, if you take your hand, palm facing down and you bend your finger and thumb inward toward the center of your palm (like making a fist), then you are creating forward pitch. Fingers going to the palm are considered forward pitch. Thumb going towards your palm is considered forward pitch. Fingers and thumb going away from the center of your palm is considered reverse pitch. If your bowling ball has excessive reverse pitch then your hand will be more open. Having a hand that is more open will result in the need to apply more grip pressure to hold onto an object. If you feel that the size of your gripping holes is correct, but you are still having issues squeezing the ball, then take it to your local pro shop and have them check your pitches. You may find out that you have incorrect pitches for your hand.
One last thing that I teach my students is this simple saying: Hold the bowling ball like it was a bird. You’re not trying to hurt it, just hold it. That’s about the amount of grip pressure you would like to have on your bowling ball.
Everyday I run into bowlers that want more hook in the backend. It’s always the same statement “I want a bowling ball that will go long and snap on the back end”. I will got a lot of flack from saying this but I’m going to say it anyway; It’s not just the ball that will make that happen, it’s you!
No one ever wants to hear that the problems that they have in the sport of bowling are due to their technique. They want the equipment to do the work for them. It’s never the bowler themselves, it’s the ball!!! Am I right so far?
Bowlers that create that snapping motion on a bowling ball, have greater axis rotation. I can hear some of you now saying, what’s axis rotation? This tip of the week is going to cover what axis rotation is and why you need it to improve your score.
Axis rotation, commonly known as side roll is the horizontal measure of the angle of the ball’s revolutions. Confused? Let’s make it simple. Picture the Earth. It rotates around the axis of the north and South Pole. So take the earth and lay it on its side. This is much like a bowling ball. Your axis is a parallel line to the lane. The rotation of your bowling ball is going from right to left (if you’re a right handed bowler) from this axis. This is your axis rotation. Now measuring your degree can not be done by the naked eye. But I will give you a few examples of bowlers that have lower axis rotation and higher axis rotation. Let’s go with Walter Ray Williams and Pete Weber. Both bowlers are great but they have different types of releases. Walter is more up the back of the bowling ball which results in a lower axis rotation degree. Pete Weber goes more around the bowling ball, thus creating a higher degree of axis rotation. Does that help?
Bowling balls will change direction more abruptly in the back part of the lane with higher degrees of axis rotation. Lower axis rotation numbers will not change direction as fast, or snap more.
Don’t get me wrong, there are bowling balls that are designed not to snap as much as some others. But the simple fact remains, the bowler will ultimately decide how that bowling ball will snap in the back end. If you stay behind the ball more when you release it then you have a lower degree of rotation and therefore not as much snap in the back end. If your release is more around the side of the bowling ball then you will create a higher degree of rotation thereby creating more snap. Got it now?
If you want to have more back end in the bowling ball increase the rotation of your hand around the side of the bowling ball. If you are looking for less back end reaction then you need to stay more behind the bowling ball.
Visit your local bowling coach for some tips and lessons on how to create axis rotation.
Spring is here and we all look forward to getting out and watching a few ball games, hitting the greens, and enjoying the warm weather. We are coming to a close of the bowling league season and some of us might have had a great year, while others struggled. There are many reasons why bowlers struggle these days. It could be the equipment doesn’t fit right anymore, you had trouble finding your shot, the lane conditions changed, or you just weren’t mentally in the sport this year. That brings me to our next tip of the week: The mental game.
Yogi Berra said it best with one of his most famous quotes about the sport of baseball: “Baseball is 90% mental — the other half is physical.” This is so true. This is also the case with the sport of bowling.
Bowlers encounter mental tests on a consistent basis. The focus of making that great shot, trying to block out conversations behind you about the basketball game, or the opposing team saying things to get in your head. Let’s not forget about all those announcements over the Bowling center’s sound system. So how do you go and battle all these variables? I will touch on some of the best tips that have helped me over the years and I still use to this day. Maybe some of these will work for you maybe they won’t but you know what, you will never know unless you try.
Some of the top coaches in the world use visualization. See it. Do it. Your mind can be a wonderful tool or one that will always get in your way. We have to train ourselves on how to use the tools we have and make the best work possible with them. I use visualization every time (well almost every time) I step on the approach. I will explain how I use this technique and hopefully it works for you as well.
When I pick up the bowling ball from the ball rack I see myself throwing a great shot. I take every little thing into account. From how I look at the foul line to how I see my bowling ball roll down the lanes, to the final result of the ball entering the pocket. I see and I do it!!
Other techniques that you can use are those preset messages in your head before you roll the ball. This is another technique that I religiously use on every shot. Now these might work for you or you may need to come up with your own set, this is an example of how I do it. I say these 3 things before I roll the bowling ball. Nice knee bend, good follow through, watch my ball roll over my target. Then I’m off like the horses in the starting gate at the Kentucky Derby.
The last tip I learned from my Father, who isn’t a bowler but has a great sense of how to look at this Sport. He always told me that your main focus when you step up for your first shot in any given frame is to knock all ten pins down. If you don’t succeed, then your only focus on the next shot is to pick up what you left. Pretty simple, right?
So remember, Stay focused. Create a pre shot routine and stick with it, and always focus at the task at hand and not what should have or could have been. You can’t change it; you can only excel from it.
After more than 90 years, the Women’s Championships moves out of the traditional
bowling center and into an arena setting similar to the Open Championships.
With El Paso,Texas, serving as the host city in 2010, the world’s largest participatory
sporting event for women will be staged at the El Paso Covention and
Performing Arts Center.
This will be the first trip to El Paso for the Women’s Championships, and the
“Sun City” area has a lot to offer those planning to spend a few extra days in town.
Besides the local attractions and shopping, just across the border ic Ciudad Juarez,
Mexico, El Paso’s sister city.
But the main reason to head to El Paso is the Women’s Championships.
The annual event, which started in 1916, will again have bowlers of all ages
and skills competing in team, doubles and singles.
Bowling today is far more advanced then days of the past. The technology and equipment have well surpassed the days of old. New core designs, new cover stocks, new oils, not to mention lane surfaces. So why do so many people still think the sciences of years ago apply to today’s bowling environment? I still hear this everyday when I encounter bowlers from all across the country. I tell them all the same thing: Static weights don’t adversely affect ball reaction!!!
I know I can hear it now: side weight makes my ball hook more in the back end. Thumb weight makes my ball roll earlier. Finger weight makes my bowling ball go further down the lane. Don’t get me wrong, back in the days of Rubber and Plastic bowling balls, this was the norm. But let’s realize that today we have far more technology then we did then. I am not saying they were wrong with their statements; they just didn’t have the technical knowledge we have today.
Let’s first start out by defining what I mean by static weight. When the person drilling the ball positions it for drilling and they shift the weight block to one quadrant of the bowling ball this causes an imbalance to the ball. These imbalances make the ball wobble, therefore creating a different ball reaction. If they shift the core to the side of the gripping holes it creates side weight. Shifting the core towards the fingers creates finger weight, and so on. The ruling bodies created parameters for this. You aren’t allowed to have more then one ounce of finger, side, or thumb weight. You are not allowed to have more then three ounces of top, or bottom weight. This rule applies still today.
Now let’s get back to the tip of the week. Ball motion. If you are looking for your ball to go longer, you should pick a weaker core design or a weaker cover stock bowling ball. If you want a more aggressive bowling ball for oil, then you should pick a stronger core design and stronger cover stock bowling ball. First you have to understand your bowling center and your bowling style. Everyone will see the lanes differently based on their bowling style. Some bowlers will think the lanes are oily while others might think they are dry. That’s O.K. Bowlers are all different. You need to pick the right ball for your bowling style.
Placing locator pins further from your P.A.P. or positive axis point, will make your ball go further down the lane. Pins closer to your P.A.P. will start to hook sooner. Pins positioned in between these will create stronger overall ball motion.
While drilling techniques still play an important role in ball motion; core, cover stock and pin placement can be just as important given today’s technology. You need to first figure out what kind of lane condition you are bowling on, and then talk to your local pro shop to find the correct ball for your needs.
Next week I will go over the other question I get asked all the time: Why do you have so many bowling balls in your bag? Until then, have fun, and let’s shoot some big scores!!!