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Lateral finger hole pitches for thumbless bowling

Posted: November 30th, 2012, 3:13 pm
by sprocket
Hi all. I bowl thumbless and do not intend to change back to using my thumb anytime soon. I only say that because whenever I have seen someone on a forum ask for advice about thumbless bowling one of the first responses they get is someone telling them to use their thumb. That is not the advice I am after.

What I am wondering is what effect adding right lateral pitches to my finger holes would have on the balancing of my ball during the swing and staying more inside the ball at the release point. I have seen so many thumbless bowlers that come over the top of the ball at release and it is very easy to do. When I do it, it is a mistake and a wasted shot. If I attempt to place more of the balls weight over my index finger it puts stress on my wrist and forearm. It feels like the ball is "twisting" my hand. With my normal grip I have no pain or discomfort but there is the tendency to come over the ball and let the ball fall to the inside.

So...I am thinking of trying a right lateral shift in the finger holes to put more weight over my index finger, yet keeping a comfortable grip. For example, I think my current lateral finger pitches are 1/4" left on the middle finger and 5/8" right on the ring finger. I am thinking doing a 1/4" right shift, so I would end up with zero pitch on the middle finger and 7/8" right on the ring finger. I'm not positive I have stated my current pitches correctly because I can't find my drilling specs right now. Whatever they are I would like to try a 1/4" right lateral shift.

Does this sound reasonable? Any advice or comments would be appreciated.

Re: Lateral finger hole pitches for thumbless bowling

Posted: November 30th, 2012, 3:43 pm
by elgavachon
sprocket wrote:Hi all. I bowl thumbless and do not intend to change back to using my thumb anytime soon. I only say that because whenever I have seen someone on a forum ask for advice about thumbless bowling one of the first responses they get is someone telling them to use their thumb. That is not the advice I am after.

What I am wondering is what effect adding right lateral pitches to my finger holes would have on the balancing of my ball during the swing and staying more inside the ball at the release point. I have seen so many thumbless bowlers that come over the top of the ball at release and it is very easy to do. When I do it, it is a mistake and a wasted shot. If I attempt to place more of the balls weight over my index finger it puts stress on my wrist and forearm. It feels like the ball is "twisting" my hand. With my normal grip I have no pain or discomfort but there is the tendency to come over the ball and let the ball fall to the inside.

So...I am thinking of trying a right lateral shift in the finger holes to put more weight over my index finger, yet keeping a comfortable grip. For example, I think my current lateral finger pitches are 1/4" left on the middle finger and 5/8" right on the ring finger. I am thinking doing a 1/4" right shift, so I would end up with zero pitch on the middle finger and 7/8" right on the ring finger. I'm not positive I have stated my current pitches correctly because I can't find my drilling specs right now. Whatever they are I would like to try a 1/4" right lateral shift.

Does this sound reasonable? Any advice or comments would be appreciated.
Welcome
pitching your fingers to the right (if you are right handed) will shift the ball more on top of your index finger. It will also possibly lower your tilt (and possibly raise your track). Most no thumb bowlers have a very low tilt and high track now.
If it were me I would try Mo's generic grip for a no thumber:
middle finger=7/16 left, 1/4 forward
ring finger= 7/16 right, 3/8 reverse

Re: Lateral finger hole pitches for thumbless bowling

Posted: November 30th, 2012, 5:25 pm
by sprocket
elgavachon wrote: Welcome
pitching your fingers to the right (if you are right handed) will shift the ball more on top of your index finger. It will also possibly lower your tilt (and possibly raise your track). Most no thumb bowlers have a very low tilt and high track now.
If it were me I would try Mo's generic grip for a no thumber:
middle finger=7/16 left, 1/4 forward
ring finger= 7/16 right, 3/8 reverse
Thanks for the reply. Yes I can see how since my track is high now, right lateral would make it track even more to the center of the ball. I'm not sure on my terminology but my track is close to the fingers and thumb (thumb hole is in a normal location) but hits neither. I do think it has a very large diameter.

About Mo's generic grip: What is the reasoning for the forward pitch on the middle finger and the reverse pitch on the ring finger? I'm sure I could search out the answer too. I'm just taking a short break here at work.

One more thing I just thought of: If I did try the right shift and it did raise my track, why would that be a problem provided I didn't track over the holes? I mean if I'm not hitting the holes now the track should still be the same distance from the holes after the change, even though it would be closer to the center of the ball. Or am I wrong? I guess I'm thinking the thumb hole might have to be adjusted right as well.

Re: Lateral finger hole pitches for thumbless bowling

Posted: December 1st, 2012, 4:18 am
by elgavachon
sprocket wrote: Thanks for the reply. Yes I can see how since my track is high now, right lateral would make it track even more to the center of the ball. I'm not sure on my terminology but my track is close to the fingers and thumb (thumb hole is in a normal location) but hits neither. I do think it has a very large diameter.

About Mo's generic grip: What is the reasoning for the forward pitch on the middle finger and the reverse pitch on the ring finger? I'm sure I could search out the answer too. I'm just taking a short break here at work.

One more thing I just thought of: If I did try the right shift and it did raise my track, why would that be a problem provided I didn't track over the holes? I mean if I'm not hitting the holes now the track should still be the same distance from the holes after the change, even though it would be closer to the center of the ball. Or am I wrong? I guess I'm thinking the thumb hole might have to be adjusted right as well.
The pitches train the hand to come around the ball. For an experiment, throw the ball with your middle finger only (finger at 6:00) and then throw it with the ring finger only (finger at 6:00) and watch which finger best places your hand behind the ball in the position you are searching for.

Re: Lateral finger hole pitches for thumbless bowling

Posted: December 1st, 2012, 2:13 pm
by sprocket
elgavachon wrote: The pitches train the hand to come around the ball. For an experiment, throw the ball with your middle finger only (finger at 6:00) and then throw it with the ring finger only (finger at 6:00) and watch which finger best places your hand behind the ball in the position you are searching for.
So if I threw the ball using only my ring finger and I put it in the middle finger hole, it would be like a left lateral shift. If I did the opposite by putting just my middle finger in the ring finger hole it would be like a right lateral shift. Does that sound about right?

Re: Lateral finger hole pitches for thumbless bowling

Posted: December 1st, 2012, 8:10 pm
by elgavachon
sprocket wrote: So if I threw the ball using only my ring finger and I put it in the middle finger hole, it would be like a left lateral shift. If I did the opposite by putting just my middle finger in the ring finger hole it would be like a right lateral shift. Does that sound about right?
I was just trying to get a way of feeling how the ball sits (& tracks) if that finger were a little more dominant. What you are saying might work since you throw no thumb though.