follow through left of head?

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militant02
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follow through left of head?

Post by militant02 »

i've noticed that qutie a few elite professional bowlers who's follow through is left of their head (for right handers) and wonder what is the main purpose for this. do they do exaggerate this motion to keep the ball under their head at the bottom of the swing to stay behind the ball better or work the inside of the ball during their release? if i remember correctly this is something that ryan ciminelli was trying to correct at one time but i see that the three pwba bowlers who attended weber international have the same type of follow through. how does this affect ball roll differently than keeping the armswing in line with the shoulder?

if anyone who has a good guess or does this themselves could you clue me in?
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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by ads »

They have wide open shoulders and a lot of body tilt to the bowling arm side. They maintain the tilt at the foul line, follow through will swing to the non bowling arm side.

For players who square to the foul line with little body tilt, the follow through will go the side of the head.

My guess.
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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by JimH »

ads wrote:They have wide open shoulders and a lot of body tilt to the bowling arm side. They maintain the tilt at the foul line, follow through will swing to the non bowling arm side.

For players who square to the foul line with little body tilt, the follow through will go the side of the head.

My guess.
I agree. We can also say you follow through to the target. If your body is rotated the follow through will still be correct.
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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by kajmk »

I think the follow through is and should be a reaction to an action, a natural consequence and not contrived or preconceived.

There are a few videos "out there" that directly talk about this. We may have a few on the wiki. If not directly mentioned, you might be able to deduce why, by watching and comparing.

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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by RobMautner »

The follow through that goes to the left (for a right handed bowler) allows the bowler to project the ball more to the right. I don't pretend to understand the mechanics of it, but it does work.
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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by bowl1820 »

militant02 wrote:if anyone who has a good guess or does this themselves could you clue me in?
This question has come up before:

Follow Thru Left Of The Face?
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6961

Joe Slowinski replied:
BowlingCoach wrote:When I wrote the article on downswing angle, it was revealing to many people on the actual movement of elite players' swing motion.

In my effort to promote DYDS, and the creation of extra swing slot space, you begin to see more and more players with excellent lateral spine tilt follow-through more to the inside. 2-handed players are further inside....

See an example in DV8 Pro Staffer Joonas Jähi
http://dv8bowling.com/uploads/cache/ima ... 0_s_c1.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can see the downswing angles of Tommy Jones and Jason Couch in the article. This should help you understand why.

http://bowlingknowledge.info/images/sto ... imay12.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
BowlingCoach wrote:The follow-through is a function of the swing movement. Ideally, added swing slot space facilitated with more lateral spine tilt, will yield an increased downswing angle in addition to the ball being further inside as discussed.

The ability to create this space is also related to core health and fitness levels of an athlete. There is a correlation with age as well. But, with my DYDS (Drop Your Damn Shoulder) group, I have both young and old working on DYDS. This week a 70 year old bowler shot 700 while excitingly working on DYDS.

So, as DYDS and increased lateral spine tilt become more of the norm, this should also see more players following-through more to the inside of the face. It allows more efficient energy transfer from body to the bowling ball as well as more balance at the line. Everyone sees more ball motion as well when the drop their damn shoulder.

To answer finally :D

Yes, via more lateral spine tilt, this is a follow-through that players should strive for....but, it has to be a natural function of more swing slot space creation and lateral spine tilt.

If anyone want this, they need to be sure to also begin a conditioning routine where you work the entire core. Cross crawls, planks, etc.
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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by 2y2 »

That movement which Ciminelly and Zavjalova make is a reaction to the strong cock uncock movement, it is not that they do it on purpose, that followthrough is a byproduct of a really free swing and a strong angular movement of their fast snapping wrists, remember they´re violently rotating a very heavy object with a ton of revs laterally, it is like when you start an engine, the pulley turns to one side and the whole car goes to the other as an action-reaction system, same thing here, wrist uncocks counterclockwise causing the arm to go to the opposite direction.
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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by TomaHawk »

The "cross your body" arm swing has a lot to do with the direction the bowler's foot is facing at the foul line. Ciminelly is the perfect example. His right foot is literally facing the left wall when he releases the ball making it almost impossible (is it possible?) to square the hips to the foul line.
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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by rrb6699 »

I practice this type of follow thru sometimes. if you do it with more squared shoulders, you can still hit what you aim at no problem. if you open your shoulders and do it I can generate more speed. its easier to swing "out" (backswing) from your body facing 45degrees to the foul line than square.

if you throw a softball underhanded, you can see facing 45deg you can throw the ball further than square.
Last edited by rrb6699 on January 4th, 2018, 2:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by militant02 »

ok. thank you all for the responses. i tried to see how well this technique works for me with mixed results but that was to be expected for something so new to me. i'll try it out more often because i tend to be open at the foul line and doing this may help my armswing and accuracy in the end.
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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by SomyP »

It's a natural byproduct of having side lateral tilt and open shoulders. Personally I don't even notice that I do it anymore because I've been doing it for so long. It's only when I square up and playing straighter lines does my follow through go to the right side of my head being a right hander.
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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by TomaHawk »

rrb6699 wrote:if you throw a softball underhanded, you can see facing 45deg you can throw the ball further than square.
But, we are also looking for accuracy. Fast pitch softball pitchers stand tall and are totally squared up when releasing the ball.
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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by rrb6699 »

TomaHawk wrote:
But, we are also looking for accuracy. Fast pitch softball pitchers stand tall and are totally squared up when releasing the ball.
true. but if you look at e j tackett's downward swing and release position its apparent he's developed accuracy and power with a "left of head" follow thru. he also swings out away from his body to cross his arm in front of him with about 45 deg open shoulders. I've also seen him fan it out to the right side.

so it depends on what's working that day. if you work on something like left of head swing long enough, accuracy will improve. when I try left handed bowling at first I couldn't keep it on the lane, but, I've thrown maybe 10 games or so this way and now I can hit pins most every shot.

same thing.
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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by TomaHawk »

EJ is a bit of a phenom based on his physical structure. His foot speed alone creates a situation where his sliding foot faces right upon completion of his approach. Foot faces right, hand goes left.

Let's compare styles, not bowling styles, but baseball hitting styles. We'll use two examples, Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera, both are considered power hitters. Prince swings hard and quick at the pitch, Cabrera utilizes a smooth, controlled, powerful stroke. Tackett's bowling approach more closely emulates Fielder's hitting style. It works for Tackett.

Bowling is not predicated upon a specific style or release mechanism. Speed and rev rate are great, but WRW has won more than anyone on tour. It will be interesting to see if the ultimate power player can supersede the ultimate shot maker in terms of Tour victories.
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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by Mikepetrosky »

I doubt anyone will ever top WRW for tour wins in the USA. There's simply not as many national Tourneys as there used to be. Less tourneys + more competition at each Tourney = less opportunities for a career like WRW.

BTW, this takes nothing away from anyone's previous or current accomplishments, it's just math.
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Re: follow through left of head?

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SomyP wrote:It's a natural byproduct of having side lateral tilt and open shoulders. Personally I don't even notice that I do it anymore because I've been doing it for so long. It's only when I square up and playing straighter lines does my follow through go to the right side of my head being a right hander.
not trying to sound like a smart ass, but side side (lateral) tilt? When I see Diana Z and Rocio, they seem on top of the ball, but it works.
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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by Kwill212 »

TomaHawk wrote:The "cross your body" arm swing has a lot to do with the direction the bowler's foot is facing at the foul line. Ciminelly is the perfect example. His right foot is literally facing the left wall when he releases the ball making it almost impossible (is it possible?) to square the hips to the foul line.
Can you link me a video that shows Ciminelli's foot facing the left wall? I looked at about half a dozen youtube videos and only saw his foot pointing straight ahead.

TomaHawk wrote:
But, we are also looking for accuracy. Fast pitch softball pitchers stand tall and are totally squared up when releasing the ball.
But their shoulders are turned almost 90 degrees prior to release. Just like almost all sports. Look at quarterbacks or pitchers their shoulders will open in the backswing and close to square to the target at release. Same thing happens with modern bowling. Shoulders open in backswing and close at release with their chest facing the pins.

I agree with the other poster that a left of head follow through is 100% the byproduct of the body being tilted to the bowling arm side.
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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by EricHartwell »

Kwill212 wrote:I agree with the other poster that a left of head follow through is 100% the byproduct of the body being tilted to the bowling arm side.
I humbly disagree.

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Take note of the force and direction of the hand and fingers at release. Right handers are applying force that is to the left. Counterclockwise direction. The follow through is a continuation of this motion.

While the spine tilt may have some influence, the force and direction of the hand/fingers is more influential.

Pete Weber does not follow through to the left side of his head.

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Take note of his hand and fingers at release. His fingers are out of the ball while they are on the right side of the ball and the direction is up from there. He has the spine tilt yet his follow through is on the right side of his head.

edit for spelling
Last edited by EricHartwell on November 14th, 2017, 2:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by TomaHawk »

Kwill212 wrote:Can you link me a video that shows Ciminelli's foot facing the left wall? I looked at about half a dozen youtube videos and only saw his foot pointing straight ahead.
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: follow through left of head?

Post by Ron Clifton »

You guys are making this way too complicated. Follow-throughs go to the left of the head because the fingers and hand go the direction the ball rotates, not the direction the ball travels. IF your followthrough goes the direction the ball travels you will tend to tilt the axis up and lower the rev rate. Someone like Ciminelli will often go past their head because he often uses a lot of axis rotation and he doesn't re-direct his hand back to the left as his hand travels up. The more axis rotation applied to the ball the more the hand will follow in that direction.

If you watch someone like Chris Barnes his followthrough goes in front of his face, and he redirects it back to the right enough on the way up not to smack himself in the face. Barnes is often throwing less than 45 degrees of axis rotation so his follow-through will not be as far left.

To demonstrate this to yourself lay your ball down on the floor with just your fingers in the ball. Lay your palm over the thumbhole and rotate the ball so if your fingers roll the ball straight up the ball will spin at a 45 degree or more angle to the foul line. You will see if you pull your fingers straight up with the pads your hand will have to follow in that same direction. If from that position you try to make your hand go down the lane you will see that you are forcing your fingers on the side of the holes and that will make the ball tilt up. I guess the clearest example would be to move your finger position all the way on the side of the ball so that you would roll it with 90 degrees of axis rotation. Your hand must go dead left as your fingers rotate the ball upward.


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