Drilling Question

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pjape
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Drilling Question

Post by pjape »

During one of my coaching sessions last month, my coach mentioned that one of the guys on our league (my former anchor) has an unusual drilling given to him by Mo. We played his team on Thursday and I asked him about it. He showed me one of his balls, and I was shocked to see that his ring finger is above his index finger.

He told me that Mo worked with him several times when he was in middle school (late nineties) when he came to John Jameson's (Ballspinner) center in PA. He said this layout was to enable him to put a lot more rotation on the ball. It certainly works as he can play deeper than anyone in our league. He also has his finger holes very sharp so he doesn't grab it. I was told my a former teammate that he shot back to back 300s when he was 12!

Now, as someone who's always been rotationally challenged, I wonder if my anatomy is what's hindering me. My ring finger is dropped, but not for the purpose of taking revs off the ball, like some power players do (Fagan, for example). My ring finger is quite a bit shorter than my index finger. When my PSO (my coach) drilled my last ball, he commented how unusual this is. What's also strange is my left ring finger is even shorter. Maybe 25 years of bowling stretched the right one a bit.

When I have the funds, I'm going to have him remeasure me, since it's been six years. Do you think it's a good idea to experiment with something like this, although with my short ring finger, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to have it as high as the kid I'm describing. My normal rotation is about 30*, and he'd like to get me up to the range of 45*-60*. Hey, if I can get some help from a drilling, I'm all for it!
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Re: Drilling Question

Post by JimH »

pjape wrote:During one of my coaching sessions last month, my coach mentioned that one of the guys on our league (my former anchor) has an unusual drilling given to him by Mo. We played his team on Thursday and I asked him about it. He showed me one of his balls, and I was shocked to see that his ring finger is above his index finger.

He told me that Mo worked with him several times when he was in middle school (late nineties) when he came to John Jameson's (Ballspinner) center in PA. He said this layout was to enable him to put a lot more rotation on the ball. It certainly works as he can play deeper than anyone in our league. He also has his finger holes very sharp so he doesn't grab it. I was told my a former teammate that he shot back to back 300s when he was 12!

Now, as someone who's always been rotationally challenged, I wonder if my anatomy is what's hindering me. My ring finger is dropped, but not for the purpose of taking revs off the ball, like some power players do (Fagan, for example). My ring finger is quite a bit shorter than my index finger. When my PSO (my coach) drilled my last ball, he commented how unusual this is. What's also strange is my left ring finger is even shorter. Maybe 25 years of bowling stretched the right one a bit.

When I have the funds, I'm going to have him remeasure me, since it's been six years. Do you think it's a good idea to experiment with something like this, although with my short ring finger, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to have it as high as the kid I'm describing. My normal rotation is about 30*, and he'd like to get me up to the range of 45*-60*. Hey, if I can get some help from a drilling, I'm all for it!
I am not sure what you mean when you say his ring finger is above his index finger and how you determned that from looking at the ball. Most people I have measured for a bowling ball have a ring finger that appears to be longer than the index finger, Was a gripping hole drilled for the index finger? The distance measured is from the thumb and as the ring finger is farther away from the thumb the distance will naturally be longer.

It is possible that all the years of bowling has stretched the gripping fingers, it happened to me years ago when I bowled a full roller. Ask your coach/driller to check your style and remeasure your hand. You are long overdue to get your hand remeasured..

Your anatomy is not hindering you. The job of a driller is to analyse your hand and give you the best fit for you.
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Re: Drilling Question

Post by pjape »

JimH wrote:
I am not sure what you mean when you say his ring finger is above his index finger and how you determned that from looking at the ball. Most people I have measured for a bowling ball have a ring finger that appears to be longer than the index finger, Was a gripping hole drilled for the index finger? The distance measured is from the thumb and as the ring finger is farther away from the thumb the distance will naturally be longer.

It is possible that all the years of bowling has stretched the gripping fingers, it happened to me years ago when I bowled a full roller. Ask your coach/driller to check your style and remeasure your hand. You are long overdue to get your hand remeasured..

Your anatomy is not hindering you. The job of a driller is to analyse your hand and give you the best fit for you.
The main way I determined that the ring finger was above the index is that it was purposefully drilled that way by Mo! Trust me, if you saw it, it would be very obvious to you.

If my gripping fingers were stretched, I'm sure it was due to bowling for almost fifteen years with a stretched grip and a ton of reverse. Unfortunately, I don't have any of those balls anymore to look at. Jimmy Tomek remeasured me the end of the summer of 2011, so I know it was right. I know I'm overdue to be remeasured, but until I secure full time work, it has to wait.
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Re: Drilling Question

Post by JohnP »

You're getting your ring finger and your middle finger mixed up. Normally we grip with the middle and ring fingers. -- JohnP
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Re: Drilling Question

Post by TonyPR »

Maybe your friend uses conventional in his middle finger and fingertip in his ring finger, that's the only way I can visualize the ring finger span looking so long. What is the differce in length between your MF and your RF (not the spans but the fingers themselves)?
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Re: Drilling Question

Post by pjape »

TonyPR wrote:Maybe your friend uses conventional in his middle finger and fingertip in his ring finger, that's the only way I can visualize the ring finger span looking so long. What is the differce in length between your MF and your RF (not the spans but the fingers themselves)?
I don't know Tony; I'll have to ask him next week. As best as I can measure, the difference between my finger lengths is 13/16".
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Re: Drilling Question

Post by TonyPR »

A guidance often used is to substract the difference in length of your MF and RF, when measured by placing your hand over a ball, from 5/16:

13/16-5/16=8/16

So it would give a result of 1/2" in difference so scratch this as this rule will not apply to your case, too much of a difference and this rule would say your RF span should be 1/2" longer than your MF and that would probably feel very uncomfortable. If the result would have been anywhere from 0" to 1/8" difference then we could have used it.

By any chance, do you know of any pro shop in your area that has an Innovative Fitting Ball? That way you can try before you drill.
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Re: Drilling Question

Post by pjape »

TonyPR wrote:A guidance often used is to substract the difference in length of your MF and RF, when measured by placing your hand over a ball, from 5/16:

13/16-5/16=8/16

So it would give a result of 1/2" in difference so scratch this as this rule will not apply to your case, too much of a difference and this rule would say your RF span should be 1/2" longer than your MF and that would probably feel very uncomfortable. If the result would have been anywhere from 0" to 1/8" difference then we could have used it.

By any chance, do you know of any pro shop in your area that has an Innovative Fitting Ball? That way you can try before you drill.
Yea, I thought that too, that doing this might be uncomfortable. Or, the worse case scenario, lead to an injury.

My pro shop does has an Innovative Fitting Ball. I have to have him replug the thumbhole of my Rumble to remedy a very small crack that's starting. We can discuss all of this more then. I'll be anxious to hear his thoughts.
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