Re entry and a question

[Double C]

Greetings to all. 5' 4",66 yr. young re entry bowler. Trying to figure it all out. Was only a 3  times a year rec bowler. Just kind of get up there and chuck it kind of guy. Now, it has become my latest passion. Something I can do with my wife.
Have a Dv8 Outcast, and a White dot for my spare ball. Fingertip. Currently struggling with an early release. But I think I may have figured it out. Will find out tomorrow at my practice session.
The one thing that's got me bugged..is on the downswing (gravity at work),when the ball reaches the bottom, am I supposed to keep swinging it? I realize that as the ball drops and goes backwards,I'm moving forward..making my swing arc longer?
I see all these videos of guys with these near vertical backswings...no way gravity is doing that.
Someone told me...ball on a string. If true, no arm muscle is required on either back, or forward to release? If so...then I don't have much of a swing. It would be very short.
Any help would be appreciated.

[JOE FALCO]

Welcome to the site.
I am not the one to answer your question .. not that good .. just thought I'd tell you .. that experts on this system (and there are a lot) will ask you to take a video of your bowling and show it before they can give an opinion.

Wish you luck!

[MI 2 AZ]

Hi, welcome to the site.

You're about the same age as I am and when I started bowling fifty years ago, we were taught not to use any muscle in the arm swing, to let gravity do the work which was fine back then.  Nowadays, I believe they are using some muscle in their arm swing.  Not an expert on this, as I still use the muscle-free swing, but here are some links that may be of help to you while you wait for a coach to answer your question.

https://www.bowlingthismonth.com/bowling-tips/release-timing/

http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/timing-on-the-approach

http://www.bowl.com/Coaching/Coaching_Features/Fundamental/

[MI 2 AZ]

I guess I could add that for me, using a relatively muscle free swing, the height of the ball at the start of the pushaway, the direction of the pushaway and the amount of my body tilt helps to determine the height of my backswing.  If I hold the ball high and in my pushaway, use the up and over the bar method, that will get the ball higher in my backswing.  If I hold the ball slightly lower than my waist and just drop the ball into my swing, my backswing will be shorter.  Adjusting the tilt of my body will add or subtract to those results.   You have to match the swing with your feet (speed).   When my back was hurt and I was walking slower and could not bend as much, I had to adjust the swing to match.