I've played a little bit with lateral pitches, mostly left.  I'm right handed.  The pitch before was 0 and I had some rub on the right side of my thumb(with it pointing up).  I went straight to 3/8 left for the heck of it.  Ever since then, it seems like my thumb wants to hang a little bit at the top of the hole on the right side of my thumb(and a little towards the front).  Even at 0 and 1/8 right.  I mostly only notice this when I slide my thumb in and out slowly, but occasionally I hang in the ball and that's definitely the spot where it's happening.  I can't seem to get past this.  

For what it's worth, my thumb looks like it wants to come out of the hole in a way that indicates I need right pitch(the tip of the thumb is pointing more towards the right).  At 1/8 right, I seem to rub on both sides and it's killing me, but that may be a problem more with the oval than the pitch.  That may even be the case with my hang/rub near the top of the hole.  I have a ball that's 1/8 left with a more defined oval, I like that the best but there's still a tiny bit of rub/hang on that.

Any advice or insight on this would be nice.

Gazoo, thanks for the reply.  Just want to make sure I make this clear in case you misunderstood.  The only thing I'm finding wrong with the 1/8 left as far as feel goes, is a little bit of rub/hang near the TOP of the hole, on the right side of my thumb like I was saying.  If I pitched more left, wouldn't that make the problem worse?  It's kind of hard for me to explain but this is what I meant when I said my thumb looks like it wants to exit as if I need right pitch(could just be an illusion though).  If I pitched more left, my thumb would have an even harder time clearing the top of the hole.  Does this make sense?  

I mentioned that this seems to be an issue with any pitch so I thought there might be a drilling technique to avoid this with the correct pitch.  I also said the 1/8 left hole was more ovaled, which I like.  My 1/8 right appears more round and not as comfortable.  I can take pics of these and maybe even a video of how my thumb tries to exit the hole, at request.  I've been told by someone else that the more ovaled hole looks awkward and not right.

Thanks, just wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy lol.  I was also hoping JohnP would chime in, maybe when he's bored at his shop lol.

JohnP, thanks for the input.  When you say to bevel the hang area, do you suggest to use the bevel knife or sander?  The spot is not at the edge of the hole, it's about 1/4" down the hole if I had to guess, and I'm not sure if the knife can be used there.  My driller uses the sander a lot and I feel that's what gets me in trouble most of the time.  On the more oval hole I was talking about, he didn't use it as much(just a view hits with it for beveling and good measure), but did more cuts I think.  As far as pitches, does it sound to you like I should go with the 1/8 left(or possibly 0)?

I heard from someone else that Ron Clifton likes what you said is another option, drilling a round hole and using tape.  That might be a last resort type of option for me to try but thanks for pointing that out.

Coincidentally, the thumb hole I like best(1/8 left and ovaled) is drilled straight into the ball, the 1/8 right is a thumb slug.  I hope I don't just happen to like the feel of no slug better as well, because I possibly might want to exacticate and make molds of a thumb hole that I really like when I find it.

Edited on 5/31/2009 8:50 PM

To be honest I don't think I really hang in the ball due to something with the fit.  If I hang I more than likely grabbed it or tensed up at the bottom, or possibly turned early.  I'm just now trying to relax my hand earlier because I normally hang onto the ball until the ball is at my ankle, which is a little late considering that's where the release should start happening I believe.  If I relax a little bit before, I seem to have a much better release in my opinion.  At least, that's what I was doing with the ball I just had redrilled to 1/8 right.  It's tighter on the sides though.

So what I'm having problems with I think, as long as I'm not doing any of the aforementioned things wrong, is not so much hanging(although putting my thumb in and out gives that impression) but just rubbing.  After a certain amount of games, probably not more than 3-4, my thumb is irritated and after I'm done it's pretty tender.  It really just seems to be impossible to get away from all the kinds of things that a ball can do to your thumb.  FWIW, I have 1/4 forward in my thumb hole, not sure if vertical pitches have any bearing on rubbing, but figured I'd mention that since my rub spot is a bit towards the front of the thumb(as opposed to directly on the side) right around the crease area.

I took a video of what my thumb is doing when I insert it and take it out, would you like me to upload and post it?

Edited on 5/31/2009 9:44 PM

I would agree if I wasn't in danger of rubbing/hanging near the top of the hole.  Those suggestions are only valid if one side of your thumb is rubbing more at the bottom, I believe.  You said I could use a touch more left, I'm curious from what pitch you're referring.  If you were talking about 1/8 right I might agree since the rubbing got worse with that but like I said that may just be because the sides are a little tight.

I did the coke bottle test but used my forearm and my thumb points to my middle finger, really close to the center of it but slightly closer to the index than the ring.  For reference, my fingers and thumb didn't meet, there was some space as I thought that was the idea of the test.