but what does a "perfect" fit feel like or look like.

Obviously thumbs are attached to one side of the hand, but typical drillings place the thumb hole in between the fingerholes.  Keeping this fact in mind when I drilled my last ball, I drilled my thumbhole first, finished it off completely, and then stuck my thumb in the ball.  I then layed my palm flat onto the ball and adjusted my hand until the center line intersected with the gap between my fingers. (They weren't parallel, I'd estimate my fingers were offset about 30 degrees).  I then marked the ball at the creases on both sides of my fingers.  I double-checked the measurements and span and drilled the fingerholes.  This resulted in the hole for my ringfinger being "higher" than the hole for my middle finger, if viewing the ball with the centerline perfectly vertical.

I threw the ball and it was okay, but didn't seem to come off my hand as well as I had hoped.  I'm still having the greatest success with spans I intentionally cut about a quater of an inch shorter than my baseline ball (an Icon that was professionally drilled at a respectable shop about 8 months ago).

I have plenty of ball plug, so I figured I'd try to dink around some more...but I'd really like to know what I should be shooting for.

So again, what's a great fit feel like?

Edited on 3/25/2009 4:46 AM

I feel the ball in the palm of my hand.

I don't feel the finger holes, or thumb hole.

When my swing comes FWD, thumb comes out, I feel the palm of my hand, and the fingers a little...and the ball turning, as I reach through the shot.

Somehow, I should be a higher average bowler than I am...

Considering I'm on the easy side.
--------------------
Duke Harding


"Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room." -- Winston Churchill

Morning leftyinsnelville!

I second the the person who says you don't feel it at all, here is my story:

I have been bowling for about 7 years and my scoring had pretty much plateau'd for a year or so in early 2008. Mid way through last year an opportunity came along to have a clinic with Ron Hatfield USBC Gold Level Coach and I jumped at the chance. They had all the mapping software and a camera that was able to take shots at 100 per second and it was clear to Ron that there was quite a lot of grabbing going on in my swing.

Outside of the Clinic my ball driller and I worked on this and found that my thumb hole was massive in comparison to the size of my thumb, I didn't use tape to get a good fit with my thumb no wonder I was grabbing the ball, which caused me to pull a percentage of my shots. We worked with the tape until we found something that was comfortable and stopped me grabbing the ball and then he made a mould.

I have the moulded slug for all my equpiment now and my game has come on no-end since. I no longer have wrist pain after bowling and have a much more consistent look and feel on the lanes. This is so much so that I can now concentrate on improving the other area's of my game.

Hope this helps.

Joneseye

The "perfect grip" is, first of all, one that doesn't hurt the bowler's hand at all.  No joint pain, no raw spots or blisters, but small callouses are OK.  Note here that I'm talking about "normal" bowlers, not the pros that bowl hundreds of games each week - that amount of friction is always going to cause occasional problems.  Secondly, the "perfect grip" is one that the bowler is not even aware of, because he can swing the ball without any feeling of losing it but when he's ready to release, it comes off his hand with no hanging or grabbing.  That's about all you can ask for from a grip.  --  JohnP