Hey...I've been fooling around and spoofing on many of these posts on forward reverse thumb pitch for awhile.
Maybe it is time to get serious! You seem like a nice guy and a fellow lefty ....why don't I share some thoughts that would be helpful and serious.
The fact of the matter is that for league shots being a no thumber is best. We all love their roll it creates so much area on a league but we don't always admire their accuracy(especially on this site).
The thing we note is the apparent large separation between thumb fingers release gives lots of revs. Many of our house kings also have the same thing....a release where the thumb gets out so far before the fingers and then that long time that the ball stays on the fingers creating revs, ideally 45 degree side roll, and the resultant area.
One of the really smart guys on this site (BullRed) used to be his name used to talk about a combination of pitches for a righty like 5/16 reverse and 5 /16 right that would seem to make one have a release that looked similar to a no thumber. The reverse gets the thumb out quicker the lateral right keeps the thumb in longer and wraps the hand more around the ball to create a roll similar to no thumber.
For a span of 4 1/4 the normal forward reverse is 0. For 4 1/2 the normal reverse is 1/8 For 4 3/4 the average reverse is 1/4.
You have been put into so much reverse for a probable reason by your driller,, either a stiff or long thumb or sticky thumb(wet). Moving gradually forward is not a goal in itself but is a goal if one is dropping, or if one is knuckling then a slight move forward is called for.
BUT the goal of a proper release is to create the earliest thumb release and the greatest separation without the above conditions that create bad roll or thumb injury problems.
I know of many a 215 or 220 average bowler who in seeking to get better on sport and difficult conditions have gone to thumb lateral out pitches and much less reverse or even forward for the thumb. The result has often been a decrease in separation between thumb and fingers and less getting the hand around the ball and decreased axis rotation.
This can work on sport conditions where one goes straight up the boards and needs to play a very confined area of the lane. However these same setups often lower league averages or freeze improvement on league and raise the sport average.
One approach I really liked of one of our former quite regular posters(Jim Ensminger) I believe(a phenomenal league and tournament bowler)....was to have two sets of balls. Balls with lateral under and a bunch of reverse for league and then another set of balls with less lateral under and less reverse for tournaments where less area and less hook was sought!
I thought that was a very intelligent approach.
Hope these ideas have some use for you.
REgards,
Luckylefty
It takes Courage to have Faith, and Faith to have Courage.
James M. McCurley, New Orleans, Louisiana
Edited by LuckyLefty on 1/11/2012 at 10:29 PM