Author Topic: One piece textured tape back of thumbhole (fixes problem, but why?) (Read 9372 times)

Neptune66 · « **on:** January 13, 2012, 01:44:34 AM »

The problem:

Once or twice a year I am fequently dropping the ball over an extended period of time and games. Not a total drop, but just before am ready to put some lift on it, its slipping. Needless to say, for someone with not much "hand" to begin with, this completely messes me up.

Is PARTLY a drilling issue as the pro I used last year made a few imperfect copies of what (to me) was my perfect drilling on another ball. But even after having that corrected, still occasionally dropping those and even was dropping balls that HAVE the "perfect" drilling. --- The reason the copies were imperfect was because the span was slightly off and I had less forward pitch than desired (than source ball).

The "solution" that I stumbled onto in desperation was to put a single piece of the white (textured) bowler's tape at the back of the thumbhole. This provided just enough friction to help me maintain control of the ball throughout the delivery. And was not because the hole was smaller, because when I do this I actually remove two pieces from the front and add only one to the rear of the hole.

It works spectacularly, but I would like to know why. Maybe a slight change in pitch (more forward), but with just one piece of tape it must be very minimal, yes? And the other factor is that generally eventually ---one or two outings later--- I am having trouble hanging in the ball and thus I reverse the process and the fit is great and I wonder why I ever put the tape at the back of the hole.

Am very familiar with my thumb changing sizes, but can the texture at the back of the thumb change that drastically from outing to outing? It's as if the back of y thumb is too smooth to provide even the slightest friction, and then ...days or weeks later it's back to normal.

Anyway... just curious if anyone has either experienced the same thing and/or knows why the tape at the back works ----and then eventually needs to be removed.

I do not want to change the mainstream drilling on most of my equipment at this time.

Thanks in advance for any ideas or feedback.

Edited by Neptune66 on 1/13/2012 at 10:46 AM

Russell · « **Reply #1 on:** January 13, 2012, 09:55:36 AM »

Glad you were able to solve your problems, things like that can be maddening. The tape isn't changing the pitch of the hole, but as you hypothesized, giving enough texture for you to not break grip too early. Textured tape is sensitive to the oil on your skin, and after a few games you can begin to see it change texture and get "slick". This is why it has to be changed every few games, well at least the top piece needs to be removed.

Little known fact: In Russian "Hope" and "Change" translate to "Tax" and "Spend"

scotts33 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 13, 2012, 10:02:00 AM »

IMo if you have more than one piece in the front you are changing span.

Scott

Neptune66 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 13, 2012, 10:11:06 AM »

I do realize tape in the front affects span, but I have all the balls drilled with the expectation of having 2-3 pieces of tape in the ball normally. Occasionally down to 1 piece in the summer, but my baseline for the span is with the tape in. (I think! ---presuming my driller remembers this)

kidlost2000 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 13, 2012, 10:37:07 AM »

Do you use a thumb slug or thumb insert? After drilling and then light sanding, depending on what grit sand paper used can make the thumb hole as smooth as glass.

I always have a few pieces of tape at the back of the ball for a good fit, but occasionaly the front can be too slick and besides breathing hot air into the thumb for a tacky feel my other solution was using a rougher grit of sand paper and lightly going over the front of the thumb to eliminate the glass smooth texture of the thumb slug to get a more gritty texture that helps me keep the ball on my thumb longer as desired.

"1 of 1."

bowlingnut18 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 13, 2012, 11:48:28 AM »

This may or not be the case for you, but I am giving my insight on the use of tape. For me personally, tape is now a trained thing for my bowling setup. I actually have a setup with my ball in which I take one piece of tape and cut it in half, stick the rounded piece on top of the rectangular piece and place this in my thumb hole so that the top of the arc on the rounded section will be hitting my thumb about 1/2 way up. This for me is about the area where the top of my thumb pad separates from the ball, therefore I am making up some of the gap as well as giving me a reference point for where my thumb should be laying. I have very flexible thumbs, I can lay my thumb perfectly flat down into my palm, it would go further if it wasn't for the meat of my palm, so my thumb in the ball tends to stay flat and flare back at the last joint (hitch hikers thumb). If I need a piece of tape in my ball, I usually add 1/2 a piece to the bottom in order to make up the difference of adding a piece to the rest of my thumb.

For me, tape is used as a way to reference my hand as well as give me some texture to fell I'm in the right places on the ball, its not unusual if I am practice bowing, to add some tape in my grip area on the balls surface to instill that same thing by keeping my hand at the right points of the ball. Maybe this is another reason for you, the tape tricks your mind into feeling the texture and gives a level of confidence to make everything work right.

Neptune66 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 13, 2012, 05:19:25 PM »

I agree that confidence has a lot to do with it. The actual belief that the ball will stay in place on my thumb and not shift or slip before I'm ready to finish the delivery is extremely important to me. The tape at the back, does this in a very minor, subtle way, and then I relax and throw a better ball overall.

Until I put the tape there, I alternately drop the ball, then hold on to it too long, or throw to fast, etc... trying to compensate. In short... without the tape at the back (on certain days) I become very erratic.

Unfortunately...as good as the tape (at the back of the thumb hole) works for me, I tend to resist or overlook that solution until I'm bowlng so horribly that I'm desperate.

JohnP · « **Reply #7 on:** January 14, 2012, 05:23:49 PM »

Friction, you have to have friction to hold a bowling ball. If the thumb hole is too slick you'll either drop it or grab it. Have you ever tried putting the piece of white tape in the front of the hole, that's where I use mine? Yes, it increases the span by maybe 1/64", so what. -- JohnP

Neptune66 · « **Reply #8 on:** November 16, 2012, 01:25:34 AM »

A knee surgery and almost a full year later and am having the same problem.... and same "solution" (white, textured tape at the back of the thumbhole).

I was "away" from bowling from end of April till September due to my knee surgery (not replacement, but not just meniscus ....cartilage repair and bone shaving included), and although I'd say it's at about 90%, I am still reluctant to bend it when delivering the ball.

So, I know, for a fact that part of the "dropsies" are because of the minimal knee bending. When I conciously bend it more, the dropping diminishes substantially.
And a few days ago (before realizing that), was going to plug 3 balls and have them put back to older drilling with slightly shorter ring finger span. Ended up aborting that idea after bowling several games with my older drilling.

Pros: No drops
Cons: No revs (even less than my usual minmal amount)

Retrieved the balls from the driller unchanged, and bowled bad scores last night, but had no dropping issues (and the balls used had the longer ring finger that I blamed for them).

Bowled in my other league tonight and again with the dropping! Was driving me nutz. Added tape (in front of the thumbhole), removed tape, etc.... till finally put a piece of white textured tape at the backl of the thumbhole and all of a sudden I'm throwing 5 or 6 strikes in a row. And feel like I have control of the ball again.

Still can't quite figure out whether the thumbhole has a slight pitch problem or if it's just that the back of it is too slick as has been suggested here.

Leaving the tape at the back is not a problem. I just can't believe that 's having such an effect on my delivery.

Author Topic: One piece textured tape back of thumbhole (fixes problem, but why?) (Read 9372 times)

Neptune66

One piece textured tape back of thumbhole (fixes problem, but why?)

Russell

Re: One piece textured tape back of thumbhole (fixes problem, but why?)

scotts33

Re: One piece textured tape back of thumbhole (fixes problem, but why?)

Neptune66

Re: One piece textured tape back of thumbhole (fixes problem, but why?)

kidlost2000

Re: One piece textured tape back of thumbhole (fixes problem, but why?)

bowlingnut18

Re: One piece textured tape back of thumbhole (fixes problem, but why?)

Neptune66

Re: One piece textured tape back of thumbhole (fixes problem, but why?)

JohnP

Re: One piece textured tape back of thumbhole (fixes problem, but why?)

Neptune66

Re: One piece textured tape back of thumbhole (fixes problem, but why?)