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Author Topic: tracking over the thumb. Any suggestions why?  (Read 3765 times)

chitown

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tracking over the thumb. Any suggestions why?
« on: September 27, 2008, 12:24:37 PM »
The ball track is about 1/2" from fingers and first two flare rings go over the thumb hole.  What causes this in the release?

I changed my game about a year ago to more of straighter bowler.  Kind of like a Norm Duke roll without his talent of course.  I notice when playing straighter lines and coming up the back of the ball more I tend to have the above ball track.  Why is this?

 

Mike Austin

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Re: tracking over the thumb. Any suggestions why?
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2008, 08:40:15 PM »
quote:
The ball track is about 1/2" from fingers and first two flare rings go over the thumb hole.  What causes this in the release?

I changed my game about a year ago to more of straighter bowler.  Kind of like a Norm Duke roll without his talent of course.  I notice when playing straighter lines and coming up the back of the ball more I tend to have the above ball track.  Why is this?


Chi-

You answered your own question my man!  The change in your release, the more rolly up the back version has you tracking higher.  You just gotta get around it a little more at the bottom of your swing.  There is a very small window between rolling it like you are and spinning it.

Think about spiraling a Nerf football underhanded.  It's the same motion, just a little flick with the hand/wrist.

Just be glad for flaring bowling balls.  If they didn't flare, it would be rolling thunder all the way down the lane!


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chitown

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Re: tracking over the thumb. Any suggestions why?
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2008, 04:57:43 PM »
quote:
quote:
The ball track is about 1/2" from fingers and first two flare rings go over the thumb hole.  What causes this in the release?

I changed my game about a year ago to more of straighter bowler.  Kind of like a Norm Duke roll without his talent of course.  I notice when playing straighter lines and coming up the back of the ball more I tend to have the above ball track.  Why is this?


Chi-

You answered your own question my man!  The change in your release, the more rolly up the back version has you tracking higher.  You just gotta get around it a little more at the bottom of your swing.  There is a very small window between rolling it like you are and spinning it.

Think about spiraling a Nerf football underhanded.  It's the same motion, just a little flick with the hand/wrist.

Just be glad for flaring bowling balls.  If they didn't flare, it would be rolling thunder all the way down the lane!


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Mike My normal ball track is very close to the finger and thumb.  I've always had a high ball track.  I normally have very little ball tilt to begin with.

I am completely opposite of a spinner release.  I guess i'm forced to turn my wrist a little bit to get the flare off the thumb.  I just like the reaction I get playing direct and really coming up the back of the ball more than I normally do.

JohnP

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Re: tracking over the thumb. Any suggestions why?
« Reply #3 on: September 29, 2008, 09:59:24 PM »
If you like the reaction and can stand the thumping noise, don't worry about it.  --  JohnP

Oldskool2

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Re: tracking over the thumb. Any suggestions why?
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2008, 04:25:36 AM »
I don't know for sure, but maybe this could be solved by a different layout / pin position.
When a high tracker has a pin placement that is to low, the track will hit the finger holes. It could be that your problem has a similar cause.

I'm not experienced at this. Maybe professional drillers, like Mike Austin, can explain some more about this.

Edited on 9/30/2008 4:27 AM

azus

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Re: tracking over the thumb. Any suggestions why?
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2008, 05:13:55 AM »
If you have a layout where the pin is under the fingerline, and/or a ball with a weaker core, you risk to track over the thumb.
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chitown

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Re: tracking over the thumb. Any suggestions why?
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2008, 09:43:40 AM »
quote:
If you like the reaction and can stand the thumping noise, don't worry about it.  --  JohnP


John, I don't here the ball thump down the lane like one would expect.

Now I do here my spare ball thump down the lane.  However, I really come up the back of the ball on spares.

I also don't notice any bad ball effects from the track flare hitting the thumb hole.

I have a ball in my closet that has the middle finger span 1/16th of an inch longer than the ring finger.  I'm going to try my new release on that ball and see if that xtra length brings the flare off the thumb.

My current span has both the ring and middle fingers the same length.

chitown

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Re: tracking over the thumb. Any suggestions why?
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2008, 09:50:26 AM »
quote:
I don't know for sure, but maybe this could be solved by a different layout / pin position.
When a high tracker has a pin placement that is to low, the track will hit the finger holes. It could be that your problem has a similar cause.

I'm not experienced at this. Maybe professional drillers, like Mike Austin, can explain some more about this.

Edited on 9/30/2008 4:27 AM


I've always had a high ball track and because of this I never use pin down layouts.  In fact, 95 percent of all my equipment is drilled with the pin above the bridge 5.5" from my pap.

I'm getting a new ball next week (t-road solid) and i'm thinking of using a stronger pin placement (pin next to ring but high which would be 4.5" from my pap).  The stronger layout may indeed pull the track off the thumb.

I spent a lot of time changing my A-game release.  After watching Norm Duke and WRW I decided a year ago to change to a more direct bowler for my A-game.  I have had some great results using this more direct approach.  Very little axis rotation.  Rich AKA Duke Harding on this site has seen how well the new approach to my A-game has worked.  I found out that my accuracy is really good using this release and more direct play.  Keep in mind I bowl on very tough patterns through out my league season and then high rev style is too hard for ME to be as accurate as I am playing direct.

chitown

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Re: tracking over the thumb. Any suggestions why?
« Reply #8 on: September 30, 2008, 09:52:15 AM »
quote:
If you have a layout where the pin is under the fingerline, and/or a ball with a weaker core, you risk to track over the thumb.
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( . .)
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I learned that a long time ago.  The only bowling balls that don't cause me to track over the middle finger while using a low pin position are strong asymmetrical balls.

I never use low pin positions.  I have no problem getting a ball to roll early.