Author Topic: To hit it or to roll it, that is the question. (Read 2297 times)

Ragnar · « **on:** March 02, 2005, 12:46:30 AM »

Early this year my driller was watching me bowl one night and made a comment about how much I hit up on the ball at the bottom. That prompted me to work on rolling the ball off my hand, rather than hitting it. It's been 4 or 5 months now and I'm beginning to feel that, at least sometimes, I'm actually doing it. How long did it take you to get away from hitting the ball and letting it just roll out of your hand? It's amazing to me that on those shots that I do just roll I seem to get at least as many revs as I do hitting it while having a much more controlled shot, ie, less reaction, fewer boards covered, more accurate, but at least as much "hit" as ever. For example, lately I have been having major problems controlling the back ends (lots of oil in the front 40 feet, double stripped on the back). Last night I noticed that on the shots where I hit the ball it went left much harder on the back than when I just rolled it; but when I hit the hole I had better pin reaction when I rolled it. At first I couldn't really feel the difference, but now I can tell immediately, even before the ball is out of my hand, if I've thrown it the way I want to.
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"To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a wilderness, they call it peace." (Tacitus)

janderson · « **Reply #16 on:** March 04, 2005, 02:29:41 PM »

quote:
Not to throw cold water on this debate, but one thing sticks out that I have to mention....
If you get an avg 20 rpm more with a softer release, and a bowling ball takes 3 seconds to get down the lane, the softer release provided 1 rev! Although I can agree in principle with the reasons, I just don't see the power in that statistic.....
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Signature? I don't need no stinking signature...

Good point, Lefty50. At the same time, I found the significance is that "softer" release doesn't produce less revs and the "softer" release is easier for me (and many others) to consistently repeat. It is also much less wear-and-tear on the body, making it easier to produce the same revs during a 10- or 12-game tournament block.

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Kill the back row (or maybe this should read "make your spares, dummy")

Author Topic: To hit it or to roll it, that is the question. (Read 2297 times)

Ragnar

To hit it or to roll it, that is the question.

janderson

Re: To hit it or to roll it, that is the question.