Found out what the problem was. My long span and the reverse needed to help my thumb out was making me grip the ball in order to hang onto it. And in gripping it, my thumb was sticking, and in trying to get my thumb out, I was relaxing my fingers, and in relaxing my fingers, I had a really poor, inconsistent release. And now when I shortened the span, I was still doing the same thing. Went practicing today, relaxed my thumb, and tightened my fingers back up. Found I was a lot more consistent, and most importantly everything felt smooth. I was able to keep my wrist cupped, my elbow fairly straight, and both without pain. My wrist only popped once in 9 games, which is some sort of record for me. I was even able to apply it to my spares and found the more pinpoint accuracy that I used to have. On all my single pins left or right side, I used to be around 9 out of 10, and on 10 pins I was nearly perfect last year. This summer I haven't been able to throw straight at 4's and 7's because I'd miss them almost as much as I'd make them. And nothing's more frustrating than leaving 7 10 pins in a game and only picking up 4 or 5 of them. I have a free armswing, and even though my scores were only up because of an extreme wall (practiced at a different house than I usually do today), the bad shots were easier to take because everything is feeling great. I'm just so happy that everything's back to feeling comfortable that if I catch myself before I fall into my habit of gripping the ball, I ought to be on the right track. Now if I can just fix the mismatched spans on my equipment . . .
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I know Kung Fu!
I am the one, the one that will bring balance. All the pins shall be destroyed!
