pressure your fingers/thumbs towards the rear of their respective holes.

I had similar problems... just keep your hand behind the ball and open and pull it upwards like PDW does.

No need to do any finger-pulling... the upwards movement of your hand is more consistendly and gives you as much revs as needed... it is all a matter of timing.
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"Have fun and bowl well!" - Grayson

XXXL
Tsunami
Machine NIB
H2O (on the way)
Coblat Bomb p (on the way)



and by the way... I am a "Fritz" a "Jerry"... I am from Germany! (And please don't call me Kraut! Cause then I call you Dumbarse)

last but not least... da hunny bunny
(\ /)
(. .)
c(')(')

Not sure what you mean Buzzhead "Other than that just don't hit it....." ??

Good tip on picking a spot on the ceiling...I will try that one out soon...

Glad you mentioned that Jeremy...I am getting a Pain from AllStarbowing_Joe and my plan is to have it punched up with no inserts to see if that makes a difference.  Thanks for the tip.

I went through a similar problem about a month ago.  A few friends came up to me and told me that I was squeezing from the word go.  I was literally squeezing the ball before I started my arm swing.  I think that I was subconsciously afraid of dropping the ball.  I threw a few extra pieces of tape in the ball and dropped my insert sizes down a notch and practiced trying to keep my hand as relaxed as possible.  This allowed me to get the ball of my hand clean.  Also, I tried to remember to "pop" out of the ball at the point of release with my hand wide open towards the ceiling (similar to that of PDW).  Worked for me, hopefully you will have the same success.

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Why does everyone try to make it harder than it really is?  Overthinking makes the game that much more difficult.

I have been going through this myself.  I now have developed a more relaxed and smoother release.  As stated in other replies, make sure that the ball fits your hand well enough so that you don't "feel" like you need to squeeze it to hang on.  Not just the thumb fit but the pitches must be right for you.  I am not very flexible so I keep my thumb pitches a little forward, 1/8 - 3/16, and also 0 - 1/8 palm.  This lets me be more relaxed in my swing and then I can let the ball come off my hand more naturally rather than feeling like I am going to drop the ball, which makes me hang on and then try to make the release happen, which usually caused me to hit up on the ball, or grab it at the release point.  Good fit and relaxed grip allow for a relaxed swing and then trust the release and watch the ball go a little longer but then make its turn to the pocket with great roll and therefore pin action.  I'm loving it this way now, less stress on my body too.

Majik,

Make sure you get some good side shots of your approach. A lot of release problems are more timing related than ball related. Of course, check your fit to eliminate that worry.

Once you see yourself on tape, you will be very SURPRISED at what you look like.