(takes me awhile to get to the point, but I feel the background is important)

Recently I was having trouble getting the fit of a newly purchased [used] ball to match an existing ball's drilling. Seemed ok except for thumbhole being too tight. Went back and instead of a minor tweak, I discovered the hole was much larger than desired the next time I was practicing (at a  different house).

Went to the pro-shop there in frustration and it was determined the ball had 1/8 inch forward pitch vs zero that the original ball had. But... I decided to try it with forward pitch so I asked the driller to plug the hole and drill it a smidgen smaller, but leave the pitch unchanged. And at first... I liked it and felt the ball was staying on my hand longer without being too snug. liked it so much I decided to convert another 3 balls over to the new drilling.

First one was a success, but the next two were a disaster. Brought those two to league and was dropping them or nearly dropping them all night. Added a ton of tape and didnt matter...still had the dropsy's. Brought the balls to THAT house's driller and he said that the thumbholes were drilled with reverse pitch, not forward pitch.  I wa sjust going to return them to original drilling, but he looked at how I was putting my hand in the ball and at no charge to me offered to measure me from scratch, plug and drill one of my balls and have me evaluate the fit.

At first I liked THAT fit too, and to finally get to the point, he showed me that I wasn't putting my fingers all the way to the first joint. I had been doing this since switching from inserts to no inserts a couple of years ago, and I admit the balls he "converted" from "finger pad" grip to finger joint grip ARE comfortable, and I have more control --- at leats I think I do.

But.... I am also more revolutions challenged than I have ever been (I always was, but not so much over last 2 years), and the balls are acting like plastic balls and coming into the pocket flat. Hardly any kind of angle.

I'm pretty convinced I want to return to my old style of inserting my fingers ALMOST to the first joint, but not quite. It feels normal to me, and I throw the ball with much more authority that way. Not just on the strike balls, but on spares as well.

Does anyone else out there grip the ball this way? And even if you don't, is there anything fundamentally wrong with this method?  

The driller will do whatever I ask him to. He has been VERY understanding while I have oscillated back and forth, and still thinks I should try other things before going back to my old fitting, but I am stronly leaning toward returning everything to the old style fit.

Bowled 17 games today split between two balls that are identical (same actual ball) except for the drilling. And there was no question that the old fit felt better to me. I had SOME success with the new grip too, but at this point it almost feels like a conventional drilling would to someone who is accustomed to a fingertip grip.

Doubt I'll have time to comment/reply to all responses, but interested in ALL feedback ----even if you wish to tell me I'm nutz to want to go back to my prevous fitting.



Edited on 3/8/2009 2:50 PM

I use like a reverse Sarge Easter Grip on my equipment, with my middle finger going in to the first joint, and the ring finger only going in to the pads. I feel like I can get a few more revs that way.

The reason I asked about the thumb is because that's usually the source of rev problems.  The thumb needs to be secure so that you aren't gripping the ball during the swing, and it needs to come out clean at release so that the fingers can do their job.  A stretched span plus a loose thumbhole results in squeezing, and that's why wedging the fingers in probably feels better, because the ball is more secure.  What is your span now?  It's possible that you need some forward pitch in the thumb.

I wouldn't go messing with sarge easter, or dropped ring or middle, just get your span measured for a relaxed or comfortable fit.  I shortened my span about 1/4" a few years ago, went from 1/4" reverse to 0 in my thumb, and got a tighter fit on it and I picked up a bunch of revs.
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-Clint

I posted some similar issues on this subject that I already talked about. I'm 100% sure now I don't want to get to the first joint. Actually I could do this if I used grips but since I hate grips it has made my finger joints very painful over months so started to put the tips of the fingers back in the ball like I used to and problem solved. Now I know in the future to get my new balls drilled with the holes smaller because this is how this problem for me first started.

I also tried things like reverse pitches in my fingers which you may want to try. I personally did not like it at all. I did go to a slight forward in my thumb...I think 1/8 and I do think it helps me stay in the ball longer and not have to squeeze my thumb as much even though I have a snug thumb hole.

You might benefit from something like Magic Carpet in your thumbhole.  It's designed to take up the "slack", so that shrinking or swelling of the thumb doesn't change the feel of the hole.  Gives a nice clean release too.  www.bowl4fun.com
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-Clint