Thank you. Been preaching this to our high school kids for years but never hear anyone else talk about it. They talk about what NOT to do (grabbing it), but not so much what to do. Thank you for watching and for the comment.

Absolutely. The ball SHOULD feel a bit lighter, thus easier to manipulate the way you want. Takes practice and getting used to, but it works. Glad we could be some help, and good luck!

That's awesome. So glad we could help.

Thank you. I am glad this worked for you.

Thank you for watching and for the comment.

Thank you for subscribing and for watching. Glad it is hitting home for some.

Thanks

We have several videos, and more to come. Appreciate you watching.

Thank you for watching. Hope you find this helpful.

Thank you.

Thank you. Give me an update on how it goes. I am always interested to hear the results.

I'll be trying this as well.

Sounds good. The pinky won't have much tension as some even tuck it, but I can talk about pros and cons of fixing it, and tension on index finger. Thanks for the idea.

I’m sorry there was a question in there. Just clarifying.

Great question. The fingers act as a stop when you press your thumb inward in the ball, and they act as a pivot point when you pull back to cup your wrist. You aren't really pressing your fingers any harder than just keeping the ball still. For me, personally, the finger holes can be large. Some like a snug fit there also (and many use the vacu-grips), but I really just want the bottom of the finger holes to be a ledge for my finger to rest on. I want my fingers somewhat loose thru the whole swing until you release the thumb and lift with your fingers. When you pull back to cup your wrist, you are still pressing the base of your thumb on the inside of the ball, so the fingers are really just there to keep the ball from rotating. You don't really want to lift with the fingers or put much pressure on the fingers at this point. That gets you back into a "squeeze." I like to put my thumb in and set up. Then, I wiggle my fingers to promote a "loose" feel, and I want the majority of the pressure to be on the thumb. The main goal is to have the ball feel lighter because of the good fit. If you "curl" using your hand and fingers, you can feel how heavy the ball is. Work on pulling the thumb back and adjusting the feel of your fingers until you feel like the ball feels lighter and easy to maneuver. Another way to think about the pressure you use, I like to think of it as "strong thumb, loose fingers" thru most of the swing, and then as you start the release, you swap that to "Loose thumb, strong fingers." Going from strong thumb to loose is going from holding onto the ball to releasing the ball. Going from loose fingers to strong fingers is going from relaxed swing to lifting with power and creating revs. I know this might be confusing as it's hard to explain by text, but hopefully you get enough out of this to help you out. Let me know how that goes or if you need further clarification.

Please don’t misinterpret my question. My bowling release is terrible this is the best information I’ve received since taking up this game a year ago. I was just wondering on the fingers thank you thank you best gomer Pyle impression.

@@pcolesjr Absolutely always here to help. I love putting out these videos because we get questions from all levels, and we love helping anyone improve their game. I hope this leads to some success for you.

In the first part of the video, you need to make sure the fit is right and that you are hinging where the thumb meets the hand, not at the middle knuckle. If you do this and the fit is right, and you can pick up the ball with the thumb only like I show early, then the ball only comes off the thumb when you relax it. This is why I can swing the ball with just my thumb in the ball. So when you pull it back, you are pressing in with the thumb, and the ball won't release. You will get that cup and be able to swing your arm with the ball staying in your hand. As you start the down swing and start to rotate your thumb, that is when you will relax the thumb to let the ball start to come off your hand at the right time, and at the same time, lift with your fingers. I hope that makes sense.

Thanks for the comments. On the location of the holes, usually the pro shop will draw a center line, and the thumb is centered on the line, and the line splits the fingers. However, I think it depends on thumb flexibility. If you look at the palm of your hand, your thumb is not directly below those two fingers. With a traditional layout, the base of your palm will be off the ball. I don't like this, and I have arthritis and needed to figure out how to get it more in my palm. My pro shop draws the center line, but then offsets my thumb hole. Additionally, because my thumb is not flexible, I have a lot of left pitch. This all puts the ball more in my palm. This isn't normal, but I think way more people should try it. I hope this all makes sense.

YES! It's amazing how much of a difference that feel in the thumb makes. It can really relax the hand and gain power. And YES, it's not only Sarge Easter, but what we call Nanu Nanu Sarge Easter (meaning the ring finger is not only conventional, it's also spread away from the middle finger a little like the Mork & Mindy Nanu Nanu handshake). In addition to all that, my thumb is shifted left and has quite a left pitch. All of this was done thru experimentation with my PSO to help alleviate arthritis pain in my index finger. I have arthritis in my wrist also, but the index finger was unbearable, and with the "V" created from the middle finger to the index finger, too much weight was distributed to the index finger causing pain. All of these changes together help set the ball more into my palm, and redistribute the weight more between the middle finger and the ring finger. It has almost completely removed the pain in that finger, and I don't feel like I've lost ANYTHING in my power or rev rate, so well worth it. I'll probably do a video on that at some point. Thanks for watching!

I assume there is no thumb in the glove. If not, the fit lesson is the same. The only change is that if it is a brace and has a firm backing to hold your wrist, you won't be able to uncup at the release. You will stay in a cupped or neutral position the whole way. With these, it is important to not roll your hand over. These gloves help get revs for those with a weaker wrist who need a little help, but will limit your ability to get a ton of revs, which is okay. Usually players who require these braces I suggest trying to keep your hand at about 45 degrees, not behind or beside the ball. You still want to use a flat thumb to hold the ball, and relax the thumb and strengthen the fingers right at release to get the ball to roll off the hand. If your hand is positioned at 45 degrees or so, it should have correct ball roll. You can increase revs a little even with a brace by going from behind the ball and rotating to 45, but don't roll it over. Watch Shannon Okeefe videos. She uses a brace and does this better than anyone. Note that if you use a brace for support, you MIGHT NOT be using the thumb to pull back and cup the wrist. I would suggest trying that to see if it eliminates the need for the brace, but if you need the brace, then follow above. I hope this helps.

Question is 45 degrees is about 11oclock when your thumb exit

​@@williemorrison5006about. If 12 o'clock is forward and 9 is 90 degrees, 10:30 would be 45. So anywhere from 10 to 11 o'clock is good.

Don't think I have seen anyone use an external thumb grip. I have seen some use a glove with a thumb. As long as you can get a consistent release and the grip doesn't come flying off, I suppose that would be okay. I also find that I prefer the feel of tape, so prefer a larger thumb hole, and then insert tape to get right fit and feel.

I am. It's actually what we call the Nanu Nanu Sarge. I have arthritis in my index finger and the standard grip was painful. Too much weight on that finger. My PSO and I did a lot of experimentation and found that separating the middle finger and ring shifts a little weight away from index towards the ring. The Sarge plus shifting my thumb left with a lot of left pitch also shifts the weight into my palm more. All of this has alleviated the arthritis pain.

Yes, that will certainly have an effect. I used a friend's ball that was too much reverse and the ball would come off too quickly. If you have the ability to, change pitches on an old ball just until you get the right feel, then adjust any other balls accordingly.