I have been asked a few times lately on the bowling ball grip. In all fairness, the grip on your bowling ball is probably one the most important things in bowling. Because, if your ball does not fit you correctly, you are not going to feel comfortable and will always be thinking about the feel of your ball in your hand, rather than rolling your shot. In addition, if your ball does not feel right, none of the ball dynamics or cover stocks in the world will be worth anything and are useless.
A great ball with the wrong grips now turns into a bad ball. In all fairness, this is why many bowlers struggle with their game. So I am going to attempt to explain the 3 basic grips in bowling. I must first tell you the grip and measuring is a debatable issue with ball drillers. In other words, they all drill them a little differently. OK. The 3 most common grips are conventional, relaxed finger-tip, stretched finger-tip. In the old days they called the relaxed finger-tip a semi-finger-tip grip.
How to check your span.
1. The conventional grip - put your thumb in the thumb hole of your bowling ball. Lay your hand flat on your ball, without your fingers in the finger holes. The second crease of your middle and ring fingers should be about ¼ inches over the first edge of the finger holes on your bowling ball. Make sure your thumb is all the way in your ball and your palm is flat.
2. The relaxed finger-tip grip - put your thumb in the thumb hole of your bowling ball. Lay your hand flat on your ball, without do not put your fingers in the finger holes. The first crease of your middle and ring fingers should be about ¼ inches over the first edge of the finger holes of your bowling ball. Make sure your thumb is all the way in your ball and your palm is flat on the ball and not stretched.
3. The stretched finger-tip grip - put your thumb in the thumb hole of your bowling ball. Lay your hand flat on your ball, without your fingers in the finger holes. The first crease of your middle and ring fingers should be about ¼ inches over the first edge of the finger holes of your bowling ball. Make sure your thumb is all the way in your ball and your palm is flat over the ball. But this time you would stretch your hand over your ball as far as you can, making sure your thumb is buried all the way in the bowling ball.
Well, that is how to check your span on your bowling ball.
In later articles I will go into the different pitches used in a bowling ball grip.
Once again, tips are just a tip and that is all they are. If it does not work, go back to what was working.
