As we gain more experience, we will often find the need to be able to speed up or slow down the bowling ball. When we are hitting our marks and the release is working or if the lanes are drying out and the ball keeps going high, there are two choices. You can either keep moving left and swing the ball farther and farther or you can throw a straighter line and increase the bowling ball speed. This sounds easy until you try it.  The proper way to speed up the ball is simple. Just hold it 3 -4 inches higher in your normal stance and when you drop the ball for your swing, gravity will automatically speed up the ball without muscling it. This will set up a shot you can repeat and be consistent with. If you try to muscle the ball, it may work well for a few shots, but it will be difficult to be consistent. The speed will vary and scores will suffer.

Showing up at the lanes to discover that they have just put a fresh layer of oil down can be devastating to your scores. Increased oil conditions will make the ball travel past the breakpoint and require that you either roll the ball straighter at the pocket or learn to slow down the ball. The mechanics of slowing down the ball are basically the same as speeding it up. Just hold it 2 – 12 inches lower depending on how much speed you want to take off, bend at the knees and stand a little closer to the foul line. Let your arm swing freely on the down swing and do not muscle the ball. Let gravity do the work. This is a little harder to master than speeding up the ball but with a little practice this can be a valuable weapon.

The question comes up when you have a new ball drilled. How tight should the thumb hole be? Once the new ball is drilled, you will probably go through some fitting trial and error. Taping a loose thumb hole is okay, but putting anywhere from 5-8 pieces of tape in the thumb hole is too much. Now you need to get with your ball driller and put a smaller insert in your thumb hole and try again. The reference article for this post recommends that a thumb hole should be tight enough that you do not have to squeeze the ball during your swing but not so tight that you really have to force your thumb into the ball. Usually, bowlers think their thumb holes are too tight when in reality, if tape is applied, they realize it was actually too loose and they were squeezing the ball. Tightening up the thumb hole sometimes works wonders in the release and that translates into consistency and higher scores. The Kung Foo death grip on the ball will wreak havoc with your swing, release and consistency. There is a simple exercise to determine the proper thumb hole size. Just start with the thumb hole a little too loose and add tape until you feel the ball hang up a little after a few full speed releases. Throw several shots with each added piece of tape to allow your hand to relax. Do not stop adding tape just because you think you have added too much. If at the end of the process you have added seven or more pieces of tape, you may want to drop the thumb hole a size. During this process, the bowler may discover that after enough tape is added to stop squeezing the ball, they have to force their thumb into the hole. If this happens, the thumb pitch might be off. Moving the pitch forward means you will not have to have the thumb hole so tight to stay on your thumb.

When you look at the thumb hole of your bowling ball, do you see just a hole? This could be your first problem. Thumb holes will have different inserts, tapes and or thumb protection depending on preference. If all you see is a hole, the thumb hole is probably too lose. Too loose means you are probably squeezing the ball to hang on to it and any chance at a good arm swing or release is gone. A thumb hole that is too tight will create a vacuum and be hard to release. You may need an air hole or maybe some easy slide to allow the ball to come off of your thumb easily. Also, your thumb will change size from game to game and it is necessary to change thumb hole size with tape. If you are doing all this, then your thumbhole will not be empty when you look at it.

Thumbhole taping should accomplish a couple of things. First, it creates an airway to allow the thumb to come out cleanly and reduce the suction. Three pieces of tape minimum stacked creates an airway on each side of the tape. This creates the minimum airflow necessary for thumb clean release from a snug thumb hole. This should go behind the thumb and remain there at all times, even if the thumb swells. Tape can be added to the front of the thumb but more than five pieces starts to change the pitch and size of the hole. If this is a problem your driller should open the hole or drill a tiny vent hole. Second, taping the thumb hole allows you to maintain the exact right fit at all times.