Turn Of The Wrist

Question
QUESTION: It seems to me that all this about bowling balls and changing the layout to make the ball finish is assuming the release never changes. I change the rotation of the wrist or arm rotation at the release to controls the finish of the ball.  I generally start with straight lift.  If the ball is not driving hard enough and I had good lift on the ball then I add some wrist or arm rotation to increase the drive at the pins. If it is driving to hard I reduce the rotation or bend the wrist if I am having to much drive into the pins. Everything I read on line tells me this is the wrong way to ball.  Choose one release and change balls if I want to be consistent.  I do not ball for average.  I ball for fun and to understand what I am doing and how it affects the ball roll.  Because of this some days I am way off.  I use a straight ball for most spares that is released the same every time.

ANSWER: Art,
Everytime you adjust how you deliver the ball, you'll change axis tilt, axis rotation, more than likely speed and revs. All of those changes impact the original layout and how that was determined.

For example, if your Positive Axis Point (PAP) is 5 inches over and 1/2 inch up when you throw "normally," you will change the PAP when you alter the release, potentially the top of the weightblock may be closer to your new PAP causing the ball to want to roll earlier. If the layout doesn't sync with the changes in your delivery, you may change the delivery (to weaken the shot) but make the layout stronger, hard to control if the ball now wants to do more. You and your driller need to be aware of the range of options you use and try to lay the ball out more neutral to your options (especially the weaker options).

The game is built around consistency. If you don't have the option of some degree of consistency, all the ADJUSTING in the world won't help if you're not sure what to expect, or you can't control the adjustment so it actually is a viable choice.

The equipment you use should be more basic and again neutral if you're attempting to change the roll and rotation to afford different ball reactions. Enjoy the experimentation. It is one way to learn and gives you choices when addressing what you wan the ball to do.

Thanks for the question. Good luck and good bowling.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks! This not a question but a response to your answer.  

You missed the point.  There is more to bowling that the layout of a bowling ball or the surface or core of a bowling ball.  Yes! These things change the results of what happens as the ball goes down the lanes (my initial roll moves about 1.5").  Everything you said I agree with but ?Years ago when I first started to learn to bowl I asked a older very experience bowler what was the affect holding the ball in different positions and with different wrist position and wrist rotations would do to the roll of the ball.  He described what he was going to do, how many boards it would cross and what the roll down the lane would look like.  He threw 14 strikes in a row throwing a different shot each time and the ball did what he said it would do.  I guess this part of the game has been lost with the advent of the new lanes, new oil machines that condition the lanes the same every time in the better houses, the new bowling balls lay outs.  

So although I was asking about the release affect on the ball there used to be allot more to the game than how the ball is drilled and what the core and/or surface of the ball is, what the lane surface is and the oil pattern is...  I was trying to decide if what I am seeing and thinking is right when I asked the question.  Now all I read about is the ball path (skid,hook & roll) and change balls to obtain different results as the ball tracks down the lane.  

I quit bowling for many years and started back when I retired.  I wish I could remember everything that I learned years ago and maybe I would not have spend so much time trying to understand the new bowling balls and lay outs.  I cannot afford to spend $200 or so to purchase a bowling ball every time the lanes condition change and I need a slightly different reaction from the ball.  I used to change my initial position and release to get the reaction I wanted. One of the houses I currently bowl in the lanes conditions are different every day of the week based on excepted linage.  You cannot shoot the same shot two days in a row and hit the pocket. One the leagues I bowl on bowls the next day on lanes that have not been oiled since the nite time league bowled and open bowling has bowled on them.  Besides that I bowl in two different houses neither of which has a real good oil machine.  The local hot shots seem to bowl with different balls every day to keep up with the shot.  One of them shows up with 4 or 5 bowling balls for a league.  One of hot shot recently sold off 10 slight used balls for $25.  None of the balls had much of a track in them he really revs up the ball.  I am trying to relearn what I once could do with a bowling ball.  So far all I hear is you have to do the same thing every time and change the equipment to adjust and I can afford to experiment at 200 per ball.  It is all about the layout of the ball to match then lane conditions and not adapting ones game to the lane like it used to be. If what you said is the rule, the games is a totally different game and requires less physical skill than was required years ago but requires more mental ability.  The game is all about deciding if the ball surface, core and lay out should be used.  So I guess one needs a real good pro shop that knows a lot about layouts , ones style, lane condition than a small town pro shop will know. Yes! They have been to school but that does not provide what experience does.  I have seen some balls that the local ball did not even fit properly so how can one assume they could known how to layout the ball.  Yes! One could go to a different pro shot but they would not know the lane conditions and would have assume the bowler knew what he wanted.

Now I agree to score one has to be able to repeat the shot completely and adjust as the lanes change.   My best game this year was 278 and if I had not choked on the first ball in the 10th it might have been better than that.  I repeated the shot for 9 frames and threw a bad shot then repeated the shot again.  I showed up with a plan, I new what the shot was going to be that day and I stuck with the plan and got lined up at the end of the second game to where I was relaxed and trusted the shot (two of the most important requirements).   Now I can do that with several different wrist setting and have done so.  I also change where I initially hold the ball.  I have also had it not work more times than work. I the other day I could not strike no matter where I hit the pocket and they looked like weak hits so I change to a wrist setting to finish stronger and then left big splits.  Hitting the pocket area was not the problem obtaining the proper angle and roll was the problem. I went from weak hits to strong hits ( wide splits) and could find nothing in between. I was moving in to change the angle and found the angle and I struck out to wind the game.  I had gone as far out as I could when I was leaving weak leaves and moved in when I was hitting to hard would fix the problem.  Afterward I wondered why I had not tried a release between the two I used.  Now If I had unlimited bowling balls I could have done like the hot shots do and change balls until I found one that worked.

I could drive an extra 15 minutes and bowl in a better house and not have these problems.  The bowlers at that house complain when they have to adjust more than one board from day to day. I would score better but what would I get other scoring better, I would not learn how to bowl again.  So I guess I am an odd ball that average is not what I am after but would really like to understand the game more than carry some average to brag about.  That also mean understanding the different lay out affects. Even when I bowled a lot in years gone by, I never bowled for average.  Before I quit only one time did I ever average over 200 and it was what it took to win the league.   

Again Thanks For Your Time.  I guess I will have just have to learn the hard way figure out how to make do with what I have.  I use 6 different wrist positions and several different initial starting position for the ball, which each give me a different roll as the ball goes down the lane and yes affects how the layout reacts.  A couple of them tend to make me rotate the wrist more as I release the ball.  In one house I geneally start off with wrist position that tends to cause the most rotation and end up with the one that cause the least rotation when the ball starts to finish to hard.  The wrist setting I used the least are the ones I bowled with before I quit for years.  I had to change to take the hook off of the ball.  They just hook to much in the houses I bowl in.

Answer
Art,
Congrats Art you want to be a bowler, not just a person who bowls. The modern game has evolved to a weak skills, strong ball, easy lanes scenario. Your decision to get back to improved skills is admirable, and usually the mark of the better player. I applaud you.

Years ago the bowling ball could only provide very minimal effect, while today's balls can truly be called hook in a box. Hook in a box works sometimes.

But, my point, beware that the hook potential of a ball, its layout and surface prep has coined an infamous phrase: YOU CAN'T OUTPERFORM BAD BALL REACTION. While bowling balls are tools to help us knock down pins, and control the lane's condition (oily, med, dry, etc), the wrong layout in the RIGHT ball will kill you. The right layout in the RIGHT ball is magic. My suggestion is try to use the skills you are developing with more moderate balls and layouts (on those balls). The stronger the ball (and layout) the more likely the potential reaction can become so unpredictable as be unusable. YOU CAN'T OUTPERFORM BAD BALL REACTION.

Good luck and good bowling.