Ball Spans

[jhays]

Ok - now this is confusing to me . As some of you know, I have changed my game from cranking to stroker - (I'm very moldable right now).

I went to a new pro shop this summer, I first spent some time with the owner and talked to him about the game. I went back a week later, he watched me bowl a few games - colored on my ball and then measured my other equipment. His first thing was, all your equipment is drilled up wrong. I said OK, cause I did have tendon problems with my thumb and I'm no equipment guru.

I bought 3 new balls for my attack this year - Vibe, Gamebreaker, and Resurgence. He drilled them the way he did - my span is almost 5/8 shorter. I can feel a difference, it doesn't hurt my hand near the tendon like it did before, but I couldn't throw them worth a shit. You name it, I did it - drop it, stick, over/under reactions.

I had people check it out - they all said it was too short - Like I said I don't have the tendon problem on the inside of my thumb/palm area, but I now have outside tendon from the knuckle to the palm issues. Feels like a strain, and I went to another pro shop - had them measure me, then went and got my equipment, had him measure that - and he started laughing. Said you have thumb issues right?

I showed him and then explained it all to him, he said I'll fix them for you - but I need to see you throw a few. . I didn't want to throw any, as my thumb hurt like hell, but he found a ball in the shop that was much better fitted for my hand - a little long, but it still fit on my hand without a pencil inbetween ball and palm.

His explanation, was shorter spans - more hand naturally. Drilled for a cranker most commonly. I am picking them up Wednesday morning.

Just thought I'd pass this along.

[TenPin]

I was under the impression that the difference between a stroker, tweener, and cranker had more to do with revs, not so much arm swing? I know a guy in my house who has a low back swing (just under shoulder height), but a whole lot of revs at the finnish (considered a cranker). The way I think he gets away with a low swing is the fact he is very strong. He lifts weights all the time and is extremly strong. So a 15 or 16 pound ball to him is nothing.

[litefrozen]

5/8 shorter wow that's a big change! Boy if you were stretched that much I'm surprised you could hold the ball.

[TenPin]

Sorry, I had read both your posts about your new backswing and going from cranker to stroker. For some reason I combined the two posts. Yesterday was a very long night for me at work and I stayed up way to long.

[jhays]

Update to this - the span was 5/8 difference and here's the reason. The Pro shop explained that most newer ball technology has certain drill specs, shorter spans is better in most cases.

My old span was not overstretched at all, it was fine for me. The new pro shop went shorter on my spans (he calls it the new way to drill and get the most out of the balls) . I prolly should have explained that.

Tenpin - The backswing as I saw lite comment on in another post - it's more "freeswing" -not forcing backswing or stopping at a certain point. I don't put a lot of revs normally, I'm more speed dominant, even if 14 - 15 MPH is speed. The typical house shot, I stand Center RF, shoot 4 - 8 straight up. Non - agressive equipment with pinned to go long. I've searched for an area to play more where others are not playing, most cranks play 18 - 10 swing out to 5 on occassion. I'm not against cranks, as I do have a transition problem when I play against them (if 8 out 10 on same pair) (Last night there was 6 out of 8 cranking) and why do they have to use the most aggressive cover stock and complain there's not enough oil. That boggles me everytime. All I hear those nights, is "You don't do much with the ball at all, trying putting fingers in it" All because I left 3 frames of 8/10 splits. At the end of the last night, my only comment - "Next week, I'll bring more fingers cause being high on pair with 660 wasn't good enough "