Bowling Ball Thumb Pitch Is Important
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Originally Posted: 9/5/2014; Updated: 9/13/2022Your pro shop professional faces the challenge of determining which pitch angles to use when drilling your thumb gripping hole. Bowling ball thumb pitch is important.
Depending on how skilled you are as a player and depending on your release technique, your pro shop professional must determine the best thumb pitch angles to use in your bowling ball prior to drilling the ball.
Determining the proper size of your thumb hole is one part of the drill process. The other part is the side-to-side pitches and the front-to-back pitches.
The final determination after choosing the thumb pitches to drill into the ball is how to shape or contour the hole to best fit your thumb shape perfectly.
The pitches in your thumb hole are the real keys to making effective shots. The pitches influence your release motion and how quickly your thumb exits the ball at the moment of release.
The amount of forward pitch drilled into your thumb hole is angled toward the midline (center) of the grip. Forward pitch helps you exit the ball effectively, particularly if you use a strong wrist hinge position entering the delivery zone as do power players.
Forward thumb pitch can help you avoid dropping the ball too soon behind the foul line if you are experiencing that problem.
Reverse pitch is the opposite direction of pitch angled away from the midline of your grip. Reverse pitch helps your thumb exit the ball quickly at the moment of release.
Lateral pitches in your thumb hole are right and left components of the hole angle in your drilled bowling ball.
Lateral pitches influence how much to rotate the ball or stay behind the ball based on the construction of your thumb and knuckle joints.
One bowler may require a good deal of away-from-palm lateral pitch to stay behind the ball and not rotate the ball too much at the moment of release while another bowler may require minimal away-from-palm pitch to accomplish the same degree of rotation.
The pro shop professional must be able to analyze your bowling hand to determine which thich angles your thumb requires to accommodate the type of release technique you wish to use.
It is important to consult your pro shop professional if you are not getting a quick and
clean release of your ball and are losing accuracy because of this challenge. Changing your thumb pitch can be a way to improve your release and shotmaking consistency.
