Give Your Bowling Ball A Gripping Squeeze

bowlingball.com, Originally Posted: 12/12/14; Updated: 4/3/21

When we refer to gripping pressure, for those of you new to the game or changing your drilling from conventional to a fingertip grip, we refer to the amount of finger and thumb gripping pressure you apply on the bowling ball when swinging and delivering the ball.

The consensus with pro shop professionals has been for many years to recommend a very light gripping pressure when you hold the ball in your stance position and when you swing the ball while taking your approach.

It is mostly a universal belief among pro shops that squeezing your ball too hard, particularly when your ball is fitted properly to your bowling hand, is not the best technique to get consistent and effective deliveries.

There are, however, bowlers who do not have much gripping strength in their bowling hand and fingers.

For these bowlers whether they are senior players, ladies, youth bowlers, or anyone with a weak hand, give your bowling ball a gripping squeeze.

There are bowlers who constantly drop the ball behind the foul line and stifle or kill effective roll on the ball.

If you drop the ball or simply cannot swing and deliver the ball beyond the foul line and if you slide at or very near, the foul line, then you likely have a bowling ball with overly loose gripping holes or you are not gripping onto the ball using enough gripping pressure to get the ball out onto the lane.



If you are a weak handed person physically, coaches might recommend to squeeze the ball much harder than presently to avoid dropping the ball behind the foul line and so you can propel the ball with sufficient ball speed over the foul line consistently.

If you live in climate changing weather such as an area with cold winters, then it is possible your bowling fingers shrink in the cold weather and the holes then are too loose to hold onto the ball and propel it out onto the lane.

If this is the case, use bowling tape as a space filler to effectively tighten the gripping holes and help you hold onto the ball longer.

If the holes are properly sized, then you can experiment and give your bowling ball a gripping squeeze.