Regulate Your Bowling Release

bowlingball.com, Originally Posted: 9/1/2014; Updated: 9/23/2022

If you are a new bowler and are learning to release the ball or a more experienced bowler seeking ways to improve your delivery, then learn to regulate your bowling release.
Your ability to regulate your release primarily encompasses two key items, speed control and loft distance beyond the foul line.
Controlling your ball speed in an acceptable speed range will help you make a consistent hand action which affects your release motion. Regulating your ball speed certainly helps you achieve a dependable ball reaction so you can read the lane, line up to the pocket, and make sensible adjustments as lane conditions change during your competitive sessions.
Regulating your bowling ball loft distance (the distance you deliver your ball beyond the foul line when it first contacts the lane surface) will help you also control your ball speed, direction, and maintain a consistent rev-rate, all of which will work in helping you improve your ball reaction and eventually your game scores.
Your bowling ball must exit your bowling thumb before your fingers while your fingers remain in place a split secong longer to impart the rotational motion on the ball to gain the hook motion you seek.
This “moment of release” between the back of your slide bowling shoe and the laces of the shoe describes the moment when your thumb exits the ball followed by your fingers. Allow your hand to continue moving toward your target down lane following the ball path.
The momentum built during your swing cycle will propel your ball over the foul line if you do not release the ball too soon.
It is important to avoid over-lofting your bowling ball where it is airborne well beyond the foul line and bounces uncontrollably on the lane surface.
Normally, a loft distance ranging from 6 inches loft to 3 feet of loft is well suited for a good ball reaction and scoring.
Your bowling ball should enter the lane surface on a gradual descent angle where the ball does not bounce on the lane surface, usually entering the lane at a desired angle of descent of about 20 - 25 degrees.
Visualize an airplane entering the runway and making a smooth landing where passengers feel little or no bouncing of tires during the landing as an example how you want your ball to enter the lane surface beyond the foul line.

Once you are able to control a consistent loft distance by regulating your release, you can work at adjusting loft distances slightly to alter skid length distances and further control the ball reaction so you hit the pocket consistently.
Maintaining a consistent ball speed and loft distance control are the two surest ways of regulating your bowling ball release.
If you are having difficulties with your release, use the services of an experienced bowling instructor to watch you bowl in real time and help you adjust your technique accordingly.