Wrist devices, fair or unfair advantage?

[da_cowman]

Straighter is Greater.

On a THS you'll probably have a little bit more room for error in making the left side spares (for a righty) then you would throwing a straight ball (reactive like Mick, or flat plastic like myself). However, as Mick rightfully pointed out, once you get on to patterns that are tough, and the short oil is a excellent example, your normal sparing system of hooking just doesn't work as effectively. When the oil pattern is flat, you have the same area to hit a single pin regardless of how you throw at it, so why risk it? I know I can go to any centre, with any oil pattern and make a tenpin. No worries at all. If you're making adjustments with your hook ball you need to actually ask yourself, how much oil is in the middle of the lane? How dry is the outside? How far do I need to move for THIS pattern? It's only gotta fool you once and you've lost ground.
I hook at the 2-8 and the 3-6-9-10. If the pattern is super tricky, I'll throw straight at the 2-8 as well.

Cow

 

[Jasonguru]

this is exactly what i do and have done for as long as i can remember.

well said cow, straighter is definately greater. i use a plastic for everything except the 2 multi pin types you mentioned also.

it is all about confidence in closure of frames regardless of conditions.

 

[Geoff300]

Good points made by many people

The thing to remember is a straight line is a straight line
nomatter what Centre you go too, therefore corner pins
are no issue for those who bowl straight at it with a plastic

As Cow clearly stated when travelling OS and even here now
on certain patterns, there is no area for error when sparing across the lanes

Therefore The National Coach wants people to learn to bowl a plastic
to spare because if you learn to be accurate and bowl the ball straight
you will hit the pin your aiming for, straight line !!!!

It has been a huge issue for sometime now to see thletes go OS and
bowl poorly because they can't spare

Cheers
Geoff

 

[jason_doust]

No need for that other thread, this one's hijacked!

Cow is on the money. Another advantage of the polyester ball is that you don't have to throw it dead straight. My normal shot out-hooks most folks and I generally throw my plastic ball the same way for spares. After all, it hooks about the same amount (maybe less) as my first conventional ball and I could spare pretty well with that. Admittedly, (and thankfully) I don't bowl on the Gobi Deserts that Michael faces in Novocastria, where by all reports, the only thing coming off your ball is dust and tumbleweeds!

The benefit is that when I leak a 10 pin right, the poly ball usually recovers, but rarely hooks past it if I tug it left. The poly ball will face up, but usually runs out of lane in which to turn the corner to hook away. Even on the short patterns. The big benefit in my mind is that I don't muck about with my release feel or timing changing releases. I just throw it at the stick(s) left over.

p.s. I always hook at a sleeper unless the lanes are just dead nasty. I have a CAD drawing somewhere on my old computer that shows a major increase in area in the pin deck for the hooking ball at sleepers.

 

[JWhitty]

Patterns >3>8:1 are in the ball park...

Don't mind me while I take the hijack on a tangent; Mr Doust is this what you meant to say? Just my maths is having an issue with 3>8...

Should the sentence read "Patterns greater than 3 and less than 8 to 1 are..." (>3<8:1) or (3<R<8:1 where R is Ratio)

Alternatively, I look forward to learning something new

 

[Jez]

Good points made by many people

The thing to remember is a straight line is a straight line
nomatter what Centre you go too, therefore corner pins
are no issue for those who bowl straight at it with a plastic

As Cow clearly stated when travelling OS and even here now
on certain patterns, there is no area for error when sparing across the lanes

Therefore The National Coach wants people to learn to bowl a plastic
to spare because if you learn to be accurate and bowl the ball straight
you will hit the pin your aiming for, straight line !!!!

It has been a huge issue for sometime now to see thletes go OS and
bowl poorly because they can't spare

Cheers
Geoff

I understand the theory behind getting ppl to use a plastic ball, but don't agree everyone needs to. I don't use a plastic ball to spare with, i can throw a high performance reactive as straight as an arrow (this does not mean I never miss a single pin, but me bowling with a plastic would not make me 100% either). As Mick has mentioned not taking a plastic allows an extra ball when travelling. Lastly, if ppl can't spare they should not be in a national team to start with...and getting them to bowl with a plastic ball may improve this part of there game but there maybe other fundamental flaws in their game other than the ball they are throwing.

As for the topic at hand, i will keep it short...wrist guards are here to stay.........my opinion........wrist guards that can move to change wrist position should be outlawed. Mongose type wrist guards only.

 

[Michael Little]

I understand the theory behind getting ppl to use a plastic ball, but don't agree everyone needs to. I don't use a plastic ball to spare with, i can throw a high performance reactive as straight as an arrow (this does not mean I never miss a single pin, but me bowling with a plastic would not make me 100% either). As Mick has mentioned not taking a plastic allows an extra ball when travelling. Lastly, if ppl can't spare they should not be in a national team to start with...and getting them to bowl with a plastic ball may improve this part of there game but there maybe other fundamental flaws in their game other than the ball they are throwing.

As for the topic at hand, i will keep it short...wrist guards are here to stay.........my opinion........wrist guards that can move to change wrist position should be outlawed. Mongose type wrist guards only.

You could have used a plastic ball yesterday mate hahahaha

 

[bomber_comfort]

Back on the OP point. Wrist devices, advantage? Nope! I would say anyone who wears one is giving an advantage to all the other bowlers who do not use one in a tournament where the conditions are not meant to be easy. I do not begrudge anyone for wearing one as some people have sore wrists etc and need one in order to bowl and bowl very well with them. But your release will never be as pure and good with one on. Especially on overseas conditions like in USA. That’s why seeing a overseas pro who uses one let alone a successful one is as rare as hens teeth. Of course with everything there are exceptions to the rule.

Advice for kids, don’t go for instant gratification of a wrist device when learning and starting out. Put in the hard work and learn to bowl and bowl well without one. Sure it’s a hell of a lot of work to get really good but that is like anything if you want to be world class.

As with what others are saying about plastic and spares. Yep I agree 100%. Go straight at all spares if they do not have a sleeper in them. Again its something that is not as easy as hooking it at spares but it's worth it.

 

[phaggy]

I do the same. Depending on the what pins are left as to whether I use my plastic or reactive ball. Only 3 or 4 combination of pins that I would use my reactive on. Everything else I use my plastic. But like Michael said earlier, whatever suits each individual the best.

Interesting conversation I have had with a couple of youth bowlers. They have been informed by the national coach that if they dont use there plastic for all spares (including 2/8 & 3/9) they will not be considered for national selection. Just find that a little bazzar if that is the case.[/QUOTE]

Oh well, looks like I am never going to make a National Team any time soon, if I decide to go for one at some stage.

I am in the same boat as Michael, I have not used a plastic ball since juniors and have found that my sparing has increased. I had a time when I pulled my plastic ball out to try and see how t went but it lasted about a week and a half as my sparing dropped dramatically with it as I was almost trying to throw the same shot all the time and it was sapping too much energy from my game, those having seen me bowl would be able to atest to this as I could be considered a faily high energy bowler. The straight flat wrist, although a much faster shot actually uses less energy and more perpetual motion I find, and means I have a little more leeway with spares on both the 10 and 7 pin sides now I have started throwing straight at those as well.

Wrist guards, I again tried to use one while in Juniors, it was not long after I learnt to hit the ball like I do now. I was using it to try and tame my shot back some without losing power on the shot when it got to the pins. I found that I almost broke my wrist and then broke the guard within a couple of months due to the powerful snap my wrist produces, so it forced me to try and come up with other ways to tame the shot. I guess you could say after that I got lazy and just decided that 'standing left, throwing right' with the shot getting faster if I needed it to would be the way to go.

I dont judge anyone who has a wrist guard fr the right reasons, be that injury or skill gap, I just dont really like the robo-cop fully metallic adjustable to the point of it pretty much having a GPS tracker for your ball so it puts it down on the same spot each time ones that they seem to want to make now. It would be good if the devices were just the non-adjustable ones.

 

[jason_doust]

Don't mind me while I take the hijack on a tangent; Mr Doust is this what you meant to say? Just my maths is having an issue with 3>8...

Should the sentence read "Patterns greater than 3 and less than 8 to 1 are..." (>3<8:1) or (3<R<8:1 where R is Ratio)

Alternatively, I look forward to learning something new

(Jason bows...) I stand corrected by one nerdier than I... Greater than 3 and less than 8:1 for house shots, actually. Not this 11:1 cheating we see all over the place.

Which feeds back into the sparing hijack on this thread. People with lousy spare games are generally in that situation because they don't get the great big area that they are used to when the time comes to hit a corner pin. We've all seen them. Can't hit 5 boards on the strike ball, still make the pocket and claim accuracy. Can't get close to single pins and average 190+; Priceless. THAT's the logic behind the National Training squad Tests. While I disagree on the plastic-at-sleepers front, I think the rest is sound.

Back to wrist devices now though... I use and recommend a great wrist device... Comes in all sizes too! This device and others like it have worked for me for years! Start light and work up...

 

[Macka69]

They tell me a tennis ball is cheaper Mr Doust.

 

[dylanp]

Im 15 and i wear a revs wrist guard and i havent been bowling with it for my whole bowling career but now bowling with one i couldnt go back to not wearing one as my wrist just doesnt have the support as it should even from when i wasnt bowling with one hence the reason why now i wear a wrist guard

 

[Roysa]

Im 15 and i wear a revs wrist guard and i havent been bowling with it for my whole bowling career but now bowling with one i couldnt go back to not wearing one as my wrist just doesnt have the support as it should even from when i wasnt bowling with one hence the reason why now i wear a wrist guard

Dylan im interested to know what weigh the balls you are using are?

Also why you think you need it for support if you are not recovering from an injury or a condition that requires you wear one.

At your age mate the last thing you should need is a wrist guard for support... unless of course you are attempting to throw a ball that is currently to heavy for you to throw.... in which case refer to the last 5 words of Jason's post above.

Also just for the record.... i couldnt care less if im bowling against people with a wrist device on... each to their own. Ive beaten and been beaten by people with wrist guards.... they were never the difference between a win and a loss. I won cos i struck more or i lost cos i missed a spare... simple really.

 

[jason_doust]

They tell me a tennis ball is cheaper Mr Doust.

You can squeeze a tennis ball for improving digit and hand strength. Not much chop for curling though.

Im 15 and i wear a revs wrist guard and i havent been bowling with it for my whole bowling career but now bowling with one i couldnt go back to not wearing one as my wrist just doesnt have the support as it should even from when i wasnt bowling with one hence the reason why now i wear a wrist guard

I bet you can! Try this Dylan.

Hold your hand in front of you, with your palm downwards. Extend your index and middle fingers and place the tips on a benchtop with the rest of your hand in the void before it. Starting gently, apply pressure to your fingers against the bench while simultaneously resisting the pressure with your fingers. If your fingers are strong enough, the resistance creates sufficient tension to keep your wrist straight, resisting the pressure you apply.

Now apply the same pressure sensation with your bowling grip, again starting gently and moving up to where you're comfortable. (This level will increase with regular practice and resultant strength increases.) I'll bet you get your thumb out of the ball better than ever and can get rid of the sweat strap. If it works and you like it, you can buy me a diet coke one day.

Cheers,
Jason

 

[Macka69]

I was told by a Sports Physiotherapist that the best way to improve the strength in the wrist is with the Tennis Ball method as curling increases forearm strength. I agree the Tennis Ball method increases Digit and Grip pressure. I currently use a Robby's Revs 2 I dont change or alter the settings or even take it off to spare with. I have trouble with Locking of the wrist but I am thinking of trying just a Wrist support and work with the Tennis Ball technique to strenghthen the wrist.

 

[dylanp]

The only reason I really were one is because I tried bowling for a while without one then I got given one and ever since then my bowling has improved on a weekly basis and my gear is 15 pound guys.

 

[bomber_comfort]

Yep strengthen your wrist mate. Do exercises to get your fingers and wrist stronger. It’s the best thing you will ever do for your bowling! Your wrist and its muscle memory is just lazy at the moment because it is used to having the guard on. But learning to bowl and score well without one will take you time and a lot of practise. It is worth it though. Go see a good coach that knows about releases and they can really help you along and speed up your progress. Learning by yourself will take a very very very long time.