BallReviews
Equipment Boards => Columbia 300 => Topic started by: thewhiz on June 11, 2017, 09:47:01 PM
-
Which one does everyone use and why?
-
Oval. Because my thumb is oval shaped.
-
Oval. Because my thumb is oval shaped.
+1
-
I really favor oval, but have a #$%^ time trying to get it to feel right. I'm sure it's the right call though, just going to keep working on it.
-
I really favor oval, but have a #$%^ time trying to get it to feel right. I'm sure it's the right call though, just going to keep working on it.
I have the same issue. In my last ball I went up a size in the thumb and used tape to oval it, so far the results have been pretty good with that ball
-
I fi had to guess, I would suggest that maybe 1 person out of 500 actually has a round first knuckle. The rest of us are "normal".
Out of that 1/2%, I'd also suggest that less than 1% of those still have a round thumb while pressing with the thumb to hold onto the ball.
(If someone says you should use no pressure to hold onto the ball, I will call him/her with either a liar or a fool. There is no such thing as "zero" pressure to hold onto the ball. There is adequate and minimal pressure/force/muscle and there's too much pressure/force/muscle. )
Once you press your thumb against the inside of the thumb hole, I'd suggest 999/1000 people have an oval thumb and should be using an oval thumb hole. The degree of oval-ness is relative to the size, flesh, bone, tendon, ligaments, and muscle of the thumb and the hand/forearm doing the holding.
-
Round.
I use to use thumb slugs up until last year and now I drill without a thumb slug/insert.
I do create an oval shape using tape. I am a right handed bowler. I drill a 15/16" hole for my thumb. It is too big. Perfect for the sides of my thumb, but too big for me to use and hold onto easily.
I place two pieces of tape at roughly 3 o'clock. I place four to however many pieces needed at 7 o'clock so my thumb fits nice and snug with minimum pressure into the ball. As it swells or shrinks I only add or remove tape from the back.
It worked great when I used thumb slugs and just as good now without them. I buy a 500 piece roll of tape every few years and I am good. I drill a lot of bowling balls for myself each year and have had no issues.
-
Round.
I use to use thumb slugs up until last year and now I drill without a thumb slug/insert.
I do create an oval shape using tape. I am a right handed bowler. I drill a 15/16" hole for my thumb. It is too big. Perfect for the sides of my thumb, but too big for me to use and hold onto easily.
I place two pieces of tape at roughly 3 o'clock. I place four to however many pieces needed at 7 o'clock so my thumb fits nice and snug with minimum pressure into the ball. As it swells or shrinks I only add or remove tape from the back.
It worked great when I used thumb slugs and just as good now without them. I buy a 500 piece roll of tape every few years and I am good. I drill a lot of bowling balls for myself each year and have had no issues.
So the resultant thumb hole is not any where close to being round, but you start with small and round and build from there???
-
Round.
I use to use thumb slugs up until last year and now I drill without a thumb slug/insert.
I do create an oval shape using tape. I am a right handed bowler. I drill a 15/16" hole for my thumb. It is too big. Perfect for the sides of my thumb, but too big for me to use and hold onto easily.
I place two pieces of tape at roughly 3 o'clock. I place four to however many pieces needed at 7 o'clock so my thumb fits nice and snug with minimum pressure into the ball. As it swells or shrinks I only add or remove tape from the back.
It worked great when I used thumb slugs and just as good now without them. I buy a 500 piece roll of tape every few years and I am good. I drill a lot of bowling balls for myself each year and have had no issues.
So the resultant thumb hole is not any where close to being round, but you start with small and round and build from there???
I make it oval with tape. It's a larger hole. The tape makes it smaller and oval.
https://ibb.co/kUsfsk
-
I have been doing this with a 7/8" hole, a magic carpet on the back of the thumb, and 2 to 3 pieces of real Bowler's tape on the front of the thumb. It's very easy to adjust. The tricky part is placing the tape in the exact spot so all your equipment matches up. Overall, very forgiving.
-
When you have a ball drilled have them scribe the centerline 1/4" or so on each side of the thumbhole and you can line your tape up off those marks and duplicate each ball easier.
-
What a great idea! Sounds perfect; can't wait to try it. Thank you.
-
The use of tape is in direct relation to fit and technique. The worse the fit or technique, the more need for tape. Before going bonkers trying to use tape, look to your fit and technique for carrying and delivering your ball. The primary use of tape is to vary the speed of thumb release, not to enable you to hold onto the ball.
-
I wonder about scribing 1/4 from centerline as a fixed measurement... We all have different oval angles, and a predetermined scribe line would not necessarily line up... Yes?
-
I agree, but the idea of using a standard distance from the centerline is appealing in terms of reproducibility.
-
I mean like my distance might be only 1/8" from centerline, but someone else's might be 1/4"
-
Scribe the centerline, 1/4" or so from the edge of the hole, not scribe 1/4" from the centerline. Then figure how far you want the edge of the tape from there. You can scribe a mark there also.
-
Oval, so your thumb fits snug with no lateral movement. If you want to squeeze, or want to use a ton of tape, or your pitches are off so you need a loose thumb hole, or if your thumb is round like a circle, go with a circle hole.
-
This is one of those aspects where there isn't a right or wrong answer.
I just concluded a 3 month experiment using milled ovals and oval slugs. I got in around 100 games in varying conditions. Sometimes they felt good, but other times awkward.
The biggest issue I had was with swelling. I didn't feel like I had the flexibility in adding/removing tape that I have with a round hole. In the end, I went back to my "customized" round hole (manually scraping out the sides) to get the feel I need. It's no longer perfectly round, but it's also not as oval as a real oval.
Like most things in bowling, the only way to know is to experiment.