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Author Topic: Finger pitch in BTM article  (Read 5295 times)

JS

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Finger pitch in BTM article
« on: April 12, 2006, 03:46:46 PM »
I just received my March BTM yesterday (I have slow postal service!) and was reading the Senior Spotlight article.  In it the author talks about a customer that had little flexibility in their ring finger (about 30 degrees) and they had a fingertip ball with NO forward pitch and he said no wonder it hurt.

Isn't this opposite of what you would do with inflexible fingers?  Wouldn't you want to put inflexible fingers into reverse pitch?

 

chitown

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Re: Finger pitch in BTM article
« Reply #16 on: April 16, 2006, 01:47:12 AM »
quote:
I hate to burst all these bubbles, but no one has "flexibility" in the last joint of their fingers.   Most all of us are lucky to have 45 degrees.    Just keep in mind that as the ball is delivered the ball will fall onto the fingers as the thumb exits.    The fallacy of "away" pitch in the fingers only does one thing, less time to impart any lift or rotation with the fingers.  If that is the goal, go for it.   BUT, don't use away pitch for comfort or "feel".   That means nothing.     Drilling enough "away" pitch in the fingers to "feel good" will only do one thing, early roll, early hook, no backend.


I hate to burst your bubble but your saying don't pitch the fingers away for comfort or feel?  What?  I thought a proper fitted bowling ball is supposed to be for comfort and feel.  

Now I went to 1/4 away in my ring finger for 1 purpose.  That purpose is to reduce pain inmy ring finger.  This is even with a relaxed span for that finger.  My middle finger pitch is 1/16 forward.  That finger doesn't hurt and feels good with that pitch.  My ring finger is a completely different story.

So if I went by your theory about comfort and feel I should have kept the forward in the ring finger even though the pitch was causing me pain.  I don't think that would have been very smart.  I prefer to bowl in comfort and no pain so I will stick with the away in that finger.

Your correct about going too far away.  Going too far away will probably give you less back end and revs.  

I'm kind of surprised by your reply.  I never would have thought you would make a statement about a bowlers finger pitch like that.  Don't pitch the fingers away for comfort or feel?  Wow that's far off base.

Strapper_Squared

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Re: Finger pitch in BTM article
« Reply #17 on: April 17, 2006, 09:36:23 AM »
For me, reverse pitch in the fingers helped to eliminate "grabbing" of the ball at the bottom of my swing... resulting in a much smoother release (and consequently more revs with less effort).  My current finger pitches are 3/4" reverse on middle finger and 7/8" on ring finger.  I'm convinced that I could probably even go more..and may experiment with it sometime down the road.  If you check out Mika's grip, he uses lots of reverse in the fingers as well (thinking around 1"??)...

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NACDale

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Re: Finger pitch in BTM article
« Reply #18 on: April 23, 2006, 11:09:59 PM »
WOW....Some of you guys need to lay off of the pipe!!!

There are many Touring pros that have more than 1/2" reverse in the fingers.

The reverse in the fingers mainly helps you stop hitting the ball. Saying that it starts the ball rolling earlier would mean that you didn't already roll the ball off of your hand. I have gone to 1" reverse in the fingers and have no trouble getting a backend reaction on any condition. Pitches are there to make the ball FIT properly. My fingers call for somewhere between 1/2 to 1 1/16 reverse (depending which person has looked at my hand.) Generalizing in something like this shows your true lack of knowledge. Next time you should do a little more research on the subject.
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Next Level PS

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Re: Finger pitch in BTM article
« Reply #19 on: April 24, 2006, 10:21:01 PM »
what I notice over the years is that flexibility in the fingers should be relitave to the span like the thumb. a bowler with a 5" span will not get the same pitches as a bowler with a 4" span if both have the same flexibility. if both bowlers have 90 degree in the fingers the bowler with the 4" span may get from 0-1/4 forward and the bowler with the 5" span may get 1/8-1/4 reverse in the fingers.
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chitown

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Re: Finger pitch in BTM article
« Reply #20 on: April 25, 2006, 12:02:23 AM »
I feel finger pitches should be all about comfort.  I use 1/16 forward in my middle finger and 1/4 reverse for my ring finger.  I don't have the same flexability in my ring finger and the reverse pitch is very comfortable.

JessN16

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Re: Finger pitch in BTM article
« Reply #21 on: April 27, 2006, 01:38:52 AM »
quote:
I hate to burst all these bubbles, but no one has "flexibility" in the last joint of their fingers.   Most all of us are lucky to have 45 degrees.


Question: Are you talking about forward flexibility, or reverse flexibility?

I'm sitting here with a protractor (no kidding - I found one from grade school), and I have about 40 degrees reverse flex and a full 90 degrees forward flex (I can touch the pads of my fingers tightly against the interior first joint of the same finger, if that visualization makes any sense).

Jess

charlest

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Re: Finger pitch in BTM article
« Reply #22 on: April 28, 2006, 05:19:51 AM »
quote:
quote:
I hate to burst all these bubbles, but no one has "flexibility" in the last joint of their fingers.   Most all of us are lucky to have 45 degrees.


Question: Are you talking about forward flexibility, or reverse flexibility?

I'm sitting here with a protractor (no kidding - I found one from grade school), and I have about 40 degrees reverse flex and a full 90 degrees forward flex (I can touch the pads of my fingers tightly against the interior first joint of the same finger, if that visualization makes any sense).

Jess


Jess,

Not sure what you mean by "reverse flex", but I understand your forward flex position. I have the same. I had a 5"/5 1/8" span at one point in time (with 3/8" reverse in the thumb and 0 pitch in fingers). I now use a 4 3/4" span with 1/4" reverse in fingers and 0"/0" pitch in the thumb.
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JessN16

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Re: Finger pitch in BTM article
« Reply #23 on: April 28, 2006, 05:46:06 PM »
By "reverse flex," it means I can push my fingertips backwards towards the back of my wrist without the rest of my fingers moving, using my other hand to do it.

In other words, it's not true that "no one has flexibility" in that joint, as Deadbait thinks. I also have lateral flexibility of about 30 degrees in each joint (movement side to side).

Jess



Edited on 4/28/2006 5:45 PM