Spin

solitary SG

Hihi.. few questions to ask again Razz
How do u control the direction of a spinner's ball? issit the backswing or the force of ur hand? cos my ball always drift away wan...
and i can't seem to make it spin all the way... it always start to roll towards the end.. how to correct this huh?
can give some advice? Smile

tIfosI SG

Wah... your spinner will roll out one arhz. Jia lat. I can't help much.

chuanish SG

I think the direction of a spinner shot is fundamentally similar to a hook one, i.e. both are determined by the path of the armswing. It's important to keep the shoulders perpendicular to your ball's path, as well as letting gravity do all the work. Something I'm still finding very hard to do...

Also important, is your placing and drift. Placing is calculated by counting the number of boards between the sliding foot at the foul line, and the board at which the ball passes through at the foul line.

For example, I'm a rightie, i drift right 4 boards and have a placing of 6 boards. Should I start at the approach at board 20, I should drift to board 16, and release the ball over the 10th board. In short, I stand at 20, aim at 10.

Say I stand at 30, aim at 10. To get to the 10, my armswing will deviate from it's gravitational path to the right, for compensation. I found that this affected accuracy and consistency quite a bit.
Solution: Still standing at 30 and aiming at 10, twist torso to the right and keep it there throughout the swing.
Result: Armswing's path kept straight, AND being able to pass through board 10.
Drawback: EXACTLY HOW MUCH TO TWIST TORSO?!? Sighhh... trial and error I guess, plus lots of practice.

Anyone employing this method? Uncle Fox recommended it, and I'm still struggling to improve. The theory looks sound on paper though.
To make sure I was following through on my shot, he also asked me to finish the release with my hand beside my ear. Right hand, right ear of course.

harmzuay SG

Solitary

If your spin loses momentum and starts to roll, it could be that your ballspeed is too slow. Do you know how long your shot takes to reach the headpin (in seconds, e.g., 2.6s)?

Release action plays a part in the direction of the ballpath, but the first rule is always to have an armswing that is in line with your target line. Without this, even the best release isn't accurate.

solitary SG

my ball speed isn't really fast.. cos i was trying to getting my spinning correct first..
didn't time the ball speed.. but it definetly wasn't fast..

Player1 SG

i think i should try the torso swing method.
so far, i got my whole body in line...which is alright.
but i feel weird walking straight with alignment in another direction..
or am i just doing it wrong??? Confused

Ian SG

player1, if u feel very natural doing that..u must be walking sideways all the time. dun worry man, it will feel more comfortable in time. ur muscle memory isnt programmed yet.

chuanish SG

Most bowlers increase their ball speed by pushing harder, or doing anything which involves the arm. I read somewhere that it's more effective to use your legs instead. Instead of forcing or muscling the ball, up the speed by faster footwork.

Ding SG

U've got the right one baby, ah hah Exclamation Cool

tIfosI SG

Really? How?

Ding SG

Go faster on the footwork lah Mr. Green

Use a 5 step approach, 1st step is a half-step Wink

Better momentum Idea

ev0luti0n SG

tats a good idea, i think remy ong uses it too, am i rite? Wink

harmzuay SG

When looking to increase ballspeed, the idea is to channel extra momentum from the forward movement of the body's mass into the ball. This has been mentioned by Ding and Chuanish.

The simplest way is to repeat your usual approach footwork, only faster. Unfortunately, it isn't that simple. Without trying to confuse you, here's how it works:

1. Objective is to move your entire body's mass forward faster to generate more momentum to transfer to the ball during release.

2. This is achieved through faster footwork in the approach (your normal approach, same number of steps)

3. But speeding up footwork without changing the timing of your armswing means that your resultant timing of the release will become too late.
I.e., the arm gets to the release point later than usual.

4. The easiest way to compensate would be to start the armswing later.

Example:
Assuming you are a 4-step bowler (push-away in 1st step) attempting to increase ballspeed.
First, your push-away should be delayed, say it starts only when you are ½-way through your 1st step. This should compensate for the difference in timing speeding up your feet would otherwise cause.

Note:
There are other more advanced methods such as that mentioned by Ding, but just try out the simplest one first.
The reason why you should adjust your armswing's timing as well is to avoid muscling the ball. Simply speeding up your entire body's timing would mean the arm has to intentionally swing harder and faster instead of using natural gravitational force of the "pendulum swing".
Exactly how much to adjust your armswing's push-away depends on how much you speed your feet up.

Happy experimenting. Smile

Player1 SG

Yeah...I agree.
I tried slowing down my approach last Thursday for my first throw and the ball speed went down, yes....but more importantly, the first time I saw the urethane ball hooking more towards the backend.
Mr. Green
and they said urethane ball can't hook much.... Very Happy kidding...

Ian SG

i may be slightly confused.
but isnt the armswing supposed to be started earlier for faster footwork?

harmzuay SG

Good spot Ian!
I got that wrong in my head. Heh heh.

Correction: When increasing footwork speed, bring forward armswing speed as well.

Ding SG

Yup Wink

tIfosI SG

Shit... you made me look like an arse when I tried that.... Laughing

harmzuay SG

My apologies.

But my post was around 630pm and Ian's was about 1130pm on the same day. So you went bowling after reading mine and before his? Wow.

Ding SG

Laughing wasn't it fun