Control How Your Bowling Grip Feels in Different Environments
Scott PohlDescription
How the bowling ball feels in your hand needs to be familiar or second nature in order to have success. Golf and baseball have what is described as the “sweet spot.” When the ball hits the club or bat in the perfect spot, you can feel it and you know it by the result.Bowling’s release works similarly. Experienced bowlers feel or know when the bowling ball comes off of their hand properly and are confident in the result.
Climate affects your hand—from humid to arid locations, your hand will behave differently. It can be clammy or dry and can even swell. Scott Pohl, owner of On Track Pro Shop, explains how different bowling accessories can give you control over the environment that you are bowling with and get you back to a more natural feel with your grip.
Rosin Bags
Are all rosin bags the same? No. If you are experiencing sweaty or clammy hands, dry rosin bags are for you.
If you have dry hands, it will feel like the ball is falling out of your hand. A chalky rosin bag or hand conditioner is used when you have dry hands.
If you use a chalky rosin bag with sweaty or clammy hands, you will only compound the problem, and conversely, if you have dry hands and use a dry rosin bag, that too will compound the problem. It doesn’t hurt to have one of each of these bowling accessories in your bag, just in case.
Protective Tapes
Placing protective tape on your fingers and thumb can prevent skin breaks while giving you increased control over your grip.
Protective tape comes in different colors and textures. The different textures give you more or less grab with your grip, allowing you to maintain the feel you desire when releasing the bowling ball. When you change climates from humid to arid you likely will experience skin breaks. If you’ve ever bowled with a skin break, you know it can draw your focus away from the task at hand.
For more great bowling accessories videos and to learn more about pro shops, check out Bowling Accessories 101 and How to Better Communicate with the Pro Shop from National Bowling Academy expert coaching contributors.
Hi, Scott Pohl here, On Track Pro Shop owner. We have three locations in the twin cities. Please stop out and visit us. What we're talking about right now is having that feel or control the bowling ball in all different environments. Okay, our hands are different a lot of the time, sometimes your hands are similar most of the time but we'll find bowling in humidity versus dry areas.
We need different accessories to allow us to compete at a high level. Number one, let's talk about the bowler's hand. Different material with the hand. Rosin bags work well for hands that are sweaty or clammy versus dry hands. All right, I'm gonna look at a hand that possibly is very clammy.
We're gonna use a rosin bag that has tended to be a lot drier material, more of a dry fit, versus the material that's very chalky. If we use this on a sweatier hand, it's gonna compound the problem, or make it very difficult to get out of that bowling ball. Vice-versa, now, if you have a dry hand... A lot of the time I see this with older players, our hands dry up as we get older, unfortunately. We're gonna use a material that does have a little bit of that chalk to it.
Maybe a puff ball here, or a rosin bag. Another one that's talked about is the hand conditioner. Okay, so great materials here. It's kinda like that pitcher on the mound. You see them go to that rosin bag, deliver the ball at the right time.
They feel very good about it. In the last few years, we've had materials come out that are called protective tapes. And what this gives you is even a little bit better feel yet. There's different textures and you have a lot better chance of holding onto the ball, throwing shot to shot. Another thing that it helps is if you have skin breaks in the hand, sometimes if you're bowling in a climate you're not used to.
Let's say you're used to humidity and you go to a dry climate and bowl. I would say, a lot of the time, your hand is gonna have issues, just a little bit. The protective tape is gonna help you bowl better. You're not gonna have those issues and have skin breaks. A lot of the time, it's a trial and error process.
Feel free to grab these items before you go to a tournament. You may not know which one you need, just depending on what's your environment.
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