How to hook a bowling ball without forcing it

The ball turns because the fingers stay in after the thumb

People ask me how to hook a bowling ball as if there is a secret flick. There is not. At the bottom of a free swing, the thumb leaves first. The fingers are still in the ball for a blink. That blink is when you lift up the back of the ball and turn it a little, like you are shaking hands with the target.

If the thumb is still in when you try to turn, you either hang up or you come over the top. Over the top looks like spin. It is not hook. The ball rolls around its equator and dumps early, or it never reads the lane at all.

I threw for a living on the PBA Tour for 21 years. The release I still teach is the same one that kept me on TV: stay behind and beside the ball, let the fingers do the work, and do not add a second motion with the wrist after the ball is gone.

The house ball is working against you

A plastic house ball is drilled conventional (fingers in to the second knuckle) and the cover is built to go straight. You can get a little turn if your hand is strong. You will not get a repeatable league hook.

A fingertip grip puts the fingers in only to the first knuckle. That extra leverage is why serious bowlers pay a pro shop to drill a ball to their hand. If you are still on house equipment, we can start there in a lesson. When you are ready, I will tell you what to buy. Read the grip comparison on fingertip vs conventional before you let someone punch holes in a new ball.

The release, in order

1. Loose enough to leave. A death grip locks the wrist and keeps the thumb in too long. Hold it like you mean to throw it, not like you are carrying groceries.
2. Thumb out first. You should feel the thumb clear at the bottom, not at the foul line two feet later.
3. Fingers lift and turn from the side. For a right-hander, think 5 o'clock to 7 o'clock. Left-handers flip the clock. You are rotating around the side of the ball, not twisting over the top like a doorknob.
4. Finish toward the target. Hand continues up, roughly toward your ear or shoulder. If the hand cuts across your body, the ball is already gone the wrong way.

Speed comes from a free swing and a posted finish, not from a harder last step. If you are throwing it through the face, you will see light hits and a lot of 10-pins even when the ball looks like it hooked.

A drill you can do tonight

Stand at the foul line. No approach. Swing the ball back and through and only work the release. Twenty slow ones. Thumb out, fingers lift, hold your finish until the ball hits the pins. If you cannot do it standing still, the five-step approach will not save you.

Then add one step. Then the full approach. If the hook disappears when you start walking, your timing is pulling the thumb out late or you are squeezing on the last step.

Mistakes I keep seeing

• Turning the wrist early, in the backswing. The ball is already spinning the wrong way before you get to the line.
• Looking at the pins. Aim at the arrows, about 15 feet out. A hook that starts from a bad target is just a miss with extra motion.
• Buying surface to hide a bad release. A dull ball will hook more and also hook earlier. If the hand is wrong, you just miss in a new place. Surface work belongs after the release is clean. That is the Abralon page.
• Copying a two-handed finish with a one-handed grip. If you want to bowl two-handed, say so and we will train that. Mixing the two in the same month usually costs pins. See two-handed lessons.

When a lesson is the faster path

If you have tried this for a few weeks and the ball still goes straight, or it hooks only when you really crank on it, come in. I will film you, tell you whether the problem is fit, timing, or the coverstock, and send you home with one drill.

That is the same first-lesson structure I wrote up on what to expect. You do not need a 200 average to book it.

Common questions

• Why will my bowling ball not hook?

  Usually the thumb is still in the ball, or you are throwing plastic. Fit and coverstock matter more than how hard you throw.

• Is a plastic spare ball supposed to hook?

  No. That is the point. Use plastic for 10-pins. Use reactive for strikes. I walk through the spare math on the 3-6-9 spare page.

• Can you teach this virtually?

  Yes. Film from behind and from the bowling-arm side. I can see a hang and an early turn on a phone video. Book a virtual lesson if Greenfield is too far.