Coach’s Corner Tip

To Turn or not to Turn?

How much should you turn the ball at release? Does your ball roll more like Walter Ray Williams or Pete Weber? Is there an “optimum” amount of turn that is best at the release point? Let’s look at what turn is, how to get it, and when to use it.

The Ebonite website, at http://www.ebonite.com/techcenter/axistiltaxisrot.php provides an excellent description of turn, or axis rotation. To quote from that discussion:

“Axis rotation is the horizontal measure of the angle of the ball’s revolutions. It is also determined by the release. It is the release position of the fingers that dictates the amount of axis rotation. Axis rotation is commonly known as side roll.”

So, what does this mean? The axis is the imaginary line that the ball rolls around (think of the axis of your car – the wheels roll around the axis). If your car is going straight forward, the axis rotation is 0 degrees. This means that the axis is directly on the side of the ball. If you are driving on ice, you don’t want to turn the wheels too suddenly or too much or you will skid. You need to keep the car moving forward. On a bowling lane, a lot of oil on the lane causes the ball to skid, which means that it’s a good idea not to rotate your hand around the ball much on heavy oil.

Now, imagine a well-thrown spiral from a football. The spiral sends the ball flying down the field. This well thrown spiral is like getting a lot of axis rotation on the ball, as the end of the football is pointing back towards us. In bowling, if the fingers release directly off the side of the ball, much like an underhanded
football toss, you will get closer to a 90-degree axis rotation, which means that the axis is pointing right back at you when you release the ball.

So, how does this help you? Axis rotation causes the ball to skid farther down the lane and hook more sharply at the back end of the lane. If the front part of the lane gets too dry, coming more off the side of the ball can help you get the ball further down the lane. If you are playing the inside part of the lane (left of the 3rd arrow for right-handers) you want to impart more side rotation to get the ball to skid down the lane but have enough motion at the back of the lane to strike.

To practice this, imagine that the fingers of your hand are on a clock face. For right-handers (left-handers, use that mirror again) imagine that your fingers begin the release at 6:00. If they end up at 5:00, you have imparted very little turn and the ball will have low axis rotation. Once you get the hang of that, try some shots where you strongly rotate your hand from 6:00 to 3:00, or even 2:00. Release the ball with your hand directly on the side of the ball. Place a piece of tape about 5 inches to the right of your center of grip and you will be able to see the difference between the two releases.

Axis rotation gives you another tool to combat either excessive oil or excessively dry lane conditions. The ball will lose axis rotation as it goes down the lane, until it has none left. The speed at which this happens depends upon both the amount of oil on the lane and the amount of speed you impart on the ball. Just remember that sometimes you will need a little more or a little less speed to make the change of axis rotation effective. Learning to change and control axis rotation is possible and very helpful on demanding lane conditions.