Improving Release Consistency

What does it mean to have a consistent release? Many bowlers want a “better” release and point to having more revs and more consistency. Taking the revolutions out of the equation for the moment, what does it mean to be consistent with your release? While you might think it’s obvious because of your particular needs, release consistency can actually involve several different things:

• speed consistency,
• rev rate consistency, and/or
• axis rotation consistency.

Maybe you struggle with all these things, but most bowlers will point to one or another as a specific problem. However, all are referred to as “consistency.” In this article, we’ll address all three of these topics in relation to the release and help identify and solve some of the issues that can cause inconsistency.

Many of the problems, and solutions, can be traced back to how much muscle power you are applying during the swing. Are you trying to “rip the cover off the ball,” or “throw it harder,” and therefore introducing muscle tension into the swing?

Like most issues in bowling, inconsistency in the release stems from having the wrong image in your mind of what a release should be. Strip that away, and you’re left with the right way to throw a bowling ball. Remember that the word “release” literally means to let something go. Bowlers should be relaxing muscles through the release, not contracting them. The more relaxed we are through the release, the more consistent we will be.

For example, if you have too much tension, your armswing slows down and affects your ball speed. Another example is squeezing the ball and slowing down the speed at which your hand can move, thus limiting the revolutions and rotation you can create. We’ll address each of the consistency issues separately, but like any discussion about the release, ...