The How and When of Different Hand Positions for the Release

Hi there, Scott Pohl, a four-time Team USA member, and what we're going to discuss today is a very valuable way that you can adjust to different lane conditions. In particular, how do we adjust our axis rotation? Well, by definition, axis rotation is one that is zero degrees. Think of it, a tire going down the road, right? No change in direction, just rolling end over end.

Vice versa, something that's spinning on its side is very, very high axis rotation. This video is going to show you ways to adjust to the lanes. In particular, we're going to get into little axis rotation. Another example is going to be when you have higher axis rotation. All right, let's get on the lanes.

We're going to show you what we mean. Okay, so here's a shot. We're just using normal axis rotation, and you can see how it's going through the pins very well with a flush strike. Well, what happens over time, right? The lane's going to dry up just a little bit.

Here's a shot where we're going through the nose and we actually leave a big four split. Well, our first adjustment is we're going to move to the left with our feet. Chances are it's going to be a fairly large adjustment. In general, three to five boards with our feet, a couple with our target. Well, you can see the result was a two, four, five, seven.

So now we have a situation what we call is a wet dry, otherwise known as a cliff that some people use. This typically happens a lot on house shots when the wet dry is from side to side. One way to work with this is throw a ball with less axis rotation, and we can move back a little bit closer to the friction. For example, two to three boards to the right from our last ball leaving the two, four, five, seven. As you can see, the ball is a little bit more end over end, and it reads the oil much, much sooner and doesn't over respond in the dry.

So less axis rotation worked really well in this situation. So typically we use less axis rotation when we're playing straighter angles, sometimes even with a lower scoring base. All right, so another example here is using more axis rotation when we left that big four. If you don't feel comfortable rolling the ball a little bit more end over end with less axis rotation, possibly you can move inside the lane. And higher axis rotation is actually going to be a cleaner reaction and respond a little bit more down lane.

Sometimes when we move inside, the ball over responds with too much axis rotation. And like here, we leave a six, seven, 10. Another adjustment is move a little bit further inside. And you can tell that the ball will get through the oil really nice and hit the dry at the right time, throwing a strike. All right, so different situations for less axis rotation and higher axis rotation.

A couple of things to possibly feel when you're doing this. When you're doing that less axis rotation, really feel like you're coming up the back of the ball and your wrist isn't rotating a lot. Vice versa now, I find some people when they try to get higher axis rotation, what they do is actually spin it. You don't need to feel like you're overturning it because your hand is already in a good position. Okay?

A couple of different situations for using those. I guarantee you, if you can be more versatile with less axis rotation, higher axis rotation, it's going to help. One way to make this happen is, you know what? Do the stationary drill or swing and slide drill and just mimic those feelings. Get on the lanes, check them out.

You'll be a lot better to adjust to different lanes.