Ring and middle finger position

[Corvault]

Hello, I was curious as to what effect it has to have the ring finger higher than the middle on a fingertip drill? My ring finger is about 1/8" higher than the middle finger on my ball, but naturally my ring finger is about 1/8" shorter than my middle. My driller has been drilling for years and years now and I don't question his work, I'd just like someone to elaborate the differences in having ring finger higher/lower than middle, as I have seen it both ways before. Thanks!

[Linsolv]

Usually it's going to be a tiny bit lower, as that's the way that the fingers line up. When I've seen people with the ring finger higher, it's actually because the ball is fitted for the other hand. But I'm new so that could be wrong. It's just what I've seen and what I've heard.

[Corvault]

Thanks for the response. Actually, after doing some research, it seems that many bowlers have the ring finger drilled slightly higher than the middle. I would still appreciate if anyone could explain why or why not this is right :P

[bowl1820]

Thanks for the response. Actually, after doing some research, it seems that many bowlers have the ring finger drilled slightly higher than the middle. I would still appreciate if anyone could explain why or why not this is right :P

Because of the distance from your thumb to your ring finger, is greater than the distance from the middle finger to the thumb.

Just look at the palm of your hand, your thumb is farther away from your ring finger. Than it is from the middle finger.

[Corvault]

Maybe I'm missing something. I know the ring finger is further from the thumb than the middle, that's why I figured it would be drilled lower than the middle finger to match the natural position of the hand. Like I said, I'm probably missing something and not using simple logic lol

[Linsolv]

Who are you seeing doing this? I haven't seen anyone with a ball drilled that way, myself, though as I said earlier I'm quite new.

I can tell you that I have tried a few times when I was not using a ball drilled for me but a house ball, tried left-handed balls that did make my ring finger further out. It felt like it would give me more revs, but actually it tended to result in the ball going arrow-straight. It was to the point that I would almost consider having a spare ball drilled for a lefty.

But I wouldn't, really, because obviously I'd like my theoretical arsenal to feel relatively internally consistent.

[bowl1820]

One thing when looking at the holes on a balll, is theres kind of a optical illusion going on. That makes the ring finger appear lower than the middle.
It looks that way on my ball, but if you look at my span measurements. The ring finger span is longer than the middle.
Middle finger is 4 7/16"
Ring finger is 4 17/32"

[Corvault]

Exactly 1820, that's what has been baffling me. I always kind of thought that the holes were pretty even or maybe ring finger lower than middle, but I looked closely and noticed the opposite of what I expected. Since a person's ring finger is naturally shorter than the middle finger (typically) then I really assumed the ring finger would have a shorter span than the middle finger, but even your ring finger has a LONGER span than middle finger. I just don't know why the ring finger would have a longer span when it is a shorter finger :P

This is such a confusing forum post, apologies in advance. Lol

[Stormed1]

Easiest and a quick way to see that the ring finger is farther away from your thumb is to open your hand and lay a ruler at the base of your thumb across your hand.There are some people that do have a shorter ring finger span but they are the minority.

[bowl1820]

I just don't know why the ring finger would have a longer span when it is a shorter finger

Because the difference in length of the fingers, is less than the difference in length of the ring finger & middle finger from the thumb. Which is because the thumb is offset to the side of your hand.