Put your gloves on and get ready to roll: not all bowling gloves are made alike, so it's a process of trial and error to find one that's right for you - Lane Logic

Bowling Digest, June, 2003 by Kim Adler

WHEN YOU BOWL COMPETItively, there's always another challenge lurking around the corner. And sometimes the challenges aren't only on the lanes.

Take gloves. Buying a bowling ball can be confusing enough, but there is also a large group of gloves to choose from, and each glove has its advantages and disadvantages--and that's if you even need one!

There's no one better than me to tell you about the various bowling gloves available. I've used more than 10 different bowling gloves in my career. Some of these designs are still available, while others have come and gone or morphed into another design with a new name.

Here's an outline of the uses of some of the gloves on the market, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each based on what I have experienced personally and seen on the PWBA tour and from students of mine.

DO I NEED A GLOVE?

Deciding whether you even need a glove is the first question to address. When I speak of a "glove," I mean a wrist device that has a support value higher than a piece of leather or material wrapped around your hand and wrist (and even those have value, but they do not offer much physical support to the wrist).

I have seen some bowlers use "non-gloves" like the Ebonite React/R, Ebonite Mag-Force flexible wrist support, or a batting or golfing glove as a physical key to mentally discipline themselves to keep their hand in a certain position during the swing and release. Batting gloves offer some extra gripping ability--but no metal support--for the wrist. In fact, some batting gloves are little more than sweatband material.

If you're using a glove and feel it adds to your game, it does, because you believe it helps. I would never take something with that kind of value away. If your wrist is strong enough to manipulate with this material, then so be it!

A "glove," in my eyes, contains metal either for the back of the wrist/hand or both the front and back of the wrist. You will find a glove useful if you:

* Have had a wrist/hand injury in the past and now experience weakness as you bowl.

* Are more flexible than the average person, so your wrist has a wider range of motion than it should for the proper release.

* Are trying to learn what it feels like to keep your wrist straighter without having to wear a glove all the time.

* Have a small wrist and aren't strong enough to hold the weight of the ball you're carrying in your swing.

PROCEED WITH CAUTION

Be careful about giving gloves to children. I have seen many very young children either wearing a parent's gloves or their own when they bowl. If small, underdeveloped muscles learn to rely on a glove, it can impede strength development down the line. Consider the child's age and strength level before deciding to get him or her a glove.

Adults do not have developing muscles but will apply many of the same guidelines regarding the use of gloves. If you can learn to duplicate shots off your hand without a glove, you may not need one.

Gloves can also magnify a problem in your grip, so a proper fit is paramount. Some gloves can do some harm if your grip allows your thumb to clear very early in the release.

This very circumstance happened to me in the late '80s and early '90s. I wore what was called the "Perfect Wrist" or PW, which gave me great roll on the ball and was innovative for its time because of its ability to clear the thumb quickly. Then I began to carry the weight of the ball too long on my fingers, which inflamed my wrist and hand with a severe case of tendonitis. I eventually changed thumb pitches and made do until the tendonitis cleared and healed.

BEGINNER GLOVES

I separate the available gloves into three groups: beginner, mid-range, and advanced.

Beginner gloves are straightforward and simple in design. There are no moving parts, simply a piece of metal in the front and back (or just the back) that offers some support. These usually are the least expensive gloves, ranging in price from $10 to $25.

The Wristmaster, Robby's Plus, and Robby's CoolMax Plus are classified in this group. I usually find that bowlers like to take out the piece of metal on the palm because it raises the ball too high up off the palm. Whatever grip you incorporate, you must have some feeling in the palm of your hand! Beginner gloves are short in nature, which means the fingers are free to flex back during the release.

POSITIVES: Beginner gloves are inexpensive and give you a taste of firming the wrist as an advanced glove does with a relatively small investment.

NEGATIVES: The metal is usually not very strong, so it is easy to bend and can weaken over time--defeating the purpose of wearing a glove! I see big, strong guys just "blowing through" these types of gloves with ease. I also see people remove the metal in back, leaving only leather or leather-like material. Again, this defeats the purpose of wearing the accessory!

MID-RANGE GLOVES

These gloves include two styles: regular length and a length that covers the fingers to at least the first joint. This group is still fairly simple in design: There are few, if any, moving parts to the gloves. Examples of mid-range gloves include the Master Power Paw, Mongoose Products, the Ebonite Force, Ebonite Z-Lock2 2-3-4, Robby's Gladiators, and Cobra Products' Scorpion.