Cupped Bowling Hand Position

By: bowlingball.com, Originally Posted: 2/28/16; Updated: 4/10/2022

What is a cupped bowling hand position? If you ask this question then you are likely not a bowler who has a cupped wrist position at the very moment your hand releases your bowling ball.

A cupped position of your wrist means that the back of your hand is nearly 90 degrees bent forward and not straight with your forearm.

If you extend your arm outward with your palm facing upward, your bowling fingers will face the sky in the commonly referred to “cupped wrist” position.

A cup wrist position promotes a fast thumb exit from your bowling ball and allows your fingers to apply rotation to the ball and add revolutions to your ball as it travels down the lane.

If you tilt your hand back as far as it will go in the opposite direction, your wrist will hinge backward and that position is typically known as a “broken wrist” position.

The broken wrist position promotes a slow exiting of your bowling thumb from the ball and increases ball skid length distance with fewer revolutions applied to the ball at the moment of release.

A "flat wrist" position, as you likely suspect, is one where the back of your hand is straight with your arm and provides a neutral release position with modest revs and with moderate ball skid distance.

It is a reality that many, many bowlers set-up on the approach and cup their bowling wrist thinking they will add revs to to the ball with their release.

Quite the opposite usually occurs! By the time they swing their bowling ball back and downward to the release zone, the cup totally disappears and more often than not, the wrist is in a broken wrist position when the ball exits the hand.

This common release tendency can fool the bowler into thinking he is in a strong release wrist position when, in fact, he or she is not.

In fact, it is better to set-up with a slightly broken wrist position or in a flat position so the muscles of your bowling arm are void of tension and can swing the ball with a fluid and free motion helping with ball speed control and consistent ball skid distance.

By the way, ball skid distance is described as the first phase of bowling ball motion and occurs during the front one third of the lane.



Unless you are gifted athletically and have a very strong wrist and arm, it is difficult to retain a cupped wrist position throughout your swing and release.

If you are dead set on trying to gain revs, consult with your bowling instructor to make sure your swing and release technique allow you to maximize your revs on your bowling ball.

If you are a “stroker” type player delivering your ball with a small amount of hook, use a slightly broken wrist position to free up your swing and apply a consistent release action to your bowling ball.

In short, for most of you reading this article, it will be advisable to scrap the cupped bowling hand position entirely.