Understanding Side Roll

by bowlingball.com, Originally Posted: 7/14/2015; Updated: 2/13/2024

In order to compete on all lane conditions, it's important to understand your release. Certain lane conditions will require more side roll where others will require more forward roll. Side roll is created by rotating your hand around the side of the ball at release while forward roll is created by staying more behind the ball with your fingers.

Here's a good general rule to use regarding side roll:

Light/Short Oil: Use more side roll.
Heavy/Long Oil: Use more forward roll.

As Michelle Mullen explains in Bowling Fundamentals, Second Edition, "When you turn the ball, it has more potential to hook later down the lane, because side roll stores energy, which delays hook. But if this reaction is delayed too long, the ball will run out of time to hook. This is especially true if you are bowling on a lot of oil. In this situation, more turn does not create more hook!"

The reason for this is because when there is a large amount of oil, the ball will continue it's skid phase longer. When you use a release with more side roll (which promotes extra length), along with the added skid from the oil, the ball will not have enough time to hook once it reaches the end of the pattern. You want to use more forward roll on these conditions which creates an earlier roll. This way, once the ball reaches the end of the pattern, it's ready to begin the hook phase immediately.

On light oil, you wouldn't want to use a lot of forward roll. This will cause the ball to hook up early and not have enough angle in to the pocket. This can create carry issues along with the possibility of the ball hooking too much. Side roll also is effective when you need to move inside and need to create more angle in to the pocket.

Learning how to adjust your side roll and when to use it will take your game to the next level!