Rare sighting

[J Anderson]

Last week my teammate and I caught sight of a rare bird at the bowling alley. In the first set we faced a team anchored by a right-hander with an average in the low 200s. Yeah, yeah, I know that low 200 averages have become almost run of the mill. What made this guy unusual? It took me a couple frames to realize he wasn't left handed! He was sliding with his left foot ending up infront of the left gutter. The ball was released over the 35th board, hit the arrows about 32, and curved from left to right into the 1-2 pocket.

I've been in enough recreational/social leagues to have run into a number of bowlers who throw a bach-up(reverse hook) ball as their normal shot. Very few of them have dliberately tried for the 1-2 pocket. This was the first time I had seen anyone get that much angle from the "wrong" side

[John Anderson]

I don't even understand how you can move your wrist in such a way to create spin in the right direction to be able to do that. The only way I'd even be close to hitting the 1-2 pocket like that is by using a spare ball and going right for it or just lobbing my strike ball at it for a probably rather weak hit.

[Aslan]

I know of one higher (180-200) average bowler that bowls back-up intentionally, RH, 1-2 pocket.

But most of the guys I've seen bowl like that are lower average, beginner bowlers.

I even had a teammate back a couple seasons ago, a co-worker, that bowled back-up. It was a pain in the rectory because I tried "coaching" him and everything I was trying to get him to do was backwards.

I'm waiting to encounter a higher average back-up ball bowler that I have some degree of repartee with so after hearing them brag about their high score I can say, "That's great. Maybe now you can learn to bowl like a boy." <----because primarily only girls routinely bowl back-up. For women...and I learned this in my coaching class...I guess due to slight anatomical differences in our arms...girls/women can more naturally throw a back-up ball. It feels "normal" to them. If you know a woman...and I'm guessing at least a few of you do...ask them to rotate their wrist outwards (like a back-up release) and you should see that their hand can rotate that way far more than your male hand can. Something to do with slight differences in the arms between the sexes.

[RobLV1]

There's a guy here in Vegas who averages 220+ who can back it up or hook it equally well. He usually goes with the backup ball to take advantage of the lesser-used side of the lane surface.