I wanna be like mike

[Hammer]

Norm Duke makes it look easy. No coast to coast just more or less straight up and one heck of a bunch of messenger pins. It seems like the straight up technique is easier to control for pocket hits the the coast to coast style which covers a lot of territory and needs more accuracy to get stringing strikes.

[Mike White]

Back in the days of wood lanes the manager would escort you out the door for lofting that far. Only the first 15' of the lane and the pin deck were maple. From 15' to 60' was soft pine and those shots would be leaving dents in the lane. Of course back then every one of those shots would have been a gutter ball too.

Thats ok, it was on the left side.... screw lefties

[CeKnauss]

I don't worry about playing straight or deep inside as much as I worry about playing the lanes the way they should be played. If I see a lot of friction in the midlane, I'll play deeper left. That helps me get the ball right, but it will still hook. If the lanes are slick, I play as straight to the pocket as I can, often straight up 10 or 12 or farther right if there's a little friction. Mike's form looks cool and all, but I'm sure he doesn't play that way on every condition he bowls on. Norm and WRWJ can play the lanes straight, but there are some conditions that just don't really condone playing straight. WRWJ has bowled deep inside and has even bowled "2 handed" (Don't believe me? Look it up on youtube.)