Thumbless or not?

[Aslan]

jw how is thumbless or two handed gimicky?

I guess I consider it "gimicky" (for lack of a better word) because if you go to open bowling or cosmic bowling...you'll see a lot of young bowlers just whipping the ball down there using one of these methods. It's more about trying to get the ball to have excessively high rev rates and a lot of lateral movement than it is about "bowling". And for the most part, these bowlers never develop into league bowlers or good, solid bowlers.

Because while those styles are fun to watch and "can" generate high scores...those styles are much more difficult to execute consistently and much harder to pick up the variety of spares one will encounter.

Even at the PBA level...mostly strokers early on, mostly crankers nowadays. But thumbless?? 2-handed? Rather rare. If you're hooking the ball 20 boards...and you leave a 10 or a 6-10...then what? You can't move over left enough to hit those pins...which means either you have to learn to bowl left AND right handed...or you have to learn to bowl a straight ball for spares. It just adds variance that might not be necessary....if it's just a matter of learning to bowl better in a more traditional way.

"Can" you score highly? Absolutely! I bowl with a thumbless bowler on my Thursday league team...every 2-3 weeks that dude will rock a 210-240 game...like he did last night!! But his scores are going to have a higher standard deviation and some nights he really struggles with picking up spares. I also have a thumbless bowler on my Friday sanctioned league team...a lefty. And same thing...some games...that dude rocks a 170-190 and is striking good. Other games...110-115. The only difference is he's a better spare shooter and doesn't leave quite as many splits...but the Thursday thumbless bowler has a higher potential score on any given night.

Now I can't "preach"...not on Thursdays anyways...because I sometimes really struggle myself...REALLY struggle on those lanes. But on Fridays, I'm the best bowler on my team and the most consistent. 155-225...usually 165-185.

In my opinion, and thats all this is, the reason we have these varying styles is that bowling at the end of the day is a really, really simple game. Just hit the headpin. 2/3 of the time...you hit the headpin...they all fall down. If they don't...just roll the big, heavy ball towards the 1-3 pins that stayed standing. Simple. You can roll it between your legs...one-handed, 2-handed...maybe invent some 2-hand push like a basketball pass...you can even throw it overhand if you want...or super high loft it like a shot put. As long as you can consistently hit the headpin...nobody will care. The alley might if you start damaging the lanes...IDK. But at the end of the day...there's a traditional, established way to bowl...similar over the last 50-60 years...well-researched...and it is my FAR the pre-dominant style...and "probably" is for a reason.

[Aslan]

...there's a traditional, established way to bowl...similar over the last 50-60 years...well-researched...and it is my FAR the pre-dominant style...and "probably" is for a reason.

I'll give you an example from my embarassing experience:

So, I was having trouble setting the ball down early versus lofting it 15-20ft. So I decided..."maybe I'm just "special" and instead of aiming at dots or boards or arrows...I should just throw it at the head pin or the break point. Now realize, pretty much every pro or bowling instructor will tell you NOT to do aim at the pins. It's like Bowling Rule #1. But, I decided, "different strokes for different folks". First time I tried it...STRIKE!

But as I kept trying it...no success at all. So then I aimed for the area with the shaded boards about 3/4 down the lane. Again, at first, STRIKE! But, over time...not so good.

And finally...I got back to aiming at the dots and arrows. Moral of the story? Sometimes a person will have a rare affinity for doing something that kinda flies in the face of convention...and it'll work for them. But most of the time...if you stray from the established fundamentals...you won't be as successful, not over the long haul.

[vdubtx]

Aslan,
This is what I picture when you talk about lofting so far...

[sprocket]

Just a quick bowling history lesson: Not using a thumb hole far predates using a thumb hole or finger holes for that matter. In the beginning darkness was across the face of the deep and there were no gripping holes in a bowling ball. Then there was one finger hole and a thumb hole and then a second finger hole was added. After adding the second finger hole there were still many "old school" bowlers who just used two holes. There was a least one bowler who didn't use ANY of the holes. That bowler was Count Gengler and he was perhaps the greatest action bowler of all time. He palmed the ball and it has been suggested that the position in which he placed the holes, which he was not using, caused the ball to have significant positive side weight, something uncommon at the time except for those illegally inserting lead into the positive side of the ball. The Count was in his prime about 100 years ago.

Thumbless bowling is really nothing new either. It can be argued that it is a more "pure" way to bowl and that those who choose to use a thumb hole do so because they are unable to bowl well without it.

About those crazy no-thumb house bowlers: All the same arguments can be made for the ones using a thumb hole. They use the thumb hole so they can throw the ball REALLY hard because they love to see the ball really crash into the pins. Very few have any success with that method though and most just throw the ball all over the place.

I wish there was a video that showed dozens of balls traveling down the lane, all thrown by different bowlers, all with different speed and rotation but you NEVER got to actually see HOW each ball was thrown. The only thing you would see is what really matters and that is HOW THE BALL GOES DOWN THE LANE.

[Aslan]

Then there was one finger hole and a thumb hole and then a second finger hole was added.

I have solid, massive respect for anyone that goes to a 1-finger, 1-thumb true old skool bowling style. But thumbless…not so much.

what really matters and that is HOW THE BALL GOES DOWN THE LANE.

Oh…well in that case…overhand bowling should be fully accepted as should 2-hand between the legs and the eyes closed method. Because…it doesn't matter "how" we do it. Sorta like steroids in baseball or blood doping in bicycling. I mean, we all like feel good Lance Armstrong cancer surviving stories…and who doesn't like to see Home Runs!?? It doesn't matter "how" they're doing it…it just matters that it's entertaining.

Which, on a side note…I have "ALWAYS" said golf would be more entertaining if the greens were more like miniature golf with cool obstacles and stuff…and if the sport on the fairways was full contact.

[sprocket]

Aslan, What if I you just saw the video I was imagining and then after seeing all the balls traveling down the lane, each one effective in its own way, and then you got to watch ANOTHER video that let you see the bowlers...and one guy was in a wheelchair. And one guy was blind. And one leaned on a cane. And one didn't use the thumb hole because he had no thumb. And one had virtually no swing at all (I have seen video of this). And one had five gripping holes. And one was an Asian woman with a helicopter release. And one was a 10 year old two hander...

You really need to get out of your head that there is a "right" or "acceptable" way to bowl. Except overhand. That is always bad because there is no way to get good roll on the ball or not damage the lane. Same with lofting 30 feet.

It's actually quite freeing to not have prejudice against any effective bowling style. You can simply embrace all the possibilities and enjoy the uniqueness of each method. Then you will see bowling as art in motion and not just a sport.

[Aslan]

At the beginning of that post I was confused…there were lots of people doing lots of things and it was very confusing…

Then at the end…it seemed like what I imagine a Woodstock after party would be like…with rainbows and unicorns and every passing the peace pipe…just a very accepting way…no bad, no good, no nothin…just peace and love man…peace and love. Lots of Volkswagon vans.

Although….I do agree with you when it comes to the Wizard of Oz. You're telling me, the ONLY road to the Emerald City is the Yellow Brick Road?? There's no trails through the forest…no service entrance? How'd they get the heavy equipment in to build emerald towers? There's no way you can operate industrial machinery on a brick road without tearing the **** out of it? Am I wrong? So yeah…there must be another road…not just ONE road.

[sprocket]

There are many roads to the Emerald City. It's pretty much a metropolis surrounding it. There is, however, just one road from the Emerald City to Munchkin Land and that is the yellow brick road. It was built FROM the Emerald City to Munchkin Land, not vise-versa and it did not require heavy equipment because it is a brick road and not a paved road. There is also a yellow brick roads that comes from somewhere else and leads to Munchkin Land. Coming from Munchkin Land this materializes as a "Y" in the road. In the movie Dorothy met the Scarecrow there.

There are many roads man, many roads....

[Aslan]

I think sprocket should win the bowling ball giveaway this week for his massive Wizard of Oz knowledge!!

[dnhoffman]

I've seem a lot of people bowl thumbless and put up some high numbers. I have not, however, seen anyone average over 200 in a full 18 (much less 36) weeks.