Opinions on Two-Handed Bowling?

[Geve]

How does everyone feel about this style? Does anyone at your lanes use it with any consistency and success?
I just swapped over to this style while my wrist healed from injury because it didn't really hurt at all when I bowled with it. Most of all though, because it was FUN. I enjoyed it a lot, you get so much speed and power, the pins just fly all over the place.

People in my league just criticize it so hard saying things like, "You'll never get any consistency with two-handed!"

"Wow watching two handed bowling is like watching a stupid monkey hurl a boulder down the lane"

I just wanted to hear what others thought about it, and if anyone else on this board uses this style as well.

[tr33frog]

I haven't seen anyone using it. I've tried it a few times for giggles on fun night. Felt very uncomfortable, but was able to rip off a nice string of strikes doing it. I always wonder what it would do to ones spare pick up having to switch styles so drastically. Seems like there are a lot variables built into it, with having to get both hands to do things at the exact same time every time. Of course if I hyperextend my fingers a couple more times I might have to go to it, lol.

[e-tank]

Ive seen more and more people use 2 handed. Its not my main style but i do dabble in it from time to time to change things up. Imo people are just haters and are stuck on tradition. Jason Belmonte got a ton of hate growing up throwing two handed with people telling him the same thing people are telling you. That didnt stop him and as a result, hes one of the top bowlers on tour. If its a style you like and have success with, then keep doing it.

Also inb4 Aslan with a long rant about two handers, thumbless and 6 ball bag bowlers lol

[Terrier]

I've seen league bowlers use it, and I use it just for fun if my thumb happens to get cut or chafed. But it's just like any other style - you have to develop consistency. The trouble is that it's very hard to find coaches who can coach that technique. YouTube has some decent videos, though.

The people in your league aren't out of the ordinary. It's still a relatively rare form in leagues and on the pro tour, and there's so much history of success before its arrival. Those are the two arguments that will go against it for the next 10 years (at least). Oh yeah, don't expect an internet forum to be remarkably different. You know what they say about opinions...

My suggestion is to do whatever is fun for you, because that's what will keep you motivated to work on it. If you plateau and later think a one-handed delivery gives you a better chance to score higher, nothing is stopping you from going back. It's just a matter of putting in the time and not asking your body to do too much. (I wouldn't recommend it to anyone with bad back/knee problems, for instance.)

[Aslan]

Also inb4 Aslan with a long rant about two handers, thumbless and 6 ball bag bowlers lol

I'm not even going to comment…I've said my piece, my opinion is well known.

[Stormed1]

I don't have a problem with 2 handers other thanit should be just li If you are a 2 hander you should have to be one for the whole season and have to shoot every shot with 2 hands. You should have to establish a 2 hand average the same as if you bowled one league right handed and another left.ke it is for right/left handed.

[e-tank]

I'm not even going to comment…I've said my piece, my opinion is well known.

youve saved yourself a post worthy of an essay my friend haha

[TCJ]

My opinion of it is that if people want to use that style they should be free to do so. It has advantages and disadvantages, like just about any other style. Of the people I know who bowl in my league, I'm the only one who has used it consistently (some others have tried it, but didn't stick with it for long) with some success, having carried nearly a 200 average using it -- and that being my first year bowling like that. Spare shooting CAN be a little problematic switching back to one hand, but I've developed an ability to either just throw a plastic ball straight with two hands, or do a reverse hook to get pins on the right side. My consistency is a little off, but then again, like I said, I only bowled that way for about a year. I still use it off and on during practice and for tournaments (shot a 727 last tournament), plus for sport patterns. My accuracy was picking up over time and I think were I to keep at it, I'd just get better and better at hitting the same spot. I'm sure that's probably the same for anyone who tries it.

As for what other people think of it, I've gotten some comments (probably not exact):

"Go back to one-handed!" - Some teammates. That was when I first started. After about ten weeks of bowling like that and showing that I could do it about as well as one-handed, they stopped making the comments.

"I've never seen your ball have so much power before." - Another teammate.

"I'd fall down if I tried that." - lots of people.

"What's up, Jason?" -Pro shop guy and former pro. He teases me about it, but he doesn't discourage it or make any negative remarks.

[dnhoffman]

I have never seen it outside of Belmo on TV, and would have no idea how to critique it one way or another.

Here's an interesting article Storm Bowling shared this morning though: http://guttertoglory.com/2013/12/all-new-angles/

[J Anderson]

How does everyone feel about this style? Does anyone at your lanes use it with any consistency and success?

When I started seeing two-handers, I felt much like I did when Mark Roth started beating up on all my heroes in the PBA with what was then a radically different style of bowling. I got over it then, I'll get over it now. Got beat by a two-hander last night in the first game of a set by 7 pins, beat him by over 40 the next game. If I can do that a few more times, I'll definitely get over it.

I agree with Stormed1 that it should be treated the same as bowling right-handed or left-handed. If I can't switch to left-handed to try and make the 2-8-10, They shouldn't be allowed to switch to one handed to shoot the ten pin.

We had a left-handed high school senior bowl two-handed in the sport league last season. My subjective opinion was that he bowled quite well. Looking back at the standings, I was one place in front of him after week 34, and my average which is strictly mediocre for that league was 0.01 pins higher.

My friend and sometimes coach Tim has been trying two-handed. He's one of those bowlers who feels that he is at a disadvantage when the lane condition forces him to play inside the third arrow. The new technique has given him the ability to play much deeper but he seems to still be getting used to it and may be having a harder time keeping the ball from going Brooklyn.