Thing I would like to incorporate in my swing......

[Mike White]

It does seem a little "odd" that if you bowl like WRW, people say you aren't bowling correctly...yet WRW has more PBA titles than anyone in history and is largely considered the single best bowler (overall) on the planet.

He doesn't rely on a powerful ball, but on deadly accuracy.

It's hard to develop WRW kind of accuracy when the oil patterns give you 3-5 boards.

WRW developed the extreme accuracy not from bowling, but from horse shoes.

You can try to emulate him, but to do so you need to master horse shoes first.

I think his ringer % was somewhere above 95%

[RobLV1]

The modern release came about as a result of the need to project modern reactive resin balls out (left to right for a right-handed bowler). Some of the older players from pre-reactive days have adapted: Walter Ray with a straighter, more accurate shot with more ball speed, Norm Duke and Pete Weber with working very hard to keep from "hitting" the ball at all. Pete wears the golf glove to keep his fingers out of the equation, and Norm actually doesn't bevel his finger holes or thumb hole to keep from grabbing at all. The edges or so sharp, that if he grabs, he bleeds!

[swingset]

I think the modern swing was developed for bowlers to be able to handle the new balls with their asymmetric and symmetric cores and the new surfaces that grip the lanes better then the rubber or urethane balls did. It would be interesting to see an old school bowler using modern equipment go up against a modern technique bowler with new equipment and see how that would pan out.

Would the old school technique be able to handle a modern bowling ball?

All depends on the ball and the conditions. At the pro level, probably be hard to compete with power players throwing the classic style, but I've seen some guys locally that are seniors or old-school bowlers who dominate with a traditional style. One of the best in our area (with an 879 to his credit) is right out of 1970. He's just as deadly in tournaments...but he's robotic in his accuracy, that's got to help.

Then, there are guys who have what I would best describe as "all wrong but right" deliveries who have elements of the modern swing, but horrendous mechanics....yet they get the job done.

What's seldom talked about in conversations like this, but we all know to be true, is some people are just gifted with the right skeletal and muscular build and have an aptitude for performing certain tasks. WRW dominates because he's a guy who could probably play tournament darts or any other accuracy game to its highest level, and me with 1000 years of coaching and all the practice a man could have will never be that good. I might be a vastly better version of myself, but I'm not going to be him.

Some people have the release and delivery they do because they're wired to make it work for them. The worst mistake a bowler can do is emulate something that's not in their physiological wheelhouse to deliver.

[Hammer]

All depends on the ball and the conditions. At the pro level, probably be hard to compete with power players throwing the classic style, but I've seen some guys locally that are seniors or old-school bowlers who dominate with a traditional style. One of the best in our area (with an 879 to his credit) is right out of 1970. He's just as deadly in tournaments...but he's robotic in his accuracy, that's got to help.

Then, there are guys who have what I would best describe as "all wrong but right" deliveries who have elements of the modern swing, but horrendous mechanics....yet they get the job done.

What's seldom talked about in conversations like this, but we all know to be true, is some people are just gifted with the right skeletal and muscular build and have an aptitude for performing certain tasks. WRW dominates because he's a guy who could probably play tournament darts or any other accuracy game to its highest level, and me with 1000 years of coaching and all the practice a man could have will never be that good. I might be a vastly better version of myself, but I'm not going to be him.

Some people have the release and delivery they do because they're wired to make it work for them. The worst mistake a bowler can do is emulate something that's not in their physiological wheelhouse to deliver.

The guy that is straight out of the 70s what kind of ball does he use?

[Aslan]

You can try to emulate him, but to do so you need to master horse shoes first.

I think his ringer % was somewhere above 95%

Dammit. My horseshoe ringer % is far less. I wonder of WRW would have been a pro "Jarts"...had they not been outlawed.

[Mike White]

Dammit. My horseshoe ringer % is far less. I wonder of WRW would have been a pro "Jarts"...had they not been outlawed.

I've heard it said:

Anything you need done underhanded, he's the man.

[swingset]

The guy that is straight out of the 70s what kind of ball does he use?

Storm equipment, IIRC....IQ Pearl, Hyroad, etc.

[sprocket]

Some people have the release and delivery they do because they're wired to make it work for them. The worst mistake a bowler can do is emulate something that's not in their physiological wheelhouse to deliver.

I've decided I want to bowl just like E.J. Tackett.

Really there's not much point in emulating anyone. Name two pro bowlers who bowl just alike. To each, his own.