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Thread: I'm 46, and I'm probably switching to 2-handed bowling.

  1. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by fordman1 View Post
    Have you ever gave any thought about bowling with the other hand? If you are a righty bowling left handed would be even better. One other thing what are you going to do when you get older? You are already a mess.
    lol, I am indeed.

    I would say the hesitance to switch hands comes mostly from a guy I used to bowl with who did just that. He had torn his right shoulder up pretty badly by bowling, switched hands, and then did the same thing to his left shoulder and had to quit outright. I don't want a similar fate I fortunately have never had any shoulder issues through the years. It is very, very rare that I ever have shoulder pain, or elbow pain for that matter. It's mostly wrist, hand and knee pain that get me.

    Jess

  2. #12

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    Week 3:
    Practice scores: 140, 92
    League scores (one-handed): 180, 163, 209

    The first practice game was the first time I've really thought "I've got something to work with here." I hit the pocket 9 times out of 11 balls, and left a bunch of single pins I couldn't pick up. This is the first time I've had spare-shooting trouble on the right side.

    The focus this week was continuing to improve ballspeed, and after a good first game, I tried to go too quickly and ended up destroying my timing. A friend later told me I was closing up too much at the foul line and shoving the ball with my shoulder in an attempt to generate speed, which was pulling everything left of target.

    Once in league, I bowled better than my score the first game, lost my look in game two and then de-shelled in game three, opening up with a spare and five-bagger. I was on a 230-ish pace headed into the final game but finished with two ugly opens (5-4, 6-1) to really kill my score.

    Weekly pain check: Didn't stretch my hand and fingers enough and ended up with mild pain in the middle finger again, which is confirming the need to change pitches. I was hoping to avoid doing anything other than plugging a bunch of thumbholes but I might not get that lucky.

    Four weeks left until summer league and then I'm going to bowl the summer two-handed. So I've basically got a maximum of eight practice games to figure out how I want to attack this. Gulp.

    Jess

  3. #13

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    I bowled two-handed for the first time last week. My wrist was hurting pretty bad and I couldn't use my thumb to grip the ball. I didn't want to try lefty so I went two handed. Bowled the best game I ever have at 241 the very first game. And the next two games were both 20 pins over my average. My teammates are telling me to stick with it.

  4. #14

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    Week 4...
    Practice scores: 118, 99, 90, 114
    League scores (one-handed): 189, 152
    League scores (two-handed): 175

    Practice was completely unfruitful this week. In a quest to pick up speed, I found myself getting my timing all out of whack. Once that happened, I would spray the ball all around until I would either suddenly regain my timing, or not.

    After my fourth practice game this week -- which ended in three straight marks as I switched from resin back to pearl urethane and went back to the basics -- I didn't intend to actually bowl two-handed in league until my original plan, which was first week of summer league.

    And then my wrist decided it had other ideas.

    Toward the middle of Game 2 tonight, I began to have the familiar old wrist pain coming from the right side of my wrist (as viewed from above). I described it to a friend tonight as feeling like I had karate-chopped a doorframe. My entire wrist hurt from basically the fat of my hand, through the entire wrist joint and about six inches up forearm. This is "normal" for me.

    By the time the game ended, I could no longer abide the pain. It was either switch or quit, and I chose to switch.

    I don't know what made this game different from all my practice games. Maybe I just focused more intently, knowing that if I botched this up it was going to cost three teammates and not just myself. I pulled out my Visionary Slate Blue Gargoyle (urethane pearl), made my approach slower, more deliberate and straighter, and ... shot 175.

    I had one open frame -- the first, which went -7. After that, I rolled off seven consecutive spares, including two 3-10 conversions, then went X/X in the ninth and 10th for 175.

    This was probably the happiest I've been while bowling in a long, long time. I actually committed to something difficult and pulled it off. And, my wrist stopped hurting. It's sore now (as it always is for a day or two after bowling) but I bet that changes next week if I decide to shoot all three games two-handed.

    That's now a possibility, because despite winning all games tonight, our team was eliminated from contention with three weeks left. Any damage I do to the team these last three weeks will be minimal.

    Jess

  5. #15
    Pin Crusher Tampabaybob's Avatar
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    Hi Jess.... Was reading about your dilemma with pain and I'm very familiar with what you're going through. After 61 years of bowling (started at age 11) my body seems to be telling me to slow down. Unfortunately, the damn brain keeps telling the body otherwise. Have had the heart attack, colon resection, and a couple of other maladys, but I keep fighting them off. I also do private coaching and have many seniors that I've coached that have the bad knees, back, etc, but we all have one thing in common. And that's the love of the sport and the thrill of kicking some of the young guy's butts.
    My remedy is when things start acting up I take two extra strength Tylenol before I leave the house and head to the lanes. An hour after bowling is when the body starts telling me I'm getting old. Stll averaging in the low to mid 200's, but the stamina is really weighing hard. I've had to learn to pace myself and relax more when I'm bowling and that does go a long way in helping.

    I'm a bit bewildered at your practice scores being so low and your league scores being in the 170 - 190 range. Is it because you're practicing on burnt oiled lanes? If they are fried from leagues the night before, try to find a house that does oil in the morning and also before the leagues. Always practicing on burnt lanes won't help you. It's bad enough it happens during a league night.

    As far as the two handed option goes, I understand the reasoning for trying it, less pain, but I also agree with Rob, whom I've had the pleasure of knowing for some time, that using a two handed style puts a lot of stress on your body if done correctly. If you've never had a personal coach, I'd suggest looking for one, as he or she may be able to help you make a couple of changes to your approach and release that might help. As I mentioned earlier, I do private coaching. I also have a web site with hundreds of articles that might strike home with you. I have a separate section "Just for Seniors". Look me up at Brandonbowlingcoach.com.

    Good luck and check back to let everyone know how you're doing.

    Bob
    Bob

    "There truly is such a thing as a bad night and when these doomed evenings arrive you can't avoid them. But there's a bright side to this, it's that bad nights won't kill you, and sometimes will make you a little smarter."

  6. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tampabaybob View Post
    I'm a bit bewildered at your practice scores being so low and your league scores being in the 170 - 190 range. Is it because you're practicing on burnt oiled lanes? If they are fried from leagues the night before, try to find a house that does oil in the morning and also before the leagues. Always practicing on burnt lanes won't help you. It's bad enough it happens during a league night.
    I'm also confused by your practice scores being SO low compared to your league scores. I would think you are attempting to bowl two handed only during practice but you give us two handed league averages. Are you just not trying as hard in practice? Just seems odd you're bowling 50-70 pins lower almost every game practice vs. league. Something is happening here with the huge disparity.
    Last edited by bubba809; 03-20-2019 at 08:10 AM.
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  7. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by bubba809 View Post
    I'm also confused by your practice scores being SO low compared to your league scores. I would think you are attempting to bowl two handed only during practice but you give us two handed league averages. Are you just not trying as hard in practice? Just seems odd you're bowling 50-70 pins lower almost every game practice vs. league. Something is happening here with the huge disparity.
    Yes, sorry about that -- practice scores are two-handed ONLY.

    And I just have one two-handed league game for now, the 175 that is in bold/red type above.

    If I practice one-handed bowling these days, I can't bowl league in the same week due to the needed recovery time.

    Jess

  8. #18
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    Very interested in your trials and tribulations. I switched to two handed bowling when I was 57 yo. I had arm pain up to my right elbow which after all sorts of exercising, physio, acupuncture it turned out that by removing the thumb from the ball, the pain stopped.
    I am 60 yo today and have seen modest improvement in not only my scores but my technique. I also dropped weight to 14 lbs. Like you I noticed that ball speed is an issue but I really wasn't much faster using one arm since I didn't have a big back swing. Our lanes tend to be on the dry side so I have had a little more success with urethane than reactive stuff. Everyone is different but I find two handed to be not all that stressful on the body. The fact that I can bowl any number of games without pain is great. I have a Storm Mix ball that I use for right hand side spares. Making the 6-10, 10 pin spares way more often will only increase my average which is 165. I have bought new equipment this year so much of my experiments should be done for next year. No reason I can't expect my league average to improve 15-20 pins. Just on missed spares alone I can see that happening. To help increase ball speed, step back on the approach. So many things to practice but you seem to love bowling like I do and I too cannot stand to be just mediocre and playing for fun. Even at my age I have a bit of room to grow, at least to a point of enjoying the game again. Continued good luck.

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