Week One...
Practice scores: 32, 104
League scores (one-handed, immediately following practice): 185, 200, 201 (Dyno-Thane Threshold)
So tonight marked the first time I went into a bowling center and bowled two-handed for more than a shot or two. I bowled two practice games prior to league.
My first game, I bowled 32. Not 132. Not 232. Thirty...two. After three frames, I had a score of 1.
The second game went much better: 104, with four spares. Oddly enough, I found the thing a two handed delivery made easy was shooting straight at the 10-pin: you just don't turn the ball. Come straight up the back of it and it goes right down the target line.
My struggles in the first game were mainly due to me having to get used to two things, the change in angles and the fact I couldn't get any speed. I usually roll around the 16-17 mph range. I doubt I was doing more than 10 throwing two-handed. Coupled with the increase in revs, and all of a sudden everything was in the ditch by the 50-foot mark if not sooner.
For the second game, I finally moved as far left as I could (limited by the ball return, as I had been assigned Lane #2), and committed to moving my target to the right and further down the lane. I finally started to get the ball (sort of) where I wanted it to go.
I had found a pair of 14-pound balls to test this with, a Storm Dark Thunder and a Visionary Slate Blue Gargoyle. The DT was far too much ball. The SBG, which is urethane pearl, was the only thing I could keep on the correct pocket side, and even then it was a chore. I'm sitting here now sore on my right side at the beltline, and my left chest is sore from the pulling action of opening my shoulders at delivery. Also my right forearm was mildly sore for awhile. I can tell if I keep doing this that I'm going to have to figure out a way to open and clear the shoulders at delivery, or it's just not going to work. I have no idea what to do yet about the speed issue.
The other thing I realized is that, one- or two-handed, we are what we are to a large degree. The wrist position changes that work for a traditional approach have the same effects on a two-handed approach. If you're good at straightening the ball out as a one-hander, you can probably do it two-handed as well. There is no miracle cure here for flaws, but also your strengths don't automatically disappear.
Strangely enough, I had my best set of the season after I switched back to one-handed for league. My wrist release felt a little snappier. But I have tendon-related pain in my right wrist as I type this, which I usually do after league.
I'll keep working on this in practice. It's not going to be an overnight change.
Jess
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