Can Strokers compete?

[Evan]

This may be a dumb question, but the majority of bowlers I see are crankers and have huge angles on their break, while I release my ball on the second mark from the right. Is that a style of bowling that can compete with crankers? Not only do I not know how to put that much hook on my ball I like the way I bowl now but I want to be able to progress further with my average.

[StriKING]

Sure we can. I consider myself a Tweener, but if I had to lean to one side, it'd be "Stroker." I stand left of centerand generally throw to between the second and third arrow. My ball speed is relatively slow, generally 15.5 to 15.8 mph. I do not crank on the ball. My two fingers give it just enough axis on release to let the ball do it's job. I'm not much of a showman, but my game is effective. This past Thursday I bowled a 685 series. The two "Crankers" o nthe pair next to me had series of 663 and 650. So, the answer is yes, we can compete.

[Drano]

Look at walter ray and norm duke, they're out showing the crankers up. When you look at the list of people above 20-30 pba titles, the majority of them are strokers.

Of the top 20 pba title holders, only maybe 3 or 4 of them crank/cranked the ball

[bigbowler76]

I know a guy who averaged 163 for years and throws a plastic ball for every shot, and he has thrown a 300 game... I avg in the upper 190's and I have not....

If you can find a way to get your ball into the pocket in a fashion that you can consistantly repeat, you will be a good bowler.

There is an amateur bowler(tournament player) in the New England area that has one of the oddest approaches you will ever see. He has a stutter step in his approach and you would think he would be all out of whack at the foul line, but he has won several titles and holds state records and such....

Do what works for you... As long as you can do it again, and again, and again.....

[BowlingObsessed]

bowling is not a game of how but of how many, all you gotta do is knock the pins down how you do that is irrelavant but how effectively you can do that is relavant however

[mrbill]

I also see alot of big hookers try to throw a strighter line for better carry on some patterns.
Getting max rotation is great but if you can get to the pocket consistantly, your a winner...

[Beech]

when i bowled in the 2 tourneys i bowled in i was bowling better than some people who i know carry 220+ avg's, why because i threw a nice small hook, about 10-7 and break near the end, some those 220+avg people were all crankers (btw this was on the cheetah pattern), and they all left splits and i was hitting the pocket so "strokers" FTW

[ward845]

I think its better to learn to crank it,seems like most of the better players do. yes it is true norm and walter are great but if you go by numbers most of the better pros and professional amateurs crank it. Now most crankers when they go on tour have to tone their revs down but there tone down revs are about 380 rpm which is still high.

[Beech]

ya im praticing a tweener PoV this summer and might swtich over to it, so far im liking it

[threeripmin]

i think cranking the ball is way over rated. sure, it looks cooler but i think you can run into more problems. the high average bowlers in my house are far from crankers.