I’m in a candlepin league. Tenpin bowling sucks
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What weight are you throwing? I lift and am not weak but never felt like I could rip the RPMs on a 16 lb ball. I traded mine for a 15 and that was better, but still felt like I was fighting it. I think 14 give or take a half pound would have been the sweet spot for me but never got to try a real ball with grips at that weight, but I’m not sure if giving up the pounds is worth the extra velocity and spin. I don’t have a traditional throwing motion, it’s similar to 2hand release but I don’t keep my off hand on the ball as long.
Well…the 15 pound balls became the norm quite a while ago, like maybe in 2000, or a little before. I can’t remember exactly. But whenever it was, I switched from 16 to 15. And I stayed with that until a couple of years ago when I went back to 16 for my strike balls. I had been leaving a lot of ten pins with the 15 pounders, so I decided to switch back to 16 and I believe I carry a few more strikes because of it. There are lots of guys who throw it faster down the lane than I do and with more revs. I go down and in, and let the ball do most of the work, though I do make some adjustments almost unconsciously as needed. A lot of ball speed is actually generated by foot speed to the line, and not so much arm power. Watch the pros and notice how quick they get to the line. They have the ability to ramp everything up while still maintaining control, which is harder for most of us duffers.
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Oh man I used to bowl in my younger years and always sucked at it, but my friends and I always enjoyed it. My best score ever was around 200, but that was a major outlier.
TBH the worst thing about bowling is having to go to a bowling alley to do it. That Family Guy bit about bowling alleys was spot fucking on.
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Are there generally agreed upon tips or rules when it comes to stuff like how many steps I should be taking, optimal ball speed (guessing this depends on how much spin you use)? Know of any good youtube instructors or websites that aren’t complete trash? I throw a 16 lb ball pretty fast (18-20 mph) so I don’t think going to a lighter ball would be beneficial.
I’ve got pretty good at throwing the ball straight and generally on target but I bet my footwork sucks.
additional maybe annoying questions -
if i drop you in a random bowling alley you’ve never been to with none of your gear (aka you need to play with house balls and shoes not knowing the lanes etc). what kind of a drop from your average score will you have?
40-50 pins I’d say.
nice so assuming you have a 210 average or so with your gear i can hang with you on a pleb playing field. would be a fun tv segment. bowling pros vs actual duffers
probably yes. House balls are usually not drilled to curve, so without the curve, the strike percentage will drop. That means more spare shooting and more prone to missing simply because you have to shoot more of them. With house balls, and shoes, I am pretty sucky unfortunately.
I wouldn’t say there are rules, but certainly there are tendencies and commonalties among good bowlers. As far as steps, most players are either 4 or 5 steps, though I bowled against a guy last night who took nine steps. Which are you? Imagine you are standing and someone else is standing about ten feet ahead of you. Imagine that person asks you to walk towards him. Is your first step with your left foot or right foot? If you start with your left, I think a 5 step approach is more natural. If you start to walk with your right foot, then I’d go with a four step approach. If you are a 5 stepper, keep in mind the first step is simply a step and you don’t begin your swing until your second step. In a four step approach, your walk and swing begin at the same time.
And yes, I’d say the Brad and Kyle channel is one of the best instructional sites on the internet, though there are others as well. They are young touring pros who relate well to the average Joe. On footwork, many players will appear to be almost walking a tight rope on their way to the line. They’ll also turn their right foot to the right as they walk up to the line. The first move clears their hip as they do their backswing and the turn of the foot allows for a higher backswing. And this video talks more about footwork in ways I hadn’t thought about.
And here’s a good video about the very start of your approach.
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Sounds awful, like on the level of playing golf with wooden clubs and a push cart. I can get a house ball to curve but the amount of roll and break angle are almost entirely out of your control and determined by the oil setup. But also, the way house balls are drilled with the huge finger holes is generally painful after playing for a while compared to rubber inserts, especially if they are chipped which is common, and there’s no way I’d try to jam my fingers into a kid’s ball. Same problem with house shoes being painful. I don’t understand why bowling alleys don’t have some quality equipment they can rent to people (maybe some do but I’ve never seen it).
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see, i enjoyed that. now i wanna see an actual pro going for 300 with house balls and not like a silly 6 lbs sabotage ball
Did you see several times where they said it felt like their fingers were broken? That’s the part that sucks. Wouldn’t be as bad if they put grips in those balls.
yeah. my fingers always hurt after 5-6 games. play like the people. make bowling great again with finger cuts.
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Last time I went tenpin bowling I used a 10 pound ball, and only bowled two games. I then had my candlepin league and could barely grip the ball because my forearm muscles hurt so bad. I don’t understand how you guys do that without severe wrist problems
I don’t have any problems doing 3 games in a row but last year I did league and stuck around for cosmic bowling another 3 games. My forearm was tired by the last game.
i had to google what cosmic bowling is. why is that a thing?
Fills the lanes up and people drink a lot during it. Gives the bowlers a small shot at winning some cash while they bowl, it’s a good time if you’re with friends or have decent lane partners.
Cosmic bowling is great when you’re 14