Bowling question?

I was channel surfing and paused to watch a little PBA Bowling on ESPN. Pete Weber, a well known professional bowler was competing against a bowler named Jason Belmonte. My question to the bowlers is this, How come Jason Belmonte bowls with both hands? Is that a new thing, better control,speed or what? I've never seen anyone bowl with two hands and it is odd looking.

It's called a "shovel" throw. He started bowling when he was 2 and insisted on tenpin. Two hands were the only way he could throw the ball. He perfected it over the years even though many people tried to talk him into just using one hand.
That is one of the cool things about bowling, there is no set way.

Osku Palermaa from Finland was also on the telecast today and also throws two handed. With two handed they get more speed and more spin which gives them a lot more power.

If I were starting out bowling today I would use two hands. It is clearly superior when you get the form right.

don't bowl often, last time I did though a few guys playing next to us did not put any fingers in the ball. Basically just held in an open palm and let if fly.
from what I could tell, I don't think their scores were very high. Not sure if that is the reason for the poor scores. Just seems it would be harder to be consistent.
Am I alone on noticing this?

Lots of folks use a thumbless release. Often, if people are athletic but not bowlers and do not have their own equipment, they will use house balls that don't fit them. So, they go with the open palm and let it fly.

It is easier to get more revs (and hence more striking power) on the ball using no thumb. However, with only one hand it is difficult to control the ball. The two-hander solves that problem. You use only the fingers of the normal bowling hand, which increases revs, while the other hand provides the control.

In 10 years I expect to see 2-handers dominate the pro tour (if not sooner).

You need two hands after about 8 beers.

I use 2 hands on my balls. I get a good release that way, *lol*.


only kidding. I tried to bowl with 2 hands before. It's hard for people used to the standard release to change because it puts your body in an awkward position at the line and a lot of torque on your sliding leg. It is starting to catch on though, the problem is that the crankers and revvers are eating up the lanes so the 2 hand rev is just another way to put in max revs. One of the good things about that release (and the revvers), many of them play an area instead of specific boards so they have more room for error.

Will it catch on? I do see more people using the 2 handed release but I don't think the old timers and older bowlers can take the body position for very long. Also remember that Weber beat Belmote with his standard release, I can't see Weber being able to switch to the 2 handed release because you need to put some speed on the ball.

I was in vegas a few weeks ago for a tournament at Sam's town. The 3 bowlers on my shift who used the 2 handed release all didn't bowl that good, mostly because they weren't carrying and missed the spares. I bought a new ball (storm sync) in vegas and won 2 pots with it with only 1 day practice with it. I think the technology has a lot to do with the scoring, many of us weak bowlers now can buy a ball that will do the hooking for us.

I just use one hand and throw the ball as hard as I possibly can. It seems to work pretty well. I broke 100 a couple times.