Two-Handed Bowling: Advantages and Disadvantages

Hi, Scott Pohl here. I'm a four time Team USA member and a certified instructor. I'm with Jeff Myers. Who is actually an individual bowler. Who's come from using one hand to two hand. What we're going to talk about today are the advantages and disadvantages of that. So Jeff, where would we start? What are some advantages? The advantages are cost wise, I don't use a thumb hole. So getting the ball drilled is cheaper for me. I don't have to worry about getting the right span covered. I don't have to worry about pitches and all that. Yep. In fact, just last night, when I was practicing for this, I had a thumb, my switch grip actually ripped and broke on my one hand ball. So it was kind of a sign to me, that two handed is a good thing. I don't use finger inserts, because I get enough revs on the ball. I don't feel like I need them. Okay. Pretty good. Which is a very good saving measure. I would have to believe that you don't have to spend any money on tape for your thumb hole. Nope. Protective tape on your thumb either, right? Nope. I don't have to put tape on my thumb or in the hole. I don't put tape inside the finger holes either. Sure. A lot less issues with the thumb in general, right? You don't have to worry about your thumb swelling. No. If your thumb gets wet or anything like that. Not too much of a concern anymore, right? Yep. Summertime, wintertime, you don't have to worry about your thumb changing sizes. I don't have to have multiple switch grips, to cover different scenarios that I could get into. All right. So what else is easy with the two handed game, versus the one handed game? What would you say? I find it to be easier on my body. Okay. I don't have as much strain on my arm, in the arm swing. I can kind of keep it cradled closer to myself. There's a lot more things that I can do at the end of the at the release point with the ball, that I couldn't do one handed. Sure. And I'm especially a big fan of throwing the backup ball two handed, which is always a lot of fun. One thing I would say that I see a lot of, at all levels, that people can do much more effectively two handed, is lofting. Yeah. Tell a little bit about that. Between one handed and two handed lofting difference. I definitely don't have to worry so much about getting my thumb out of the ball, because generally I put a little bit more muscle into the shot when I'm lofting. And I feel like I might get a little bit grabby with it. When I'm one handed. Two handed, it's just kind of continuing my swing and kind of delaying the release a little bit. So it's getting that launch angle to go up a little bit higher. Yeah. Using two hands with the loft, has got to be a much more of an advantage. All right. So we've talked about advantages. How about disadvantages? It seems like there's a few physical things that can happen, if you're not doing it correctly. What are they? Yeah. Well you definitely have to keep control of your spine tilt. If you get too much, or go too far forward with it, it's going to cause injuries to your back. It's going to make it a lot harder to get through your swing at the line. If you try to line up too square, like a one hand-er normally does, you're not going to be able to get your arm through your body, in order to get that two hand-er swing, because you want it to feel more like a golf swing under your head. So that definitely takes, I would say it takes coaching, to get in into the right position, to be able to do that. A lot of time and effort in order to do so. Sure And I know you went through an injury, and your time span was about eight months, to get to where you want to be, right? Yeah. So it seems like it's legitimate to say, maybe if you're going from one hand to two hand, and you could cut that in half possibly, if you really work at it. Yep. I think if you're fully healthy and fully committed, that you'd be able to do that in much less time. I would say you would want to commit to it, because they are very different approaches. Very good. All right. Well you heard it here. Lots of advantages from two handed versus one handed. Lots of ways of checking it out. Look up to the National Bowling Academy. We have lots of ways of training you to make it happen. Thanks Jeff.