Two-Handed Women and One-handed Thumbless Senior Bowlers

One of the great features of PBA Xtra Frame is that you can submit questions via the PBA Facebook page and get them answered almost immediately on the webcasts. Today, during Xtra Frame's coverage of the PBA Senior Northern California Classic, someone asked Jeff Mark and Jason Thomas if any seniors on tour bowl two-handed.

The answer was that no one, except for Walter Ray fiddling with it from time to time, does, probably because the two-handed delivery places too much strain on the lower back to lend itself to use by older bowlers. But, both Mark and Thomas opined that we might start seeing more elite female players using this style.

For, whereas a man using this style gets only a relatively small rev and speed advantage over the more powerful one-handed stylists on tour, an effective two-handed female bowler would have a tremendous power advantage over all but, perhaps, Michelle Feldman. So, if a woman were to start throwing the ball well two-handed, it could entice many other women to adopt the style, and this could have a huge impact on elite women's bowling.

I followed up this question by asking if any seniors on tour bowled with no thumb one-handed. Thomas answered that no one on the senior tour does now but that there's a guy in Southern California approaching seniorhood who might soon make a dent on the tour with his one-handed thumbless style and that Mike Miller, who cashed in the Tournament of Champions this year, would also be a senior soon and could be a thumbless force to be reckoned with.

If I don't beat him to it with my own thumbless style, that is. :-) Or maybe I should further develop my two-handed game.

Bowling Bytes --4/19/10

~ Marion Ladewig Dies -- "She was widely acknowledged as the greatest woman bowler of all-time. And now she is gone. Marion Ladewig, who “owned” the U.S. Women’s Open during the 1950s — winning it eight times between 1949 and 1960 —died on Friday in her life-long home of Grand Rapids, Mich. She was 95..."

~ Feldman Saves Best for Last in PBA Women's Series Showdown -- "Michelle Feldman of Auburn, N.Y., concluded a personally disappointing season with a resounding victory in the PBA Women’s Series Showdown presented by BOWL.COM at the International Training and Research Center. Feldman, who got into the PBA Tour special event by a sequence of fortunate breaks, was nearly perfect in the competition that aired on ESPN Sunday, defeating Shannon Pluhowsky of Kettering, Ohio, and Stefanie Nation of Grand Prairie, Texas, for a $25,000 first prize..."~

Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour Players Prepare for DYDO Japan Cup 2010 April 22-25 in Tokyo -- "Newly-crowned PBA Player of the Year Walter Ray Williams Jr. and defending champion Patrick Allen head a list of 20 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour players who will compete in the DYDO Japan Cup 2010 April 22-25 in Tokyo. Qualifying will take place at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel and match play at Tokyo Port Bowl. It marks the 25th straight season that PBA Tour players have been invited to compete in the event which also includes 91 Japan Professional Bowlers Association players and 33 amateurs. In the 25 years that PBA players have been invited to the event it has been won 22 times by PBA pros and twice by JPBA players..."

~ Wichita State, Webber International win ITC titles -- "The Wichita State men's team won its third consecutive national title, while Webber International claimed the women's championship Saturday at the 2010 United States Bowling Congress Intercollegiate Team Championships..."

~ 101-year-old Emma Hendrickson competes at 2010 USBC Women's Championships -- " Emma Hendrickson, the 101-year-old bowling sensation from Morris Plains, N.J., hit the tournament lanes at the El Paso Convention and Performing Arts Center and added on to her record as the oldest participant in USBC Women's Championships history Sunday..."

~ Frawley, Roumimper come from behind to win men's and women's title in Thailand Open -- "Fourth-seeded Andrew Frawley, Australia, and Tannya Roumimper, Indonesia (pictured), seeded third, captured the men's and women's Open Masters titles in the 36th MWA Thailand International Open Sunday at SF Strike Bowl in Bangkok, Thailand..."

~ 2010 EBT Rankings--Men's Division After Ljubljana -- "Players with country, ranking point total and number of top 50 finishes..."

~ Wall Street Journal: Belmonte puts new spin on bowling -- " A young Australian is almost single-handedly spurring a new age in bowling: He throws the ball with two hands. With an easygoing charm to match his spiky brown hair and rock-star sunglasses, 25-year-old Jason Belmonte, bowling in a tournament here this week, could well reach new audiences for a sport many younger Americans associate with "The Big Lebowski" and beer bellies..."

~ Youth and coaching development: comparing Malaysia & the United States -- "The United States has surpassed 300 million in population and the number of youth bowlers in USBC leagues stands at approximately 450,000. Bowling in the United States, from a youth development perspective, is loosely structured...relying on individual coaches and volunteers to develop individual bowlers...But, this is far less structured than some youth development programs in other parts of the world, especially in Asia. To illustrate, Malaysia, a country less than ten percent the size of the United States, has just under 1600 bowlers in its formal youth development program. Yet, in the 2006 World Youth Championships, Malaysia earned 8 medals (4 Gold and 4 Bronze). The United States earned 2 bronze medals, both from the same bowler..."

~ Pressure Shots -- "How do you throw a quality shot when the pressure is really on? You have to strike on the next ball to win a tourney or shoot a 300 game What you do under pressure has to be learned in practice. After all how often do these shots come up? First, you take a look at your individual game. I am willing to bet that you can find 2 things that are "KEY" to you making a great shot.. Two things, that if executed well, makes the shot as a whole a quality one. We will call these two things your "2 KEYS"..."