Switching to a Two-Handed Bowling Style

Hi, Scott Pohl here. I'm a contributor with National Bowling Academy. I'm with Jeff Myers today, very interesting individual. He has come from bowling one-handed to two-handed very successfully. So let's hear a little bit about Jeff's story, why he changed from one-handed to two-handed. Well, I've always been pretty grippy as a one-hander and I got a layout that helped me get out of the ball a little bit easier, but it kind of shortened my span, gave me a lot of reverse pitch. And when summer came around, I had a really hard time getting out of the ball cause my thumb would swell and it just wasn't really the right angles. I started creating or making creative ways to get out of the ball and in doing so, I started carrying the whole weight of the ball on my thumb, which started to wreck the tendons in my arm. And as a way to alleviate that, I started practicing two-hand bowling but eventually the wear and tear on my arm wound up tearing my bicep. And after that point, I decided, as I was recuperating, just to practice the two-handed, just to take my thumb out of the picture for a while and let it heal up more. And I grew to like it a lot, became a lot more fun a lot more different things I could do bowling two-handed and I still enjoy it today. That's great. I'm sure there was lots of challenges throwing two-handed as opposed to one-handed. Tell us a little bit about how you started or anybody in particular who helped your game getting there to where you wanted to be. Yep, so when I first started out, I was doing it for fun with my wife, just bowling, seeing what I could do. And I pulled most of my shots straight into the left gutter because it's a very different angle that you bowl at. After I think I had some lessons with you, I got progressively a little bit better. And on a business trip down to Texas, I went to the ITRC and had a lesson with Lou Marquez for a day who kind of got me straightened out on the actual, the biometrics of how you're supposed to bowl two-handed, which, you know, helped me tremendously. Along the way, I also had lessons from Mo Pinel and also from Mark Baker. So those are some really good individuals there who he's had training with. Now you mentioned to me one time that you learned a drill from Lou Marquez, was called the walk along. Can you tell our listeners about that a little bit? Yep, so rather than getting set up with your regular bowling set up, you just kind of pick up a ball, you get relaxed, you walk along the approach and when your brain kind of clicks into I'm gonna do my last couple steps and throw, you just decide to go and you do it right at the end. It kind of keeps you a little bit more loose so you don't really think about it as much and for me it slows down the timing so I can kind of feel my release better. It seems like it would just get your rhythm going a little bit better and more instinctive type of bowling and less thinking. Is that kind of fair to say? Yep, you worry less about where you're lined up and you just kind of focus on that last power step, the push up and the release. Very cool, how about the biggest challenges you found switching from one-handed to two-handed, what are they? Biggest challenge that I've been working on is getting side roll. I have a very heavy end-over-end roll and very, I think you call it low access tilt. So about 10, 8 degrees. So when I get deeper, I have trouble getting the ball to come back sometimes, {Scott] Okay. and it's been difficult practicing how to get that side roll without coming around the ball too much. So practicing release a lot, possibly doing some drills here and there, helps a lot. I would also say the release is a big difference between one-handed and two-handed, right? Yep, definitely. So what do you wanna say about that? First of all, you have to kinda be able to find a good position with your hands. The difference when you don't have your thumb in there is your fingers aren't locked in the same spot on the ball every time. So the ball can actually swivel back and forth in your hand, which can clearly make a difference as to where the ball's gonna roll. So you have to kind of find, you know, a happy zone for that. Sure. That's gonna be consistent for you and basically just get used to doing that kind of yo-yo release, letting your hand release down instead of trying to come up through it, Okay. and let it roll off your fingers. That's great. So you heard it here. Success story coming from one-handed to two-handed, still at a very high level. Hopefully if you wanna check it out, look into it, one-handed to two-handed is available.