[Spellmen]

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7. I'd say challenging someone to bowling without using their thumb. It is something with minimal practice that you can destroy someone at who has never done it. We do many prop bets and the sort after our leagues our finished. We play a game called lowball which is trying to get the least score possible, but you must hit a pin each ball you throw. A perfect game would be 20, hitting the 7 pin and the 10 pin each frame for a score of 2 every frame.

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I bowl without my thumb 100% of the time, am I at a horrible disadvantage? I started bowling weekly with a few friends of mine several months ago, and have been looking to improve since then.

I am a smaller guy and I typically throw a 14-16 lb ball with a decent hook, and I probably never used my thumb because it's easier for me to control the ball that way (plus I'm afraid it will get ripped off). I don't get a ton of speed on the ball because of this, but I get pretty good results with those balls, much better than I did throwing a 12lb with more speed.

I recently got a ball for christmas from my parents, a 14lb Brunswick PowerGroove that I then had drilled for my hand. My scores have been wildly inconsistent since then (I was somewhere around a 165 average before). I don't really know what I'm asking now that I type this up, but am I at a severe disadvantage because I don't use my thumb? Most of my hook is generated from flipping my wrist, which I've heard is bad. Its never really been a big problem with the new ball except when the lane is a little dry, then my ball typically finds its way in the left gutter or hitting too far left of the head pin because the PowerGroove takes a wild turn there. Do most lanes typically have someone that can give a few lessons?