I suffer from a tendency of early hand turn and my ultimate weakness after several squads of bowling, is chicken winging. I do it in league bowling as well, not as often, but it happens.
About 6 years ago, I started to tweak my game. I wanted to increase my rev rate. And the balance arm philosophy, leading forward with the thumb down seemed like the norm. I was introduced to the "Modern day style". Long story short, it helped somewhat and my revs did increase a significant amount because of the other things done to my game and coaches I've seen - and hours of practice. Average increased, but I just realized too, that the conditions I bowl on masks my true ability.
The last tournament was a plane crash into a mountain. The condition exposed my bad habits. So I spent the next half day sitting in the den watching old files/videos of myself and my balance arm wondering if it was the cause of my swing plane being "loopy". When my balance arm was more to the side/traditional, aka Aulby or Norton, I had a straighter swing plane - the ball was directly behind my head and not to the left of it.
And, although it's been less than 12 games, I can make a big list of improvements since reverting back to my "old school" ways. But the main improvements are my hand position at the bottom of my release being 5/6'ish and lower instead, of 3/4 or 4/5 ish. And, my Elbow/arm is not looping around to clear my fat ass, or chicken winging. I have to mention the improved leverage I'm getting, improved roll, balance at the line, and accuracy.
The balance arm seems to be one part of the body we ignore. And the balance arm isn't created equal. The "modern way", thumb down leading forward slightly bent, isn't for me.
