Unbelievable just how many of you failed to read EVERYTHING about the rule changes. Even if a no-thumb bowler has no extra weight hole but just a "traditional" thumb hole in his/her bowling ball - that ball will most likely be deemed illegal anyway. That old thumbhole is now being considered a weighthole, therefore the new grip center will be in the middle of the bridge rather than the middle of the grip span.

This has negatively affected me even though I have no "weight-holes" in any of my bowling balls.  I prefer simple layouts with the c.g. at or near the grip center.   

I've already spent $20.00 to make 2 pieces of my arsenal legal under the new rules.   This was done by drilling the existing thumbhole even deeper to remove excess weight.   (I'm guessing it would be considered excess thumb-weight based on the new grip center)  The other ball I can't make legal without a full plug & redrill because the c.g. was shifted down a bit so we could put the pin in the ring finger.  My driller already tried to re-work it but came up short by about 1/4 ounce.   Can't go any deeper in the thumbhole on that one.

(Really, what's a 1/4 ounce going to do on a 15 pound ball anyway?)

Absolutely ridiculous that if I use my thumb for gripping in a particular ball, it is legal. But if I remove my thumb and rest my palm over my thumbhole to roll it, the SAME ball is now considered illegal under the new rule.

USBC, if you think for one moment that I'm going to needlessly spend more money to comply with your ridiculous rule, you are all f*cking crazy. I'll just go find an unsanctioned league to bowl in, so you folks can just kiss my country-tis-of-thee.  Have a nice day.

OH MY GOD 20$$$$ RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You guys crack me up.  The money isn't the real issue here.  It is with little doubt the USBC thinks that two-handers and no-thumbers are a huge problem.

If you were in my shoes, would you spend money to fix something that was never broken to begin with?    Think about it.

As dumb as the rules are, id either abide by them or quit bowling. If you want to "stick it" to the USBC, talk with your wallet.

U get extra revs!  Quitchyer belly achin'!

If you don't use the thumb hole drill it wider to take the weight out.

Sorry, I should have clarified - I DO use the thumbhole on this particular ball if the lanes aren't allowing me to get in and open them up.   So, I'm kinda stuck on this one.

And Ken, yes I've already spent $20 on fixing things up.  But lets not forget the extra $45 if I have to plug & redrill the other one.   A total of $65 may be chump change for you, but it's not for me.   Not to mention the 1 hour round trip to my ball driller which is bit of a hassle.

One of my buddies is another no-thumb bowler and he told me that he was ALREADY called on on this very rule bowling in a local tournament.    Someone there just couldn't wait to get on his case about it, but forgot the rule doesn't apply until August 1st.

I agree with the post that the rule sucks. I also posted that after weighting a few bowling balls I have without thumb holes to see what the static weights are I found them to comply.

A few things that are interesting. Thumbholes are now considered weight holes for no thumb bowlers. Thumb holes can be almost as large as needed while weight holes can not be larger then 1 1/8" with bevel.

So yes for a lot of no thumb bowlers there will be some much added expenses in getting equipment up to date or replacing it.


My question to all of the many many many bowlers we may have on this site is this.

How many no thumb bowlers have you seen using thumb holes as extra weight holes along with a weight hole when having bowling balls drilled? According to USBC and the need for this rule is extremely wide spread and a huge issue. I've not seen it locally by any means.
(I know of two one handed no thumb bowlers and one two handed and it is not been seen by them)

I think USBC and everybody else is really missing the point on this.  At the point of release which finger leaves the ball first?  The thumb.  At the point in time, you are throwing the ball without a thumb.

To regulate equipment based on the STYLE a bowler uses is absolutely ridiculous.  If the USBC wants to eliminate the 2 handed bowling style, then grow some balls and eliminate it. 

USBC has a million dollar throw bot machine (E.A.R.L).  How much research did they put into this rule change?  By the way, E.A.R.L. uses two hands to throw the ball.

It's only "unorthodox" because the "norm" was more successful.  Any time things change, this happens.  People fight the change. 

I'm not a two-handed bowler.  I use my thumb on every shot.  Always have.  I don't think I could keep a ball out of the gutter without the thumb.  Just because people found another way to do something within the laws of the system, you shouldn't change the system because a few people found a way to perform better than the establishment.