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.

As far as Belmonte, I'm not sure it was the USBC that force fed us, it was the PBA.

Say you drill a ball with fingers only and the finger holes are both the same size so the bowler could put his fingers in either way.

Now his palm could face either direction from the fingers. Which grip center would be used for statics? How would you determine what the grip center should be without a thumb hole for reference? If you reversed your grip wouldn't you be changing from finger to thumb weight? From positive side to negative side?

Since a thumb isn't used, the thumb hole, if drilled doesn't have to be the proper span a true grip center could be off 1/2 inch or more even if your hand covers the hole.

I understand what you are saying in that with the span in the fingers they could extra finger/thumb in reference to the grip center but I don't know how you find a consistent point of reference for the grip center otherwise?

Again I'm not bothered by the no thumb bowlers but unlike a lot of bowlers now I still believe that statics make a difference in fine tuning a reaction. It is down the list of factors but it still maters.

The main reason bowlers have come to hate statics is that "proshops" don't bother to balance balls anymore getting them thrown out or don't have the equipment to balance a ball. And it keeps them from putting certain drillings on balls because they can't get the statics right without drilling huge weight holes that gut a ball.

This is what I want to see answered:

You take me and Robert Smith.  I have been clocked as having a rev rate as high as 570 (albeit that was about 10 years ago; now I am around 500-525).  Robert Smith has been clocked in the low 600s.  You give us the same ball laid out with 2 finger holes, a thumb hole, and a side weight hole.  He throws the ball with his thumb in it first and then I throw the same exact ball only not use the thumb hole.  Are the "experts" really going to try and convince me that the ball knows who is throwing it and can determine which hole is a thumb hole and which hole(s) are the weight holes and somehow role differently based on that???  I mean seriously.  How dumb are we to believe that two of the same bowling ball with the same surface prep and layout used by bowlers with the same rev rate are somehow going to roll differently and give one bowler an advantage over another just based on "Well he isnt using his thumb"?

Can someone really give me an intelligent answer other than "Well if you dont use the thumb it is now considered a weight hole and gives you an advantage over someone that uses the thumb for gripping purposes"?

As they say in golf..........."The ball doesnt know who is hitting it."

I honestly believe this is step 1 in a 2 step process.

Step 1- "Try" to limit how a two handed bowler can drill a ball"
Step 2- Eliminate two handed bowling.

Guys who throw without a thumb are guilty by association.

If Jason Belmonte was not having commercial success with the two handed style, this would be a non issue. 

I honestly believe this is step 1 in a 2 step process.

Step 1- "Try" to limit how a two handed bowler can drill a ball"
Step 2- Eliminate two handed bowling.

Guys who throw without a thumb are guilty by association.

If Jason Belmonte was not having commercial success with the two handed style, this would be a non issue. 

I agree with you 100%.  It is a shame because his emergence has brought on a new popularity that is bringing more youth bowlers into bowling centers.  If we are making dumb decisions that are telling youth that they cant do something because "it is not bowling"; then the sport will do nothing but continue to die. 

This is why with decisions like this in addition to the fact that honor score awards are now career awards, more leagues should go unsanctioned.  Leagues have by-laws anyway.