At this new place I bowl leagues, I find myself playing away from the pocket, away from my "A" game. My speed has dropped to 14.9 to 13. 5 mph playing inside/deep. As a straighter player I'm normally 16 mph +/- 0.5mph. Spares 17.5 mph down lane. Not at release.

Should I be concern about my decrease in speed? I have better carry playing away from the pocket with my slower speed. Should I turn in my man card lol?

To be honest, the straighter (actually most everyone) players are struggling across the board on these very dry conditions. Especially those up the backers, or low tilt players. Some of their solution is to increase their speed, but end up over under anyway. It's painful to watch some of these guys struggle.

 Something else to consider. The speed on most monitors is a measure of "down the lane" speed.

 If you change your projection angle, you change the speed at which the ball travels directly down the lane, but not changed your overall speed at release.

 In a straight shot, the ball goes directly down the lane. If you swing the ball out, you change the angle at which the ball travels down the lane in a direct line away from you.

 Your overall ball speed may be close to the same, just measured slightly slower due to the increased projection angle.

I was practicing one time by myself on just one lane.  First time I ever noticed first hand what I've read many times.

Over the course of around 2 games I watched my ball speed gradually decrease about .02mph every other frame or so.  Throwing the same ball and keeping the same line.  Right about when I lost 1.0 whole mph I started leaving pins on the back row.   Basically I removed most if not all the oil in the line I was playing and a decrease in speed proved it.  When I lost enough energy and ball speed I immediately lost carry.  No oil = ball slowing down faster.

Also the fastest path between to points is a straight line.  Move deeper on the lane = that line getting just a little bit longer subsequently taking just a little bit longer to get down the lane.  Kinda just like what he said above.

Ok cool, I can keep my man card.

As long I am $$ on some side action, I shouldn't be comparing speeds. The higher rev player/cranker who also plays way inside is in the low 15 mph range. His spare ball speed is 18/19.

yeah It's so dry in the second shift that even my spare ball hooks. I'm forced to roll a back up ball, or get a true spare ball without a core.

Naw! keep your man card! I am rev dominant and have been rolling generally in the 13.5-14 mph range for two years now. during that time I consistently averaged around 203-205!! I even had one season where I averaged 212!

I have since changed my gait on the approach to my delivery. Went from a three step to a four step with success, and occasionally use a 5 step approach. Amazingly with those changes, the speed came back!

Now I just switch when additional speed is needed!