Bowling form

The most powerful form is known as cranking, which imparts great leverage and maximum rotation on the ball, but sacrifices accuracy.

The ball enters the one-three pocket, and then falls into the pit area to the right of where the eight pin previously stood.

This type of release reduces the ball's rate of revolution, thus decreasing its hook potential and hitting power.

However, today's modern reactive resin bowling balls now allow strokers to hit the "pocket" at a relatively high angle.

The all-time leader in titles and bowling earnings in the United States, Walter Ray Williams, Jr., is a stroker (though some consider his style unique and not easily classifiable).

Other famous strokers include PBA Hall of Famers Norm Duke, David Ozio, and Dick Weber.

Several high-profile left-handed bowlers, such as Hall of Famers Earl Anthony, Mike Aulby, Parker Bohn III and Mike Scroggins have used a stroker release, which has led to a stereotype in the bowling community that most left-handers are strokers who can only play the outside part of the lane.

A tweener (a term derived from "in-between") is a bowler who delivers the ball in a manner that falls somewhere in between stroking and cranking.

This term refers to a bowler who relies on a high backswing and open shoulders to generate potential ball speed and a big hook, but uses the timing of a stroker.

Crankers who rely on wrist action may have a high backswing and open their shoulders to generate ball speed.

Roth, for example, was one of the best spare shooters on tour in his day, and was the first person to convert the nearly-impossible 7-10 split on national television.

Crankers sometimes stand to the extreme opposite side of the approach (relative to their target), and roll the ball over the middle lane boards out toward the gutter, using high revolutions to hook the ball back toward the pocket; this line is called "deep inside", "coast to coast", or "hooking the whole lane".

Some crankers use a low backswing but have a cupped wrist in order to generate high revolutions; this was the "old-fashioned" way of cranking.

Other bowlers who followed Roth's style of a cupped wrist and high backswing include Amleto Monacelli, Jason Couch and, more recently, E. J. Tackett.

Bowlers like Robert Smith, Mike Fagan, and Tommy Jones are often considered crankers due to their high backswings and RPM rates, but each has a smooth release and slide, so they can also be classified as power strokers.

Regardless of what it's known as, a spinner releases a ball such that it is rotating around the vertical axis in a counter clockwise motion (right-hander, and viewed from above) as it moves down the lane.

Tom Baker, Wayne Garber, and Ryan Shafer of the PBA Tour, and Miki Nishimura of the JPBA exhibit higher axis tilt than most hook bowlers.

Due to similar ball roll and revolutions to the cranker style, it is sometimes considered a variation of cranking.

All styles of no-thumbing usually require bowlers to use bowling balls that are generally one to three pounds lighter than their thumb-in counterparts.

This technique is often used by casual or league-level bowlers who have not learned how to hook the ball using one of the more standard, thumb-in grips.

The half-thumb variation is a technique employed by Tom Smallwood, the surprise winner of the 2009 PBA World Championship, and involves putting the thumb in the ball only up to the first knuckle.

This is an evolution of the one-handed no-thumb technique, where a bowler would generate similar revolutions but could not be as effective because their opposite hand does not support the ball through the approach.

These bowlers are placing more torque through the spine in order to increase the ball speed and revolution rate.

They are considered a one-handed bowler by governing bodies, and must follow appropriate rules regarding switching dominant hands during competition.

An actual two-handed delivery involves using both hands simultaneously to give force to the ball and is extremely rare in adult competition; it is mostly seen with young children first learning the game.

'[3] Australian Jason Belmonte, the all-time leader in PBA major championships, was among the first bowlers to gain worldwide recognition for using the two-handed approach style.

Others that followed include Finn Osku Palermaa, Swede Jesper Svensson, and Americans Kyle Troup and Anthony Simonsen.