So…….I joined a bowling league this year. It is a “mediocre bowlers” league and I am very much a mediocre bowler. I have an extensive background in bowling. I would say that I have bowled 30 times in my life and rarely more than 3 times in a year. But I translate well to the game because of my golfing career.

I know how important visualizing the shot and choosing the spot the ball will roll over is. I understand the concept of spin and how it relates to the pins at the end of the alley. I understand the concepts, at a rudimentary level.

The problem is that I do it all wrong……

Do you bowl? If you answered yes, let me ask you this….do you put your thumb in the ball? If you answered yes again, do you spin the ball or throw it straight?

I am a spinner. And…….I do NOT put my thumb in the ball.

What does this have to do with golf? Well it got me thinking back to a few moments in my golfing career. Can we all agree that there are a million ways to swing the golf club? Can we also agree that there are certain fundamentals that are widely considered crucial to the golf swing? For example, it is crucial that you, as a right handed golfer, put your right hand below your left when you grip your golf club, correct?

What if I told you that, while most of us righties do adhere to that fundamental that is so important to the golf swing, it is not, completely, true? What if I told you that I have seen a man swing the club cross handed ON PURPOSE and have greater success than I have ever had in my career? What if I told you that while I put my thumb in the bowling ball, I bowl 100+ pins below my average?

You would probably tell me to take my thumb out and help the team, wouldn’t you?

And it is the same with golf. The sport we love is a “results oriented” game. At the end of a round nobody asks you how well you struck the ball or what type of grip you used. Nobody muses over a 19th hole beverage with talk of cross handed or claw gripped putters. The same question is asked time and again in both bowling and golf…..”What was your score.”

While I agree that certain fundamentals are important and put the body in position to succeed, easier. I can not agree that these fundamentals are so important as to hamper all success. These keys may help you play longer, more pain free, or easier, and that is important. But the truth is that at the end of the day, the scorecard does not ask you to describe your perfect swing. It only asks you “what was your score?”

I am going to keep trying the “thumb in” bowling in my practice sessions. I have been told that it will make me more consistent and give me a better chance to progress. I will never be a tour caliber bowler, so when it counts…..that thumb will NOT be in the hole. After all I have to answer the question at the end.

“What was your score?”

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