Is Two-Handed Bowling an Unfair Advantage? The Belmonte Debate

You know the moment. Somebody on the next lane drops their thumb, rips 500 revs, and wraps the pocket like the pins owe them money. Half the house nods. The other half mutters, “That’s not real bowling.”

We have all heard it. Some league bowlers swear two-handed bowling is a cheat code.

Here is the short version. It is legal. It is not cheating. And anyone can learn it.

Whether it is “unfair” is a different question, and it deserves an honest answer. So let’s break it down, both sides, no hype.

First, the rule: is two-handed bowling even legal?

Yes. Fully.

The USBC, the sport’s governing body, studied the two-handed approach early and found no rules violation. It is sanctioned play. You can bowl a league or a national tournament two-handed and every pin counts.

It gets more open than that. Under USBC rules, a bowler can switch from one hand to two hands and back whenever they want, as long as they keep the same dominant hand the whole time.

So let’s be clear about one thing right away. Nobody throwing two-handed is breaking a rule. This is not sandbagging. This is not average control. It is a legal delivery that is open to every single bowler in the building, including you.

That matters, because “unfair” and “against the rules” are two different arguments. Keep them separate.

Where the “unfair advantage” argument comes from

The complaint is not made up. There is real substance behind it, and it starts with one number.

Rev rate.

Most two-handed bowlers generate somewhere around 400 to 600 or more RPM at release. Most conventional one-handed bowlers land between 200 and 350. That is a big gap. More revs means more friction with the lane, a sharper angle into the pocket, and more pin action when the ball gets there.

Why do two hands make more revs? A few things stack up:

• Most two-handers do not put the thumb in the ball, which frees up a much stronger wrist at release.
• The fingers stay under the ball longer, so the hand imparts more turn.
• The footwork and tempo build momentum that feeds straight into the release.

The technique itself is doing the work. That is the point critics keep coming back to.

Then there is the speed of progression. A junior can pick up two-handed, and inside a year or two be throwing rev rates that took one-handed bowlers a decade to build, if they ever got there at all. That “shortcut to power” is what rubs traditionalists the wrong way. PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss has been about as blunt as it gets, calling two-handed bowling “like a slow cancer to an already diseased sport.”

And the scoreboard has not helped calm anyone down. Jason Belmonte owns 15 PBA major championships, the most in history, and he is one of only two players ever to win the career Super Slam of all five majors. Anthony Simonsen, another two-hander, became the youngest player ever to win a PBA major and the youngest to reach five of them. In 2026, two-hander Alex Horton won the Tournament of Champions for his first title, then won again 16 days later.

When one style keeps stacking the biggest trophies, people start asking whether the field is level. Fair question.

The case that it is NOT unfair

Here is the other side, and it is stronger than the critics admit.

Start with the obvious. It is legal and it is open to everyone. Nobody is stopping you from dropping your thumb and learning it. An advantage that is available to every bowler in the sport is not the same as an unfair one. That is just a technique you have not learned yet.

Next, the revs are not free money. Past a certain point you hit diminishing returns. Big revs make the ball change direction hard, which means more over/under, more sensitivity to lane transition, and a smaller margin for error. Rev rate without accuracy leaves nasty splits. Ask any two-hander who has washed out chasing a corner all night.

Two-handers also still have to play the whole game. They read the lane, they chase transition, and they have to make their spares like everybody else. High revs do nothing for you on a flat 10 pin. If anything, a lot of two-handers have to work harder on their spare game because that big hook is a liability across the deck.

And one-handers still win. This is not a takeover where the traditional game got wiped out. One-handed stars keep taking titles at the highest level, and the PBA even leans into the rivalry, running one-handers against two-handers in All-Star formats with EJ Tackett captaining the traditional side against Belmonte’s crew. If two hands were an automatic win button, that matchup would not be close. It is. And if you want more revs without rebuilding your whole game, there are ways to add revs one-handed that do not require dropping your thumb at all.

There is even an equipment angle that cuts against the “unfair” story. When the USBC banned balance holes starting August 1, 2020, that change hurt two-handers more than one-handers, because two-handers leaned on those weight holes to get the ball to pick up sooner. The USBC softened the blow by raising the allowed static side, thumb, and finger weight to three ounces so a balance hole was no longer needed. Point is, the governing body has already been tuning the rules around this style, not rubber-stamping a free advantage.

What actually changed the game

Two-handed did not sneak in through a loophole. It earned its way in.

Finland’s Osku Palermaa put it on TV first, reaching the finals stage at the 2004 U.S. Open and showing the bowling world what a real two-handed release looked like under the lights. Then Jason Belmonte emerged in 2008 and turned a curiosity into a full-blown revolution.

The style spread for a simple reason. It works, and it is teachable. On modern oil and modern equipment, rev rate and entry angle carry more than they ever did. The sport started rewarding power, so a powerful, learnable technique took off. That is not a scandal. That is the game evolving, the same way it did when reactive resin replaced plastic and everybody’s hook doubled overnight.

The honest take from the lane next to you

Here is where we land, teammate to teammate.

Cheating means breaking a rule to win. Sandbagging is cheating. Shaving your average to steal a handicap is cheating. We have zero patience for that, and we never will.

Two-handed bowling is none of that. It is a harder-throwing, fully legal technique that any of us can go learn if we put in the work. Is it an advantage? Sure, the same way a naturally high rev rate is an advantage, or a repeatable release, or a great spare game. Is it unfair? No. The door is wide open, and it is open to you too.

So if it bugs you when that two-hander next to you keeps carrying the corner, you have two honest options. Get better at what beats revs, which means accuracy, clean spares, and playing the right part of the lane. Or go learn to drop your thumb and throw it yourself.

Either way, the answer is the same one we always land on. Beat me with a 250. One hand or two, send it and go down swinging.

Frequently asked questions

Is two-handed bowling against USBC rules?
No. The USBC studied the two-handed approach and found no rules violation. It is fully sanctioned. You can even switch between one hand and two hands whenever you want, as long as you keep the same dominant hand.

Do two-handed bowlers really have higher rev rates?
Usually, yes. Many two-handers sit around 400 to 600 or more RPM, while most one-handed bowlers land between 200 and 350. More revs generally means more hook and more pin carry, which is the heart of the whole debate.

Is two-handed bowling cheating?
No. Cheating means breaking a rule to gain an edge. Two-handed bowling breaks no rule and is open to every bowler. It is a legal technique, not a violation.

Why do two-handers get good so fast?
The no-thumb release plus strong footwork makes big rev rates much easier to reach. Some bowlers ramp up to high revs in a year or two instead of a decade. That fast progression is a big reason for the “unfair” talk, but it is still just technique.

Can a one-handed bowler still beat a two-hander?
Absolutely. Plenty of one-handed pros still win majors, and the PBA even runs one-handers against two-handers head to head. Accuracy, spare shooting, and lane play decide matches, not rev rate alone.

Is two-handed bowling bad for your body?
It is demanding on your footwork and lower body, and opinions vary. Some coaches call it biomechanically efficient, while others worry about strain over time. If you try it, warm up and build the strength and balance to support it.

Should I switch to two-handed?
Only if you are willing to relearn your timing and your spare game from scratch. It is not a cheat code, it is a different style with its own trade-offs. If you love a project and you want more power, it can be worth it. If you already carry a strong average one-handed, think hard before you tear it down.

10th Frame Final Thoughts

Two-handed bowling is legal, it is teachable, and it is here to stay.

Call it an advantage if you want. We will not argue that big revs help. But an advantage that every bowler can go learn is not unfair, and a technique that breaks no rule is not cheating.

The Belmonte era did not break the sport. It pushed it. So make your spares, respect the game, and if the two-hander next to you keeps carrying the corner, go find your answer on the lane.

Stay hungry. Go down swinging.