29 Comments on “Bowling 5 ft from the Pins! 60ft VS 5 ft CHALLENGE with Marshall Kent.”

  1. Just like my little stub lane in my basement gym. Helps me to see importance of entry angle. Once Mike got the right entry angle he started striking. I have no sideboards so if it doesn’t happen on the deck, the pins don’t get knocked over by messengers. Helps with accuracy.

  2. You gotta keep in mind; oil patterns and transition become meaningless if there isn’t some distance between the point-of-release and the pins. Just like in most sports where you’re throwing an object at a target– or for distance, there’s a foul line for a reason. That reason is as simple as standardizing the length or limitations at which all competitors are confined to. Creating boundaries that all players must adhere to, in my opinion, creates more of an even playing field. People use golf a lot for bowling analogies, so I’ll use one here. Don’t you think it would be unfair to have golfers start from wherever they want on the course for each hole? What would stop them from starting 1 inch away from the hole? When you decrease the distance from the starting point to the ending point of sports like this, you take away a lot of the varying factors between the start of shot and the target (ie. lane-conditions in bowling, and wind and terrain in golf). Some people argue the point, “Well, if the foul line mattered so much, what’s stopping people from moving the foul line even further back?” More than likely years of it being the norm. I mean, why is a football field 100 yards from end-zone to end-zone? These are regulations that have been in place for a long time and are implied to be set in stone already. Besides, I imagine increasing the distance of the foul line would be a logistical nightmare for bowling centers across the globe. Above all, like mentioned in the video, for the sake of safety for most casual bowlers, staying behind the foul line is probably for the best. The only argument I can sort of agree with for crossing the foul-line being okay, is if the player has already released the ball and accidentally steps over the line after the shot has been completed– and even then, if they step far enough over, they may disturb the oil-pattern significantly for those who might be playing the fronts. So for the sake of the integrity of the game, please, for goodness sake, keep the foul-line in play.

    1. So, my argument is that if you cross the line slightly, you aren’t going to gain an advantage by crossing the line by an inch. I think there should be 2 foul lines, the one that we all know, and one about 3 inches further that actually sets off the foul lights and gives 0. Its just stupid to get a 0 because my big toe barely crossed the line

    2. @Kit no, because those sports are decided by distance, not something like pinfall. Going an extra inch closer won’t help you get more pins, but going an extra inch closer will help someone win if it’s close in something like javelin or discus. Terrible comparison, since many records and championships are won by a matter of inches in javelin and discus

    3. @Gavin Winkler and bowling isn’t a game of inches? what about darts, or target shooting, like archery or competitive shooting?

  3. I wish they would have put a GoPro on Flanagan for at least a couple shots so we could see what it looked like from his view.

  4. Great example of using all the guidepost along the length of the lane for targeting…How far out do the masking units protrude and is it the same distance in every house?

  5. I would like to see a challenge of 60’ vs 65’. This would seem more practical to determine if any disadvantage for bowlers that slide short of the foul line.

    1. Of course there’s a disadvantage for a longer lane. Perhaps minimal, but clearly a 100 foot lane would be harder, so 65 would be slightly harder than 60

  6. I don’t think 1 inch applies quite that much. With the balls we have now, I don’t think it really matters. Back in the day, I could see it having way more of an impact carrying momentum.

  7. I thought this was a 60 feet of oil on one lane and 5 feet of oil on the other challenge when read the heading. Actually, I would like to see that.

  8. I did…I learned that when I try and bowl from 5 feet from the pins the proprietor at Arlington Lanes in Illinois escorts me to my car. So great tip!

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