Years ago, there was a right-hander on my league who had the weirdest approach I've ever seen outside of drunken recreational bowling. He would stand close to the foul line in a slight crouch with his right foot forward. He'd push the ball out and let it swing back, then on the downswing he'd put his left foot forward while dropping his body into the release. He didn't get many strikes but he was really good at picking up his spares.

What are some of the stranger approaches you've seen?

Nothing too werid. They use to be this guy who bowled in the other league next to my league. He use to start the ball way above his forehead and then bring it down to his face then he would start his approach however, he use to hold on the the ball way too long cause he would loft it would go air borne and you could hear a couple lanes down BANG!

I have seen quite a few. There are a couple that come to mind. We had this one guy in our league, he was a pretty big dude. He would take three steps forward putting his ball in motion,...and then go rotate his arm/ball up and completely over his head and down, then chuck the ball around 22 mph. Not very accurate, but a lot of collateral damage. We called him the "windmill".LOL.

Then we currently have this guy who sets up on the approach,.....and stands there motionless, literally 35-40 seconds,.we timed him. You want to check his pulse because he don't move at all. If you are bowling next to him you almost have time to go get a sandwich, or have a smoke, visit the restroom whatever before, you can bowl. Its pretty funny, and annoying at the same time.

I once saw a guy bowl with a broken ankle on his slide foot and medical walking boot on. He just stood at the line let the ball swing and then tried to lower himself down on his good leg so he didn't loft the ball much. He didn't have a lot of speed doing this and he has a lot of revs. Luckily he has got some of his speed back since he is a teammate on one of my teams. I've seen some very short 4 step approaches, and I mean maybe covering 6 feet by a 6 ft tall bowler.

I saw this kid(18-19) that had this weird @$$ approach. He was a two-handed bowler. When he took his steps he looked like he was jumping from rock to rock across a lake or trying to dodge football players trying to tackle him. The weirdest part about his approach is that he had no backswing at all and the release of the ball looked like when to grab a bar of soap and it squirts out of your hands. He had trouble with spares, but he could occassionally get a small string of strikes if the lanes were right.

We have one fellow who is 6'7 and his backswing is almost vertical. He comes within inches of the overhead monitors. In reality, he is in front of them. But, from the rear, it looks like he could hit it. On the release, he has a 20 foot loft, and a Wicked back end.

We have another fellow who takes 8 steps on his tip toes. Like a 3 step running start. Throws the ball and has no clue where it is going.

I've seen some tall bowlers with that high backswing, but very smooth and fluid release close to the lane.

There is another guy I've watched bowl and his approach isn't that unusual just his finish. After he releases the ball he looks like he is falling over to the left, he is right handed and slides on the left foot. Most of the time it is a few seconds after the ball is on the lane. I hear he's been doing this very years, decades even. He's a very heavyset guy and I don't know how he doesn't have back issues.

Speaking of unorthodox approaches, watch this talented young left-hander rip the rack

Approach: There was this one guy YEARS ago when I was just recreational bowling. He would take FOR EVER! Once he started it was like he was sneaking up on the pins on his tippy toes. It broke into a slow waltz-like dance with pauses and exaggerated movements and when he let the ball go you realized the last 30 seconds of your life watching him throw you just won't get back.

My favorite bowler is this one guy my first Summer out here. He would walk to the foul line like anyone else but he would let the ball go and stand there with his arm extended WAY out. When the ball would break he would use body english to steer the ball like a Jedi mind trick willing the ball to the pins. Cracked me up when ever he bowled close.

Approach: There was this one guy YEARS ago when I was just recreational bowling. He would take FOR EVER! Once he started it was like he was sneaking up on the pins on his tippy toes. It broke into a slow waltz-like dance with pauses and exaggerated movements and when he let the ball go you realized the last 30 seconds of your life watching him throw you just won't get back.

My favorite bowler is this one guy my first Summer out here. He would walk to the foul line like anyone else but he would let the ball go and stand there with his arm extended WAY out. When the ball would break he would use body english to steer the ball like a Jedi mind trick willing the ball to the pins. Cracked me up when ever he bowled close.