While most crankers you see in most leagues will have a problem with heavier oil, and no bounce, its because its the ones that know nothing about lane play and having to used different lines. Most of these guys just want to see the hook and muscling the ball and can't adjust speed. Crankers can be highly erratic with ball placement but most THS will reward them. Now you do have those high rev bowlers that have free armswings and can adjust, many are on the Tour, such as Tommy Jones, Sean Rash, Robert Smith, Ken Simard and Wes Melot just to name a few, but there are some that can do so that are just local bowlers but they have learned the game, probably been coached at one point or another and know how to adapt to the lanes.

The thing is there are these type of bowlers in all the stroker and tweener group as well. Some house strokers won't move either or have an idea of how to play a different pattern Some struggle with the same issues as crankers because they too are used to the dry to start their ball toward the pocket and the oil inside to give hold. Any house bowler is like that, its the ones that bowl different houses and patterns and learn about adjustments and playing what the lanes give you and how to get to the pocket regardless of the "style" bowler they are.

Just my $0.02, despite the fact that I am a cranker, I have always found it easier to play a more direct line with more ball speed as opposed to swinging the ball right. The more boards you cross the more potential for error. Now I crank the ball because that is what was required in the Plastic and early Urethane days when I was developing my game. It is easier for me to generate the proper entry angle to the pocket with higher revs, and I personally like heavy oil. I have had my best success in PBAX on the Shark and Scorpion patterns, so obviously I like a lot of oil.

I am working hard on a new release to work on the shorter oil patterns however my rev rate and ball speed does not change much, only the axis tilt and rotation changes. I am not very comfortable with it yet, and its hard to play for me right now. So I guess in that sense playing more direct is difficult for me, but it has more to do with the unfamiliar release and less oil than the actual line to the pocket.

Amatuer,
Cal has a good point. Most Crankers you see in leagues don't know how to adjust to lane conditions or adjust their ball speed. However, I've seen a few that do know how still have trouble. What you should aim for if going to decide to Crank the ball is a combination of the Cranker shot the hangs out to the right and the shot that desertdog throws. That farther inside shot is probably a much better shot and will take care of a lot of problems when there is more oil on the outside of the lanes.

As for your balance arm issues and throwing the ball out on the lane. I noticed that when I kick trail leg up like you were talking about I tend to get the ball out on the lane more as well and a little off to the right of where my target line is. As for the balance arm I would say that either parallel or a little down sounds good to me.

I can't believe I forgot about this until now. It is in regards to the free armswing that we were talking about earlier. It's called the two bar technique or something like that. I forget who came up with it but it helps. I think you should try in practice first just to get used to it.
1. The first step is in the pushaway. Imagine there is a bar in front of you but it's about 6 inches higher then whereever you are holding the ball. When you push away, you have to push the ball and hand over that bar. It doesn't have to be approximate. I think I do about 5 inches myself, but mine a variationon the original idea. Go with what's comfortable.
2.Go through the rest of your approach and when you go to release the ball there is another imaginery bar about a foot off the ground and you have to throw the ball under it.

If you're good at visualization than it might help you with that free armswing.

Yeah, what I do for my pushaway now is just give it a little upwards and forward motion and drop it into the swing. Since doing that, timing and free armswing have improved from what I've learned.

I can't really crank the ball. I'd have to hit up on it to even try and that's still maybe only 325-350 RPM. That's why I say I'm a Tweener. So I look at myself as a mini-cranker, who can also adjust to play straight when the lane calls for it. Of course it isn't easy, but with more experience and practice I'll develop more comfortability doing these different styles.

Yep your a tweeener. A bit more accuracy and a little less power, sounds like a powerful combo.

From how I was bowling on saturday, getting just a little taste of how well not muscling the ball really helps, I agree that less power and more accuracy is a good combo. When I threw it where I wanted, I got good results. Carry is another thing, and like I said I'm learning to manipulate it, so that plus accuracy will go a long way for me. Power and accuracy are probably even better, but you do what you have to in order to get accuracy first in my opinion.

Nice to see that it's working for you. The manipulation will take a little bit of time to figure out how to work, but once you got it, say hello to higher scores.