# Are men better at bowling than women? WHY for heaven's sake? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 2, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-men-better-at-bowling-than-women-why-for-heavens-sake/243162 "2004-05-02T16:51:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-men-better-at-bowling-than-women-why-for-heavens-sake/243162/21 "2004-05-03T05:15:21Z")
Men generally are far more accurate with throwing objects due to evolution. I suspect this would spill over into bowling ability. ---
**Author:** ![eulalia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eulalia/32/457_2.png) [@eulalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eulalia)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-men-better-at-bowling-than-women-why-for-heavens-sake/243162/22 "2004-05-03T05:25:24Z")
Some of us also have more trouble getting our hips out of the way. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-men-better-at-bowling-than-women-why-for-heavens-sake/243162/23 "2004-05-03T19:07:19Z")
having tried both the 10lb ball and the 16lb ball, i can confirm (anecdotally) that one of the difference is the deflection of the _ball itself_ mentioned by **Don Roberto**. putting as much force as possible behind the balls, the lighter one tends to deflect off despite hitting the pocket, while the heavier one will probably strike instead. (not to mention that the heavier ball gets a more satisfying strike sound. ) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-men-better-at-bowling-than-women-why-for-heavens-sake/243162/24 "2004-05-03T19:16:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Men generally are far more accurate with throwing objects due to evolution. I suspect this would spill over into bowling ability. This, by far, is my favorite answer. If only we could work in Remote Control Hogging into this thing called Evolution and how it applies to surviving all those years ago. [cue George Harrison Song] ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-men-better-at-bowling-than-women-why-for-heavens-sake/243162/25 "2004-05-03T20:02:48Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > If only we could work in Remote Control Hogging into this thing called Evolution and how it applies to surviving all those years ago. Men evolved to be quick and speedy hunters, while women evolved to be patient and methodical gatherers. Slowly harvesting the subtleties of Oprah does not require the remote, while hunting for breasts and explosions does, because those are not regularly scheduled programs. (But they damn well should be.) As for bowling, it’s the shoes. Ever since we let them stop being barefoot and pregnant, women have been obssesed about shoes. So we made bowling shoes as ugly as possible. This way, the fairer sex will worry more about their footwear clashing with their skirt than they will about the game, and men can retain our rightful superiority in hitting things with a heavier thing. > [@Bryan Eckers](#): > > Gosh, a whole hour and five minutes before the sniggering started. > > What took so damn long? What did you expect? It’s a thread about bowling. Our minds are in the gu- Nope, even I won’t make a pun that bad. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-men-better-at-bowling-than-women-why-for-heavens-sake/243162/26 "2004-05-03T20:55:50Z")
> [@](#): > > As for bowling, it’s the shoes. Ever since we let them stop being barefoot and pregnant, women have been obssesed about shoes. So we made bowling shoes as ugly as possible. This way, the fairer sex will worry more about their footwear clashing with their skirt than they will about the game, and men can retain our rightful superiority in hitting things with a heavier thing. _chuckle_ Except, it misfired a couple years ago when bowling shoes actually became a chic fashion statement for a while (much like surgeon’s greens a couple years before that). For a while bowling alleys actually had a problem with people leaving ratty old pairs of sneakers and walking out with the shoes (much like hospitals had a problem with people snitching surgeon’s gowns). “ugly” does not always reverse correlate with “fashionable”. BTW, an interesting bit of trivia I stumbled across - 8 pound bowling balls float: [http://www.science-house.org/learn/floatingballs.html](http://www.science-house.org/learn/floatingballs.html) As with a lot of questions of this type, the real world efficacy of a particular weight of ball is not going to be illustrated by a simple answer from physics 101. There are too many complicating factors at work - the speed and accuracy with which a particular individual can roll a particular weight of ball isn’t simple to analyze, though you might find a fairly simple empirical model that fits. In general, one can suggest that the heaviest ball you can physically control well is probably best. A big gorilla of a guy that has the strength to control a 16 pound ball without straining himself has a certain advantage over an small woman who finds that 11 pounds is all she can manage, and that with difficulty. ---
**Author:** ![tanookie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/48db29/32.png) [@tanookie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanookie)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-men-better-at-bowling-than-women-why-for-heavens-sake/243162/27 "2004-05-03T23:40:52Z")
> [@TV time](#): > > Thus more “pin action” (you know when the bowling pins go flying all over the place crashing into one another and giving a person a higher pin count than they would normally get) comes in handy. Pin action is created by the force, and to a lesser extent spin of a ball. The force in its turn is created by just how hard the ball is thrown and the weight of the ball (a 16 pound ball is going to cause more pins to fly around than a 10 pound ball if they are thrown at the same speed). > > Men because of their traditional strength advantage usually throw harder and choose heavier bowling balls thus giving then an edge to begin with going up against a woman of standard frame and strength. > > Could a woman who pumps iron and builds herself up and bowls with a 16 pound ball contend with most men – most likely. > TV Pin action is pretty much it. I added about 30 pins to my average just going up to a 16 pound ball. Ten Pin Bowling is all about stringing strikes together. Picking up spares is wonderful but to compete on the pro tour you need to string those strikes. A heavier ball thrown with speed is going to create more pin action and not deflect as it goes through the pins. Pin action is going to result in leaving fewer splits and fewer 7/10 spares. Having the ball plow through the middle kicks out the 5 pin. > [@chaoticdonkey](#): > > I’m completely missing why lefties have an advantage… ??? Lefties have traditionally had an advantage due to numbers. A small percentage of the population are lefties. So in any given field of bowlers you would have only a handful of lefties. At the beginning of a tournament the lanes are oiled. As the tournament progresses the righties will have carried more oil down the lane and have almost a dry channel to contend with. The lefties will not have as much oil carried down as quickly so they will have more consistent lane conditions over the course of the tournament. This is why the professionals have so many balls. You have a strike ball for oily/medium/dry lanes and a spare ball for oily/medium/dry lanes as well as a straight ball for your corner pin spares. Your best bowlers adjust quickly to changing lane conditions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-men-better-at-bowling-than-women-why-for-heavens-sake/243162.md?page=1)