LAWN BOWLS. A SIMPLE GUIDE.

Lawn bowls is a game that has become synonymous with the elderly and retired people. In reality this is far from the case with many young people taking up the sport, and many junior competitions throughout the world. The reason for this is that once you have played it, you can very easily become hooked upon the sport, with its challenging skill level, and complexities. In this hub, I will try to simplify things for you, and perhaps help you to enjoy your game more, and perhaps even improve your own skills.

One of the most important facets of the game, is to have the ability to listen. Listen to those who have played the game a while, listen to your team mates, most important of those your skip, and listen to your club coach when you choose to take the game further.

Their are many levels for which you can play the game at. From Night owl/barefoot bowls, designed primarily to attract newcomers to the game, right up to international level, and representing your country at the commonwealth games. How far is fully dependant upon yourself, and how far you are willing to go. Remember that, the more you work on your game, and improve it, the more you will enjoy yourself playing it. Enjoying it is the key to success. So come with me as I run you through the game, as simply as I can.

Throughout this hub, I will explain things in steps, from selecting your bowl, through to delivery, and on shots. The first and most obvious place of course, is selecting your bowl. You will notice that I fully endorse the kiss method of lawn bowling. That is the Keep It Simple Stupid method.

BOWLS TERMINOLOGY.

There are a few terms used in lawn bowls that you will need to know when you play the game. I will jot down as many as I can here so that you will have an understanding of what I am referring to as we go along.

BIAS. Bias is the arc the ball takes on its journey to the jack. All bowls are biased, some more so than others.

JACK/KITTY/BLOODY THING. The jack is the smaller, usually white or yellow ball, that is the centre of attention in the game of bowls. The team with the closest bowl to the jack wins the end, with the score calculated by how many bowls you have closer to the kitty than your opposition.

HEAD. The head is the area where the bowls are rested around the kitty.

MAT. The mat is the place where you bowl from and deliver the kitty. It is placed by the lead.

TOUCHER. A toucher is a bowl that has come into contact with the Jack on its original delivery. A bowl that contacts the Jack after being knocked by another bowl is not a toucher. A toucher is important to the point where even if it comes to rest in the ditch at any time during the head, it still has the possibility of coming into the count. Any non toucher that comes to rest in the ditch, is removed from the head. A bowl that touches a jack which has found it's way into the ditch, is not considered a toucher and is removed from the head.

DITCH. The ditch surrounds the entire green and is used as a sort of boundary line. It is lower than the bowling green and is usually filled with sand.

SKIP. The skip is the captain of the team and the person to bowl last. His job is to direct the rest of the team into creating a winning head.

THIRD. the third is the person who bowls second last, and directs the head while the skip is bowling.It is most important for this person to be able to bowl to consolidate the head, or shore up the work of the first and second,

Second. The name says it all, he is usually the card/scorecard marker, and in the case of triples, he will take the place of the third.

LEAD. This is the most important role in the team. While he may not always have scoring bowls, if he bowls well, he makes the pressure of the following bowlers. The majority of heads are won/set up by a good lead. It is in my view that the lead must be the best draw bowler in the team, as the rest of the team bowl to his/her result. A bad bowling lead does nothing but place increased pressure on those that follow. Most clubs will place new bowlers into this position so that they can learn to draw. But for mine, the role of the lead is often down played to the detriment of the team.

SELECTING YOUR BOWL.

Now that we have covered some of the terminology of bowling we can begin to look at how to bowl. But before we do we must first select which bowl to use. Choose the wrong bowl, and you will struggle and lose enjoyment of the game. Most professional level bowlers have several sets of bowls for varying conditions. As this is an expensive exercise, the average bowler has just one set, and so he must choose wisely.

The first thing with selecting a bowl is the bias, All companies make varying biased bowls to suit different requirements. You can have the very narrow drawing bowl, to a very wide drawing bowl with many variations in between. it is best to try a few different sets, before you make your decision. For mine the best bowl for all occasions are the green master premier, henselite dream lines and henselite abt evo. You should take advice from your fellow club men as well as bowl several types till you find the type that suits your style

The other thing to consider is size of the bowl. Sizes range from 0 to I have heard of 10's, but generally for the male you will look at a size 5 or 4. For the ladies the most common is a 2 or a 3, but again individuals differ according to their own hands. The bowl you choose must fit in your hand comfortably, and for mine feel like an extension of your arm. For size choice, if you place your middle finger on the middle of the running surface, and your thumb on the opposite running surface, and have the ends of you those fingers at complete opposites, with a small gap in your palm, then you have found the size for you. Most important is that the bowl must fit comfortably in your hand.

THE GRIP.

The grip on your bowl should be a grip that is comfortable and firm. if your fingers are stretched noticeably around the bowl then your grip needs adjusting, or you need to choose a smaller bowl. The bowl should sit in your hand firmly but again, comfortably. Comfort I keep stressing because this is of utmost importance. If you are uncomfortable, then your concentration will not be on the delivery of the bowl. Many teachers say that your thumb should be in the middle of the running surface, with your fingers in the middle of the running surface on the opposite side of the bowl. I find this uncomfortable and unnatural, and prefer just gripping the bowl in as natural a style as possible. Find a grip that works for you. Experiment, its the only way to improve.

THE DELIVERY.

Here again are varying trains of thought, so I will just tell you what works for me. KISS, (keep it simple stupid), is the order of the day. If you put to much technicality into your delivery, you will be concentrating more on technique, than on the actual delivery.

The first thing you need to do is listen to your skip, and understand what it is they are wanting you to do. In the case of singles, do not be afraid to walk down to the head as often as you feel necessary to understand and get a feel for your next delivery. Once you have determined where to bowl to ], every other thought must be purged from your mind..

Stand behind the mat and run through the shot in your mind. Get your mindset right for the delivery, select a suitable target for your bias and pull your site back to a place about a metre from the the mat.

Keeping your eyes on that spot, step onto the mat.

Bowl the bowl. Its that simple.

Watch your bowl till it comes to rest, This will give you an indication of any corrections that you will need on your next bowl. Remember, keep it simple, if you over analyse your bowl delivery, you will not enjoy what you are doing.

ENJOY YOUR BOWLING.

This is the most important aspect of the game of lawn bowls. It is not important if you win or loose but that you try your best and enjoy yourself. Lawn bowls is primarily a social activity, and having a good time with those you bowl with and against, socialising with your bowls club mates, and meeting other bowlers from different clubs, is what the game is all about. IT is why a beer an end is strongly associated with the game, though I do not reccomend this. I have tried it and it makes it very hard to focus. Another proud tradition, is having a cuppa at half time with your opposite number, and a beer or two after the game with the same. Lawn Bowlers love to socialise.

So there you have the basics of the game of lawn bowls. If you are considering taking up the sport, good luck to you and I hope to see you on the green. Remember, Keep it simple, keep it fun. Winning is fine as long as you enjoy doing it.