The Remarkable Shot that Taught Us Some Rules

 

On Hallowe'en day the weather was mild in Toronto Canada so we had a pick-up men's pair match at James Gardens LBC. An unusual situation arose sending us scrambling to the Laws of Bowls Crystal Mark 4. Extraordinarily, we have images of the head position taken before the final shot of the end; the shot that elicited the questions. 

The top image shows part of the head before the delivery of the last blue bowl. My bowls are the lemon yellow ones; two close to the ditch and another in the ditch beside the jack. My ditched bowl is a toucher. None of my partner's bowls are close enough to be in the picture.  The green bowls and the single blue bowl belong to the opposition. The visible blue bowl is also a toucher. Although it can't be seen, all paths to knock my two yellow bowls into the ditch are blocked so my opponent with his last single blue bowl decided to try to move his single blue toucher to reduce the count.

He delivered a drive aiming to slice his toucher and send it in the direction of all the yellow bowls. In the event, he hits the shortest green bowl, bounces off it towards the yellow bowls, bounces off the bank, and removes the yellow bowl on the rink closest to the jack.  To add to the fun his blue bowl stays exactly where the yellow bowl it displaced had been sitting.

In the actual game, we incorrectly thought this bowl was live and the result was we scored just one - my yellow in the ditch. 

This was incorrect as we discovered later.

37.17.1 A bowl is a dead bowl if: 

• 17.1.1  it is not a toucher and comes to rest in the ditch; 
• 17.1.2  it is not a toucher and rebounds onto the rink after contact with the face of the bank or with the jack or a toucher in the ditch

37.5.3  Displacement of a bowl at rest

• If a bowl at rest or a toucher in the ditch is displaced by a non-toucher rebounding from the face of the bank, an opponent or the marker must put it back to its former position. 

My side should have scored three! But what a shot!

Controlling Weight at Lawn Bowls When You Take a Stare Point at 5 or more Meters

 

For a decade I worked with a stare point on my aim line 3 to 5 meters out from the front edge of the mat. This blog article is directed towards players who do this. If you take your stare point as the theoretical shoulder on the visualized path of your bowl, then this blog is not for you!

Using a stare point between 3 and 5 meters out along your aim line has the very significant advantage that you will know definitively after your bowl has been delivered whether you missed rolling the bowl over your stare point or whether it is your aim line itself that is wrong.

The disadvantage of the method is that you will have no instantaneous visual clue to help you get your weight correct. That will be entirely up to your recollection of the entire visualized path from a few moments before.

About 10 years ago I was in a roll-up at Broadbeach Bowls Club in Queensland Australia and a skip visiting from Melbourne gave me a tip about controlling weight when you use a stare point near the mat. He told me that if I was trying to deliver a bowl to a short jack my stare point should be no more than 3 meters out along my aim line, but if I wanted greater length I should be choosing a stare point 5 or 7 meters out.

At the time I tried following this advice and I remember my weight control did improve but I paid attention to it less and less thereafter, mainly because it didn’t make sense; why should it work?

Recently, during a practice session, a possible reason dawned on me.

If you are delivering a bowl to a short jack at 21-23 meters and you apply enough weight to get your bowl to travel along the aim line and over a stare point at 5 or more meters the bowl will be delivered too heavy. To roll straight along your aim line and over your stare point you have forced yourself to use too much weight. Instead, with a stare point only 3 meters away, you can bowl along your aim line, over your stare point, and still only apply the correct weight needed to reach the shorter jack.

In the alternative, if you are trying to roll your bowl straight along the aim line and over your stare point 5-7 meters out, that forces you to apply more weight and forces you not to be short!

Pertinent Definitions

An ‘aim line’ is the imaginary straight line that runs from the intersection of the rink’s center line and the front edge of the mat to a selected point on the front bank of the green. The bowler selects an aim line.

A ‘stare point’ is an imagined spot on an aim line over which the bowler tries to roll a bowl. 

Knowing How to Drive is Vital to Avoid Being Defeated by Long Jacks

The most popular strategy in lawn bowls is to consistently play long ends. The smallest deficiency in an opponent's bowling delivery is exaggerated when the shot that must be played is a heavy one. Moreover, many bowlers just don’t have the physical strength to bowl one long end after another.

The best defense is to get very good at rolling the jack very short and getting very good at drawing to very short jacks, to keep possession of the mat so you can make most ends short. But there is another element to this strategy that is too frequently ignored.

No matter how skilled your side may be, sometimes your opponents will get the closer bowls. On these occasions, you must be able to dependably deliver a weighted shot to break up that head.

This is how to get it right!

First, delivering a weighted shot that disrupts a head does not demand great strength. When one tries to break up a head, especially those only 21-23 meters beyond the mat, as the ones we are talking about will be, most players swing too hard. The bowl then misses and finishes in the forward ditch. You should deliver the bowl that will disrupt a short end with the weight required to travel somewhere between 27- 32 meters, whatever is comfortable for you, BUT that weight, whatever you choose, must be precise and consistent.

Second, you must study, before you need the information, by what fraction you must narrow your normal draw angle so it crosses the center line at a distance of 21-23 beyond the mat. Depending on the playing surface this will be between 1/3 and 1/4 of your normal draw angle.

Third, and least appreciated and the cause of most failures, you must walk off the mat following your bowl. This is important because it forces you to keep your body weight moving smoothly forward along your aim line and eliminates any jerkiness that would throw off your line as you release the bowl. 

 Even with normal draw shots, I try to remember to walk off the mat but it is the most frequent element of my delivery that I forget. When delivering a weighted shot to a short jack it is crucial not to forget. 

Delivering a Useful Back Bowl is at least Five Times Easier than a Useful Blocker

Recently I wrote a Greenbowler blog article on the subject of making block shots easier. Afterward, in some practice sessions following this advice, wherein I assessed whether these attempts actually provided the protection sought, I discovered that only a small percentage of the blocking bowls I tried delivering were effective.

On the other hand, putting in strategically placed back bowls was at least five times easier than bowling a successful block shot.

Covering the respotting position ( on the center line two meters out from the forward ditch )seemed to be the action of choice if the opposition otherwise would have the closest bowl there.

In addition, I found an unexpected advantage in delivering any back bowls that were aimed to finish midway between the centre line and one of the boundaries. When delivering these, I sometimes found that the draw needed to reach these locations was quite different from what I would have guessed. This information would prove useful in playing to displaced jacks later in a match!

Block Shots Made Easier

Delivering an effective block shot is one of the most difficult skills in playing lawn bowls. One reason: the target is not a real visible object. One is trying to place a bowl onto an opponent’s bowling path which is an approximate and imaginary curve. There are two ways to make delivering a block shot a bit easier.

Skip/Vice Stand at the Target Location

The Laws of the Sport of Bowls do state that placing an object onto the green to guide a bowler’s delivery is not allowed (Section 34) but this does not mean that the person directing the head cannot stand anywhere he/she wants on the rink (Section 12.1.3). It is only required that once the bowl has been released that person must immediately withdraw to a position behind the head. Therefore, the Greenbowler recommends that the person directing play should first visualize the path that the expected opposition bowl is likely to take when it attacks the head and then stand, with heels together and toes apart as pictured above, at the exact spot the block is needed, as a target for the bowler at the mat. Then, when the bowl is released the person directing the play should immediately and directly move back behind the head. In this way delivering a block shot becomes no more difficult than drawing to a displaced jack because the target spot has been made visible!

Place Your Blocker to One or the Other of Just Two Lengths

A blocking shot can be effective at any position along the opponent’s bowling arc from mat to head; however, the shot is easier to deliver if it is delivered with a weight that is as reproducible as possible. Furthermore, a blocking shot is more obtrusive the closer it is to the mat, but to still be a live bowl, a bowl must travel a minimum of 14 meters “from the center of the mat line” ( Section 17.1.3 ).

The Greenbowler recommends that the first distance that should be attempted is just a bit over 14 meters. This distance is reproducibly achieved on many Canadian rinks by taking a stance with the feet positioned as they would be after stepping in a normal draw shot and then pushing the bowl firmly forward but with no backswing. That is to say with neither any stepping forward nor elevation of the bowl to accelerate it. The only momentum delivered to the bowl will be the arm push. With only that one element contributing to the velocity, consistency is easier and the required length can be achieved.

The second distance the Greenbowler recommends for a blocking shot is 21 meters, which is the distance to the hog line in Canada. In other countries, the hog line may be at 23 meters and then that should be the target distance.

The person directing the head should stand, heels together and toes apart as illustrated, at the spot where the imagined path of the opponent’s bowl and the hog line intersect. The bowler on the mat should visualize a path (usually choosing the inside-out path) from the mat to where the person directing the head is standing and then bowl with the same weight as for a jack at the minimum distance. Once the bowl is released the person directing the head must promptly move back behind the head.

Who and When

It is the skip or the person directing the head who must decide, first, that a block shot should be played, and second which delivery, forehand or backhand, draw, running shot, or drive the block shot should be attempting to thwart. A block shot should not be considered unless it is pretty clear what the opponent is likely to do. 

Getting Weight Right: Standing on the Aim Line 2/3 of the Way to the Jack

I have discovered a way to avoid short bowling by my lawn bowling team members. I do not understand why it works but it does seem to work with a variety of different subjects.

To do it you must learn the correct aim line for the bowler you wish to assist. The easiest way to do this is to make some deliveries with that team member’s bowls and compare the draw with your own.

Then stand at a spot on that aim line, 2/3 of the way from the front of the mat to the jack, and ask the bowler on the mat to bowl at you. For some mysterious reason, the bowl gets delivered with a weight appropriate to get it to the position of the jack!

I don’t know why this works but I can hypothesize. The bowler senses that at least a certain velocity is needed to take the bowl to you along the aim line without substantial bending away and that is quite a good approximation to the velocity required for the bowl to curve towards the center line and arrive at the jack. 

 That is to say, your request asks two things of the bowler:

1. Bowl along the proper aim line, and
2. Bowl with sufficient weight that the bowl does not curve away from me very much

These two demands actually indirectly define the perfect draw path. The bowl must start out on the required aim line and it must not curve to any substantial degree until it is 2/3 to 3/5 of the way down the rink!

If you adopt this methodology in a match the opposing skip may claim that your positioning is illegal and the rules require that you at all times stand behind the head. This is not correct. The applicable rule from The Laws of the Sport of Bowls Crystal Mark Fourth Edition is:

12.1.3  As soon as a bowl is delivered, a player who is controlling play from a position that is either level with or in front of the jack, must take their position as described in law 12.1.2.

12.1.2  Players at the head-end of the rink and who are not controlling play must stand: 

12.1.2.1 behind the jack if they are members of the team which is in possession of the rink; 

12.1.2.2 behind the jack and away from the head if they are members of the team which is not in  possession of the rink; 

12.1.2.3 on the surrounds of the green if the jack is in the ditch; or

12.1.2.4 well clear of the head if it is not possible to stand on the surrounds.

This means that once the bowl, whose play you are controlling, is released you are required to move immediately to a position behind the jack and then, once that bowl stops, away from the head. 

When You Need a Big End to Win a Set and You have the Last Bowl

 

I am not of set play at lawn bowls. Set play was devised to make the game more suitable for television broadcasting. When there is no such media necessity, I see no reason why we should abandon the traditional 21 up game.

But, if the authorities select set play and with repotting centered on the forward T of any jack out of bounds, then strategy should be directed to take advantage of these rules.

At set play, it doesn’t matter by how much you lose a set. When your side is behind by more than 1 point going into the last end you should play to do whatever is required to position yourself to win. If you fail it doesn’t matter by how much you lose.

Your object is to get a multiple in the end. To achieve that you need to retain the maximum number of ways this can happen.Having the last bowl in the final end is the better situation when you need a multiple to win or tie.

The opposition has the choice of mat position and can try for a preferred jack length. If the mat is taken up the rink to try for a short jack get ready to ask for a measure to see whether the jack has been rolled the requisite length. An extraordinary outcome would be if your side gets the jack back (if so see the close by blog article).

Another possibility is that they try for a long jack. If you see the opposition placing the mat at the 2 meter line say out loud, “Here comes that long jack.”  The idea is convey the idea that your worst nightmare is a very long jack. Actually, what you would like the opposition to do would be to ditch the jack or throw it out of bounds so your side could choose the mat position and jack length.

Once the mat position and jack length are settled the bowl deliveries begin. Your goal is to be in a position where you can secure the required multiple with your last bowl. Hopefully this can be done with a simple draw but often this will not be enough. If your deliveries are not very close to the jack they should be grouped together and behind the jack. Be particularly careful to get enough length because short bowls most likely won’t finish in the count.

When it comes down to your last bowl you need to:

• Draw to the jack if that will win or tie the end as needed
• Displace an opposition bowl if that will give you the required multiple
• Trail the jack to a grouping of your bowls if that will give you the required multiple
• Knock the jack out of bounds if that will give you the required multiple
• Push the jack into the ditch if that will give you the required multiple

No matter how difficult the shot that will give you the required multiple, there is no point in playing a simpler shot that even if successful will be insufficient.