Local Cultural Aspects of Lawn Bowling

As a novice first-year bowler with aspirations, I notice how regular club players bowl and still have some knowledge of the practices of champion bowlers. My club has many novice bowlers and a solid contingent of rather experienced substantially older bowlers.

There is a big difference between common practices and best practices. In an entire summer of social and tournament bowling on only a handful of occasions have I seen a skip call for the lead to move the mat from a standard position 6 feet from the rear ditch. Also, there is a stormy, dark, silent displeasure displayed towards anyone who drives to break up a head or blank an end. In fact, in the province of Ontario in Canada where I bowl, there is a regional rule that a team can only blank one end. There is a one shot penalty for every repeat. If you blank an end on a hot day, the reaction is not silent. Finally, foot faulting is ignored even at the club tournament level. When I mentioned chronic foot faulting to my skip I was cautioned that it would be poor form to even mention it.

Strategy & Tactics in Lawn Bowls

Strategy

What is the difference between strategy and tactics? Are there such things in lawn bowling?

In Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language the entry for strategy reads:

1. Generalship; the science or art of combining and employing the means of war in planning and directing large military movements and operations. 

2. The use or an instance of using this science or art 

3. Skillful use of a stratagem

4. A plan, method, or series of maneuvers or stratagems for   obtaining a specific goal or result

Are tactic different then? Are there tactics in lawn bowling?  Tactic can also be defined again in a military context that can be applied to any contest:

1. A plan, scheme, or trick for surprising or deceiving the enemy. 

2. Any artifice, ruse, or trick devised or used to attain a goal or achieve an advantage over an adversary. 

The word stratagem is used in the definitions. It in turn, therefore, needs to be defined:

1. A plan, scheme, or trick for surprising or deceiving the enemy.

2. Any artifice, ruse, or trick devised or used to attain a goal or achieve an advantage over an adversary. 

Thus we can see that stratagem at least pertains to misinforming or hiding useful information from the opponents. It is practiced by the chief planner, who in the case of lawn bowls, is the skip. Strategy refers to overall principles of operation that are characterized in that they can be established by your side before the contest or 'battle' begins.

Deciding who will be lead etc. is a matter of strategy. The decision to start off choosing shorter or longer ends can be initiated as a strategic decision. A decision to move the mat position regularly when the opportunity arises can be made before play begins and can be part of a strategy. A standard decision to ask the opponents, in the first end, to bowl first if the toss is won can be made before the start of the game and is thus strategic. A decision to take an inordinate but not illegal time preparing to bowl in order to upset the opposition can be a strategic decision made before the game even begins. A decision to throw long jacks because one of the opponents is more frail than your team members is a general plan that can be made at the outset. The edict: change tactics when losing, is a strategy. It can be decided in advance and has a general character. Thus, strategy does exist in lawn bowling.

Tactics

Once we have clear definitions, the role of tactics in lawn bowling is much more obvious than that of strategy. Note a key difference between tactics and strategy. A strategy consists of general principles of action that can be established in advance of the contest. One does not have to have any particular strategy or it can be as simple as, “Let’s go out there and do our best.” Tactics, unlike strategy, cannot be decided in advance. It depends upon the situation and is affected not just by the fate of one’s own bowls by the opponent’s shots and their maneuvering. Tactics are decided during the contest and change according to the situation. Lawn bowling is luck, skill, and tactics with the latter two increasing in importance as we improve. The skip requests team members to attempt particular shots based on the situation in the head, the score, and the ‘end’ being played (beginning, middle or end of the match).

Choosing between forehand and backhand; choosing to draw to the jack or to a different target; choosing to block, to drive, to mildly disrupt the head; these are all tactical choices made in the heat of the contest, just before the shot is taken.

How important are tactical choices? There is no end to discussions of what tactical choice has more merit in a particular situation. To me, it seems the best shot the skip can request is the one that has the highest proportion of beneficial outcomes along with the fewest disastrous ones, taking into account all the likely outcomes and their probabilities and based on a knowledge of the particular bowler’s abilities. That is- when a skip has gone to the effort to assemble a team, the skip, who is the team’s tactician, needs to take into account the bowlers’ competencies to an even greater extent than the particular arrangement at the head or score in the game. If all a tyro bowler has been taught is to draw, it makes no sense to ask for anything else, no matter how strongly the game situation on the rink might call for a more sophisticated shot. This of course is not applicable to pick-up games with the teams chosen by the draw-master. In this situation skips cannot be expected, except in the most general way, to know and take into account the level of skills of teammates.

In most instances, except at the highest levels, there is more luck than skill in any individual shot outcome. The better team wins not because of a particular, single, properly-executed shot, but because, taking into account all its shots in a match, luck averages out and that small integrated difference in skill then tips the outcome. 

I think this insight leads to a sound strategic principle. In club level competitions or in any game against players you feel you should defeat, even when seriously behind in the score, you should not try shots beyond your ability in an effort to come back. Rather, play steadily and let statistics work for you even as the end of the match approaches. A big recovery end is more likely to be the result of your opponents’ mistakes than your own miraculous shots. Steady play, right to the end, is the best chance to win. 

The team holding shot has the following options it can attempt: 

1. Adding another shot

2. Blocking an opponent’s preferred approach to the head

3. Placing a back bowl in anticipation of rearward movement  of the jack

4. Dislodging one or more of an opponent’s shot saving      bowls.

5. Nudging the jack into a less exposed position

Drawing to add another shot is the simplest choice and usually has good prospects. A second shot provides insurance in case the opponents move the shot bowl; however, it may have little value in a close jack high position or if it creates a cluster of shots presenting a large, easy target particularly with a short jack.

The nuisance effect of short bowls is common. The blocking of a bowler’s preferred approach into the head has more psychological effect than real consequence. In a physical sense, a block only tempts an opponent to adjust aiming line or delivery speed, or both, or to switch hands. The psychological impact is greatest on the new bowler even though the chance of the new bowler hitting the block is even smaller than for a skilled person. The opponent can easily miss his stare point by taking a quick glance at the blocking bowl. Psychologically, a defensive and highly visible block astride the delivery line tends to make opponents apprehensive. They tend to become distracted from good preparation for their delivery.

It would be interesting to test in practice how often a block is hit when multiple bowls are delivered. Unless the opposing bowl would be promoted to count if it were hit a blocking bowl can actually be disregarded. Blocks tend to be more effective on slow or medium-paced greens. On these slower greens, delivery angles are narrower and vary less with delivery speeds, so that the bowl paths are, or at least seem, narrower. Blocks are effective only when an opponent has few options. Teams holding shot should normally cover strength with receiving bowls beyond the jack before adopting blocking tactics. Remember, the positioning of blocks has less margin for error than positioning of back bowls. Skips should use their most accurate draw shot bowlers for positioning them.

When holding one or more shots, skips should continually assess the likelihood of attacking play by opponents. Competent opponents could attack at an early stage in the development of the head. The more shots a team holds, the greater the likelihood of attacking play by opponents. The holding team should try to neutralize the benefit to opponents of disturbing the jack. Consider the merit of having the best back bowl, which commands not only the ditch, but often several square meters of the rink next to it. If opponents have bowls at the back of the head, a good defensive tactic is to match them. The more bowls that opponents have at the back of the head, the greater the likelihood they will attack.

A good back bowl is never more than 6 feet behind the present position of the jack unless the game has (a) re-spot position(s).

The team not holding shot has the following options that it could attempt:

1.    Drawing for shot or to save

2.    Wresting bowls out of the count

3.    Moving the jack to save or score

4.    Killing the end

5.    Setting up the head for a conversion shot

Like their opponents, the team not holding shot can also use gentle wicks, rests, and run through shots in the process of drawing for shot or to save. If the jack is in the ditch and a team is one shot down, it should favor drawing for shot. If the bowl runs into the ditch, the position is no worse. If the team is several shots down, it should favor drawing to save. A team saves nothing if the bowl runs to the ditch.

The team not holding shot can also play firmer attacking bowls. However, if not holding shot, they should at least have bowls in the head that restrict the opponents scoring margin. The trail shot is a common way of moving the jack. The attacking bowl forces the jack away from opposing bowls and follows a similar path before coming to rest. Faster versions of the shot can follow or trail the jack into the ditch.

Making Tactical Decisions

The skip makes the tactical decisions. In a social game the skip does not have a refined understanding of the capabilities of his team members. Decisions can be made more on the basis of the state of the head and the score in the game. In social games the bowler himself probably has a better idea of what can be realistically expected. The skip may just suggest what may work but qualify it with, “Do what you feel comfortable with.”

Teams should evaluate their opportunities using the SWOT procedure (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats).

What is our shot advantage at the moment? What are the strengths of the bowlers who are to follow?

What is our present deficiency of shots? What are the identified weaknesses of each team?

What opportunities or potential rewards does the head offer?

What are the threats or risks entailed with each option?

Attacking play is not always a sound option of a team that is down one or two shots. Loss of an occasional end by a shot or two should not cost a team the game. Misfortunes during attacking play can make matters worse. If a team has only one shot saving bowl in the head, displacement of that bowl could increase the shot count disadvantage. If opponents have numerous receiving bowls behind the jack, disturbance of the jack may give an even larger count of shots. However, if they are deficient in bowls behind, a team could exploit that oversight.

Skips should carefully evaluate risks. The possibility of loss of an end by only a shot or two does not necessarily warrant risk-taking. When well-positioned to win a game, the team should consider leaving risk-taking to the opposition.

An isolated jack or bowl presents a narrow target. The wider a target, the greater the chance of successful attacking shots. The nearer the target, the wider is its relative size, therefore attacking shots are more successful in shorter ends.

Choosing the Bias of Lawn Bowls based on your Bowling Activity

At my home lawn bowling club in Canada there is a trend for new bowlers to use narrower, less-biased bowls. These bowls are thinner through than older bowls; they turn less; and have a more gradual curl rather than a hockey stick hook when they slow down.

My home club, James Gardens in Toronto , has only a single green. It is a compressed sand-packed synthetic plastic material about 10 years old. The club  has no natural grass green. Our surface is regarded as the fastest in Canada and most comparable to the grass in much of Australia. I most often bowl at James Gardens because it is within a three-minute drive or a 15-minute walk from my condo apartment. My coach encouraged me to try different bowls borrowed from the club at first but I didn’t make much use of the opportunity. I have large enough hands to easily encircle a number 4 bowl: thumb tip to thumb tip and index finger to index finger as introductory books advise. I took the heaviest bowl I could easily handle because I didn’t want my bowls to be knocked about by the opposition more than could be avoided. Actually (as I found out later) the weight of bowls doesn't contribute as much to keeping them from being moved as whether the bowl is tipped over or not.

Because my home green is so fast one must take a lot of grass. I found that when I used more biased bowls my aim-point on the front ditch would be on another rink. Consequently, when the green was busy, as in a tournament, people walking about or changing ends distracted me or blocked my aim-point. Also, with more biased bowls there is more risk of a collision with bowls on an adjacent rink during simultaneous deliveries and although such an occurrence is rare, close calls are more frequent and can upset one's concentration. For these reasons, I chose narrow-biased bowls, Taylor Vector VS, in my case.

 My coach also offered the justification that, since I would be a novice for the next four years and would play lead in competitions, there would be not much need to go around anything on my way to the jack. In any case, I am a left-handed bowler and it seems that I will be less likely to be blocked by short bowls thrown right-handed since the release points are likely to differ. The lead bowler in a team has relatively unimpeded draw shots towards the jack. The average number of bowls that are present at this point in the end is 4, with fewer at the beginning of the end and more at the finish. Bowls that finish behind the jack do not block later shots. Bowls that end up shorter than the jack can block access only to a meager extent when there are still few of them. Because they are narrower in profile and tend to stand up on edge more often they do block less but narrow bowls standing on edge present less of a target to hit. 

Nevertheless, I must say, wider bias bowls give more of a thrill. It can never be mundane to see that bigger curl coming into the head! My coach incidentally warned me that when I started playing matches on slower surfaces, some opponents would consider that I was somehow cheating because of the reduced bias.

Because I have decided to play regularly in tournaments I have subsequently also joined a club that has two grass greens as well as a different type of synthetic surface. I found it necessary to have unrestricted access for practice on a slower, grass surface. These are still the most common greens in Canada. I typically needed only one-half the ‘grass’ that was necessary at James Gardens LBC. 

So far I haven’t had any opponent complain about the narrowness of my bowls but I guess that only happens when you win!

Finding and Keeping Your Stare Points at Lawn Bowls

You will be urged over and over again in web articles to enjoy the socializing aspects of lawn bowls. Chat with your team-mates and opponents etc., they counsel.  I don’t completely disagree, but let's say the tenor of this blog is decidedly different. For me, if you don’t play well you are not going to enjoy the sport.

In my experience, a big obstacle in the way of the new bowler (besides throwing the wrong bias) is missing one’s line, in particular when switching between forehand and backhand shots in the same end. Obtaining the correct line requires sensitive discrimination and careful observation. It is a selection that one needs to change depending upon what preceding bowls teach you. In a game, four aim points need to be noted and retained: forehand and backhand aim points in each of the two directions of the rink. I have found that I can concentrate on other aspects of delivery if I actually write down on the back of a business card, that I keep in my shirt pocket, what my aim points are. Then I update or refine them as I roll more bowls. This is particularly easy in triples or fours since there is plenty of free time to make notes during the play of the end.

In choosing a stare point to concentrate on during a delivery, first, a point is selected just beyond or on the bank of the forward ditch. It can be a lane number, an out-of-bounds marker, a hog line marker, or a part of a bench, fence, or other permanent structure. Then, I mentally trace back, in a straight line from that point, all the way to the point of release of the bowl on the front edge of the mat, either on my forehand or backhand as the case may be. For some, squatting while mentally visualizing this line helps. David Bryant, the greatest bowler of all time, did this. Tilting my head to bring it right above the shoulder of my delivery arm also may help me.  I originally had written in this blog, "For a left-hander, like myself, the point of release of the bowl on the forehand should be right alongside the mat. For a left-handed backhand, the stationary foot should be just to the right of the centerline of the mat with the toe pointed towards the corresponding aiming point near the ditch. This way the backhand bowl should pass over the center point of the front edge of the mat."

Today (July 2014), I have become a center-line bowler. I position myself so that my delivery arm swings over the front center point of the mat for both forehand and backhand.  Anyway, whatever the point on the mat over which your arm swings, follow with one’s eye the imaginary straight path from the aim point at the ditch back to the mat. This is the bowl’s release line.  

There’s much discussion among experts about how far out on this line the aim point (the so-called stare point) ought to be. What I have found is that it is much more important how physically distinct the stare point is, rather than how far out it is from the mat. If you are actually staring at a piece of leaf or a bare spot on the lawn, it is easier to concentrate than if you are looking at a minute discoloration on a carpet. Sometimes, on a synthetic surface, there are small sparkling grains of material, probably sand from the ditch shining in the sun, but these are best avoided as marks because when you start your delivery and change the elevation of your body they may simply disappear as the direction of light reflection changes. 

In this respect, bowling on grass is much easier than on a synthetic carpet. The grass has many more good-sized inhomogeneities with good color contrast than a well-maintained synthetic surface. 

I am a left-handed bowler: the bowling terms I use and my first lesson recalls

I am a left-handed bowler, so when I talk about what I was taught or learned some other way it will be written for the lefty. For a change it will be you right-handed people that will need to transcribe the instructions or see things in a mirror.

As I said in my introductory blog, the new bowler’s mind is too busy for his or her own good. I shall try to write down what I remember from my first few lessons. In what follows  I use a few terms that are probably not too general. I call the ‘mark’ the point at or beyond the front ditch which is the furthest point on your ‘aim line’. I call the ‘aim line’ the imaginary straight line that runs from the point of release, just off the front of the mat, to the ‘mark’. I call the ‘aim point’ the spot on the ‘aim line’ where one stares during delivery. I also call it the ‘stare point’. Because the ‘stare point’ is closer to where one is standing on the mat, your head does not need to be raised as high to focus on it. There is less strain on the neck.

 So here goes: (remember I am left-handed)

1. Take the correct grip and turn the palm up holding  the bowl.

2. Make sure that bias is correct for the forehand or backhand as selected.

3. Step onto the mat. 

5. Stand up straight and align feet parallel with the aim line.

6. Make sure straight arm swings smoothly straight at your side and over the line. This will require me to remove items from my left pocket.

7. Identify an aim point out on a line to the mark.

8. Bend knees and place my right forearm on my  right thigh.

9. Imagine the correct backswing for the weight required.

10. Take a deep breath and hold it until you release the bowl.

11. Backswing first and step forward second with my right foot. The distance the bowl will travel (weight) is determined by both the length of my step and the height of my backswing; they should be matched to preserve balance.

12. As the delivering arm swings down like a pendulum, lay the bowl onto the line.

13. Follow through so the left hand comes up through the aim point to the mark and the little finger rises a little more than the index finger.

14. Watch the bowl to see whether it passes through the aim point and get a feel for the grass and weight on the green.

15. Step off the mat  to the left for the next bowler to come to the mat.

The Theme and Content of the Greenbowler Blog

This blog is about the sport of lawn bowling.

It is called ’The Greenbowler’ not just because the game is played on a lawn or even any other flat green surface, natural or synthetic, but because the author starting this blog is green (in 2012); that is a novice, just trying to learn the game. I am not a teacher. I am a pupil; a retired adult learner who has been lawn bowling just one Canadian season at the time of first writing. Yes, I am a Canadian also. Not from any place you would expect a lawn bowling enthusiast to hail from, such as Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, or South Africa, but hockey-crazy Canada. Actually, Canada’s national game is lacrosse!

There is plenty of coaching advice on the web if you look for it.  This is more of a journal recording my observations about what I am learning. What works for me; what seems to work but actually fails; the points that give better results if I concentrate on them. As has been written by many coaches, “The novice's mind is always busy.” There are too many things to think about at one time.

I hope you get something out of it, mention it to bowling friends, and contribute to the comments. Your experience is just as valuable as mine.