A Lawn Bowling Delivery Error Caused by Off-Rink Practice

Keen lawn bowlers (like myself) can get into a bad habit while practicing lawn bowl delivery off the rink. We want to go through the motions of a standard delivery and we want to hold the bowl during that practice swing to maintain proper balance; but, we can’t actually let go of the bowl, because it would seriously damage the furniture (or whatever else is around us). As a result, we hold onto the bowl while we simulate the follow through.

This, I have discovered, creates a bad habit that requires still more practice on the rink to eliminate. The difficulty is that such practice causes me to hold onto the bowl past the time when my bowling arm is vertical to the green when I am actually playing. That is, the bowl gets released further along the rink and not just a few centimeters in front of my advancing foot, as it should be.

This has unfortunate consequences. The further my arm extends out in front of my body the greater the inclination for it to pass slightly across my body, making forehands narrower and backhands wider than planned. But this is the least important potential problem, because so long as I force my bowling hand to stay over the aim line and resist turning my open palm inward, the bowl should still go straight along the planned path. The second and more serious, unavoidable consequence is that the bowl will receive less push down the rink and will have less weight than one properly released. The reason: when a bowl is released late with the bowling arm less than vertical, some of the muscle impetus that should go into pushing the bowl down the rink will instead be wasted push it slightly upwards. A further consequence is that the bowl will dump onto the playing surface to some extent. Because differing energies will be lost depending on the place where the bowl is released, consistent weight will become more elusive.

Why Lawn Bowling is in Decline

In the lawn bowling mens’ pairs competition at the Toronto Cricket Club yesterday, I think I was the only novice playing.  I played three matches, losing three. In Canada, unlikely my experience over the winter in Australia, because there are so few tournament players, if you are in a significant tournament you play only against the best and most competitive. Since there are no selectors in Canada, there are no levels, and so there are no gradations of players into different leagues. There is one exception. Canada has a class called novice for people who have only played for five years or less and there are a handful tournaments restricted to novices only.

Don’t get me wrong. I have no problem with this setup. It is an unparalleled opportunity to play against only the best players. What it does do is make the rapid progress of novice players dependent upon having very selfless mentors as partners in these team events. These experienced players give away their chances to score better, so a beginner can improve more quickly. This is probably why the only good young players have a family member that can bowl with them. I think an even stronger statement is possible. There are essentially no young players who do not have close relatives who bowl. The social mobility of our society is what is causing the decline of the lawn bowling population. Granddad can’t conveniently bowl with his grandson or granddaughter because they now typically live far away!

I don’t blame lawn bowlers who want to play only with the best and against the best. It is their time, their recreation and they are entitled to have their fun. But from now on, don’t fuss about what is happening to our sport and rather hold in awe those selfless few who do struggle to maintain or  even resuscitate it. 

Novice Lawn Bowlers, who show initiative, must learn everything faster

Beginning lawn bowlers play lead. Novice lawn bowlers, at most Canadian clubs, find that if they show significant improvement they are rapidly moved higher on the tag board and end up playing other positions. At James Gardens, my home club in Toronto Canada for example, my wife is now often slotted into club tournaments as vice, even though she is only in her second year bowling. In club pick-up games I am now usually made a skip, even though I am only bowling for my third year. So, in actual practice, novice players must be able to make a workable go at all the shots called for in all the positions.

Additionally, they need a clear understanding of the duties of all the team positions and a fair grasp of the most frequently applicable rules of the game. All that is OK with me. Novice bowlers who show the more initiative just need to understand, they are in the accelerated program!