Newcomers to the game of lawn bowls will have a better understanding of tactical
considerations if they know the names for the different shots that can be
attempted at bowls. Below is an alphabetic listing with synonyms where they
exist.
Back Bowl:
A bowl usually out of the count but closer to the front
ditch; this bowl may contend for shot if the jack is moved backwards in the
head. Back bowls have much more of a chance to get into the final count than short bowls.
Backest Bowl:
It is the back bowl closest to the ditch.
Blocker:
A bowl that may interfere with opposing efforts to get their bowls close to the jack by resting in the expected path for their delivery; therefore, a block shot is a short bowl. A bad blocker is a wasted bowl.
Blockers usually have more psychological than actual value.
Chop-and-Lie also called Tap-and-Lie or Wrest:
A bowl delivered with about two feet overweight that it is hoped will
hit another bowl, turn it away, and take its place.
Cover Bowl:
When a game is played under rules specifying no dead ends but rather respotting of the jack, a cover bowl is one intended to finish close to a/the
respot position in anticipation of the jack being driven out of bounds. When
such a bowl is delivered the bowler is said to be ‘going for cover’.
Draw:
A bowl delivered on a line and with a weight trying to end up closest to the
jack; the draw shot is the most frequent shot in all of lawn bowling.
Drive also called a Runner:
This is a bowl delivered with sufficient force that the bias has minimal effect so that it runs fairly straight; it is a somewhat desperate shot delivered hoping to kill the end or radically change the head, when the other side is ahead by several shots in the end. If a runner does not hit its target it will end up in the ditch.Firm Wood also called a Timing Shot:
An overweight shot played narrower than a draw but not velocity such that some bias is evident; the bowl is intended to stay on the rink even if it misses its target. The shot is a more gentle version of the drive.Plant:
A shot delivered in the special situation where two bowls
are touching; any contact with the shorter bowl will send the second bowl away precisely
along the line connecting the two bowl's centres.
Positional Bowl:
So-called because it is a draw shot intended to end, not near the jack, but at a particular location on the rink chosen for tactical reasons.Rest:
A bowl that in its course usefully comes up to and rests against another thereby holding it in a specific place.Runner (see Drive):
Running Shot (see Drive):
Run through Shot:
A variant of the ‘firm wood’ in which a bowl is delivered
with several yards of weight to strike several bowls sitting in front of the
jack; the bowl is intended to disperse the short bowls and continue moving to
end near the jack.
Shot Bowl:
This is not a type of shot; the 'shot bowl' is that bowl sitting closest to the jack, as the head is disposed.
Tap-and-lie (see Chop-and-lie):
Timing Shot (see Firm Wood):
Trail:
A bowl that hits the jack so that both bowl and jack are
moved backward, more or less together. When the jack is hit and the bowl
goes in a dramatically different direction from the jack the bowl is said to have "sliced' the jack.
Wick:
A bowl that hits another in its travel and is
deflected to a position it could not otherwise reach.
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