Divots

In bowls, a divot is a hole in the lightly rooted grass playing surface. Divots characteristically are found at two places. One is immediately at the front of the mat and is caused by dropping the bowl from a few inches to high  during an otherwise good delivery. The other more egregious type arises from a longer throw (not a roll)that bounces about 3 feet out from the front edge of the mat.  Because, in each case, the bowl is not rolling when it hits the green, both damage the playing surface by dragging at it as they slide as they pick up angular momentum. 

All people who release their bowls more than a few inches above the grass surface can make divots but for releases from the same height those who use some variant of the claw grip, with the thumb on the top of the bowl, tend to do more damage than someone who palms the bowl and rolls it off their fingertips. This is because the latter technique provides some rotation as the bowls are released. Tupper even advocates changing to a palm grip in wet weather to protect the green.

Players have different responsibilities for preventing divots. The lead is in charge of placing the mat. Besides the strategic importance of moving the mat up or back to change weight and line, leads are expected to also move the mat as necessary to provide a smooth landing place for the bowls. It is skips’ responsible to order that ground sheets be used if the green is suffering repeatedly damage.