Recently I bowled in a pair’s
tournament against my wife. Fortuitously,
because she was ’leading’ and I was ‘skipping’, we were always at opposite ends
of the rink. The evening following the match, my wife told me that the particular
background for the rink we were playing on enabled her to clearly see small
movements of my trunk and that about 40% of the time my body position while I
was taking my line differed from its position during my actual delivery; furthermore,
when it did not deviate, my shots
were clearly more effective.
Following from this sharp observation I have simplified my delivery so as to eliminate this difference. Subsequently, in practices, when I worked at keeping line and length constant, my bowls ended much more closely grouped than ever before.
As I have said repeatedly, one should on balance resist changing one’s delivery because unlearning routine is difficult; however, the changes in this case did not add, but removed, elements of my delivery routine while notably improving the outcomes.
What is left:
1.
Standing behind the mat: I decide on the shot;
grip the bowl appropriately https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dr5UQ6XeB0
I imagine
the path of the bowl from mat to target.
2.
I step onto the mat and assume the Shooters’ Stance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b9cKvPeWj4&t=121s
.
3.
I bend forward from the waist keeping both
legs straight and steady my bowl with my free hand at knee height and just
beside the knee of my forward foot.
4.
With my head over the aim line, I look along
this imaginary line and select and hold a stare
point about 5 meters in front of the mat.
5.
I cock my
wrist. http://greenbowler.blogspot.ca/2015/11/using-cocked-wrist-in-lawn-bowl-delivery.html
6.
I move my non-bowling hand from supporting the
bowl onto the knee of the leg that will be advancing.
7.
Without
straightening up I slowly draw the bowl back along the aim line like an archer
drawing a bow.
8.
Just before I begin the forward pendulum swing, as I am completing my backswing, I
step forward and plant my advancing foot.
9.
With my wrist still cocked, I release the bowl at
the bottom of the swing.
I follow through
but do not add rotation to the bowl either with my wrist or fingers (my bowling
arm should finish at an angle of about 45 degrees to the ground).
AAs I swing, my
body weight should move forward so that I tend to take a step off the front of
the mat after the bowl is released.
