Choosing your Lawn Bowls to Match the Conditions

This blog is not for novice lawn bowlers with five or fewer years’ experience because a novice typically has one set of bowls, chosen based both on his/her physique and the green most frequently played on. My first set of lawn bowls was black, size 4H, Taylor Vector VS. I expected to play lead on an outdoor, sand-packed, synthetic surface running about 16 seconds. With those bowls on that surface, my aim point was the number on the adjacent rink.

In my second year, when I started playing in tournaments on natural grass in Canada, I had no other bowls. Canadian greens are mostly under 10 seconds and I was aiming at the boundary marker or narrower on such rinks. Since I was always leading, facing short bowls in my way was not a significant problem.

In my third year I bought a new set of red, Size 3, Vector VS. My feeling was that the smaller size would improve my grip on heavier shots that required more backswing. My wife found these bowls to her liking and co-opted them! When I tried using them in tournaments at the home club I was charged with taking my wife’s bowls.

In my fourth year, I was given an old set of wide drawing bowls that were being discarded by James Gardens LBC. These ran so wide on that fast synthetic surface that no-one would use them. I took them to Willowdale LBC where, on natural grass, they behaved like Taylor Lignoids. The aim point on this grass was 25% wider than my Vectors. They had a definite hook at the end that could get past short bowls in front of the jack.

Based on her physique, the coach at Willowdale LBC recommended that my wife, Tish,  use a Size 1 bowl. We ordered a set of Taylor Aces. Because the color was being discontinued we got a good discount on a set in solid lemon yellow (that later developed cracks ). Tish tried using them both on the artificial carpet and then on grass but she never liked them. She preferred the red Vectors. These yellow Aces sat around gathering dust until this year when I tried them for playing skip in social games on the fast synthetic carpet. They felt so comfortable in my hand that I kept using them on and off.

According to the on-line literature, narrow bowls give problems first and foremost under windy conditions on hard, fast greens. This is not difficult to believe. Narrow bowls have an unstable line if they wobble because the running surface is engineered so the bowl draws differently when it is totally upright than it does as it slows down and begins to lean over. If the wind changes the tilt of the bowl, the drawing characteristics will change.  For the same reason, narrow bowls are less forgiving of the wobble often observed in the delivery of beginner bowlers. As a consequence I think beginning bowlers should not use narrow bowls. Fortunately, the old bowls that clubs lend out to beginning bowlers are mostly of the classic more stable profile. The take-away for more seasoned bowlers: do not use narrow bowls on fast greens under windy conditions!