Head Reading at lawn Bowls: ‘Chop/Tap and Lie’ Motif

A motif is defined as a main element, idea, feature, etc. The main cultural areas where the word is used are art, literature, and music. I am going to extend the term to identify any common, significant feature in a lawn bowls head. Enumerating the motifs displayed in any lawn bowls head along with an understanding of their significance for the selection of your tactics for that head will be my approach to lawn bowls head analysis.

Below, I identify what I call the ‘Chop/Tap and Lie’ Motif. For other bowling motifs, search the word motif in this blog’s search tool.

A head position may comprise the ‘shot or bowl’ motif but be further complicated by having the jack ‘covered’ by another bowl in front of it. That is to say, the full target cross-section is not available because the jack is obscured by another shorter bowl.  In this situation, another possibility may be the ‘chop and lie’ or ‘tap and lie’ tactic. This delivery is less promising than the ‘shot or bowl’ precisely because it is a one-bowl target. Nevertheless, it may be the only option available when the head is obstructed.

A necessary precondition must be that, so long as your bowl succeeds in coming to rest on the target bowl, it will be the closest one to the jack. This usually means that the target bowl must be behind the jack.