Head Reading at Lawn Bowls: The Motif of the ‘Firm Wood Target’

 The motif called ‘firm wood target’ is a configuration of two bowls that sit about one bowl width apart side by side short of the jack. Preferably these two bowls sit centered in front of the jack. These two bowls can be any mixture of your own and opposition bowls. The essential characteristic of this configuration is that the gap between these bowls is such that it is highly unlikely or impossible for you to deliver a bowl that passes between them without touching one or the other of them.

Such a configuration promises a wide target with several promising outcomes when a bowl is delivered at them with a few meters of weight.

If both bowls in the pair are opposition bowls your shot should be delivered with the more weight. The objective is to remove both bowls and have your own bowl trickle on a bit to end up near the jack.

 When one of the pair is an opposing bowl and the other is your own, favorable outcomes arise when you achieve the same double takeout as described above as well as when you strike your own bowl into the shot position. Because the possibility also exists for you to promote the opposition bowl it is required thatthis opposing bowl be already a counter.

When both bowls in the pair are your own any hit on the pair with sufficient weight to move one or both will be favorable for you. It is the most preferred situation.

The slower the green the more likely a successful outcome becomes from this shot. The slower the green the firmer and straighter this shot needs to be delivered.