Moving the Mat at Bowls

Walk along behind the rinks at your local club. More likely than not most of the mats being played from are set within two feet of the T line. In almost every one of those matches one team is losing (ties excepted). In quite a few, one team is losing by more than three shots.  Why haven’t these skips started looking for a change that can turn their fortunes around? Yes, you can change the length without moving the mat but remember that when you are losing, you may not get that many chances to control the mat. Why not introduce two changes in one end? If you can turn it around you won’t be able to tell which change worked for you or whether it was the combination but we aren’t running a clinical trial here. You are just trying everything to give yourself a chance to win.

If a team loses badly and the skip has not taken every opportunity to alter the conditions of play by changing length and moving the mat, the loss should be charged to the skip. It is my opinion that when a skip falls behind by three or more shots, (s)he should make some change when the mat is regained.

What do you think?

A Proposed Improvement in the Rules for Bowls Sets Play

Contested to the End

Increasingly, lawn bowls at the professional indoor and even club levels has moved to sets play. Two sets of anywhere between 9 and 11 ends are played. If one team wins both or wins one and ties the other, that team wins the match. If each team wins one of the two sets, there is a 3 end tie-breaker. This is scored as best bowl wins the end. The side that wins two of these extra ends wins the match.

What seems to me to be unfair is that the choice of which side either has possession of the mat or the last bowl in the first and third ends is determined by a coin toss. I feel it would be an improvement if this advantage went to the side that had the best overall score when the two sets are considered together. For example, if side A wins the first set 11-2 and losses the second set to side B 10-11. The overall score is 21-13 in A’s favor and it should receive the choice in ends 1 and 3. If the overall score is also tied then a coin toss would be appropriate.

This modification of the rules would have another advantage. A team that is seriously behind in the first set would need to continue to play hard to narrow the gap they lose by to try to preserve an increased chance if the match ended up in a tie-break. As the rules now stand, a team losing the first set badly can give up the first set before it is actually over and just start preparing for the second set.

Short Bowls: The Number 1 Problem of Social Lawn Bowlers

The picture above shows a not-atypical head from a club triples game.  Because bowlers focus on the jack when assessing their proper weight more than 50% of shots don’t make it up to the jack. This is a waste because if the jack is touched by a bowl it essentially always moves back and away from whichever bowls have been left short. Another disadvantage of bowling short is that when such a bowl falls, it falls away from the jack. On the other hand, a bowl delivered behind the jack normally falls back towards the jack bringing it closer.

Skips can easily repair this deficiency simply by putting down their foot as the target one meter behind the jack. Imagine how different the above picture of a head would look if all the bowls were a meter further up the green. There would be many more bowls snuggling around the jack with a few good ‘catcher’ bowls behind it.

More about Choosing Your Stare Point in Lawn Bowls

I have found that choosing a stare point about 5 meters in advance of the front edge of the mat works best for me. In fact, when helping beginners, I often make a chalk mark at that distance at approximately the correct angle for their bowls’ bias. This way the beginner gets a clearer idea of whether (s)he is properly controlling their delivery angle just by watching whether his or her bowl passes over the chalk mark.

Regular bowlers must struggle to identify slight imperfections in the grass or carpet to stare at. I have found recently that squatting on the mat while looking down at the far bank helps me choose a stare point that is truly on my aim line. There is a bonus. After I stand up and assume my erect delivery stance, all this time holding that stare point, I deliver my bowl more quickly, because the longer I have to hold my stare point the more likely my view of it will slip! As a consequence, I bowl better and faster.

If your club uses ground sheets all the time to protect the green from dumpers making divots (Etobicoke in Toronto)you can derive an additional advantage. The front edge of the ground sheet is about three meters in advance of the front edge of the mat. Often one can find a mark on this edge and move it onto your aim line by shifting your anchor foot position slightly on the mat. Thus, for example, by moving your setup position on the mat slightly your chosen aim point on the front bank and some distinctly visible mark on the front edge of the ground sheet can be lined up, so that all you need to do is roll your bowl over this distinct mark. This strategy is made easier by the change in the World Bowls Rules that now only requires a part of one foot to be on or over the mat at the moment  the bowl is released from your hand.
This strategy is particular useful at clubs (such as Etobicoke LBC) where a small V cut has been made in the center of each end of the ground sheet to assist in centering it. Using this V-cut in the ground sheet is particularly  useful when bowling in the evening under artificial lights where seeing clearly is more of a struggle.