As mentioned in a previous blog, November and December are months for a lot of Youtube watching of bowls matches. The bowls season ended in mid October in Canada and my wife and I don’t head off for Portugal and the Valverde LBC until New Year’s eve.
Since I model my own bowling delivery after Alex Marshall MBE, I watch his matches particularly closely, employing slow motion and free frame techniques to see even the smaller elements of technique. I am noticing this year that besides exhibiting the shooters’ stance, he uses a non-standard bowls grip. I have tried to show this in the screen pictures above. This grip was being taught as an alternative grip in a teaching manual that I obtained while bowling in New South Wales, Australia about five years ago.
The advantage that I see with this grip is that it corresponds more completely to the natural angle that your relaxed hand would take up if you let your arm hang loosely at your side. I have tried to show this in my own photo below. The aim line is the edge of the carpet. I am left-handed and my arm is hanging relaxed at my side. My fingers are not parallel to the aim line. If a bowl is now simple inserted into my hand with the running surface parallel to the aim line I will be holding the bowl just like Alex is doing in the pictures above.
You can also see illustrated that I too am in the shooters' stance with my anchor (left) foot is at an angle to the aim line to provide greater stability when I step forward.
You will notice that after confirming his grip on the bowl and prior to commencing his delivery motion, Alex Marshall turns the elbow of his delivery arm in towards his rib cage (a movement that Nev Rodda now calls "Hug the Bowl")to align his grip and the running surface of the bowl to the green, grassing the bowl along the aiming line without a wobble.
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