It makes a lot of sense to place your anchor foot at 45 degrees to the aim line for a lawn bowling delivery. Placed at an angle rather than parallel to the aim line gives more stability when all your weight is on one foot as one steps forward. But why should one step out with one’s advancing foot toe pointing at your stare point on your aim line as also recommended by New Rodda?
Following the same argument wouldn’t it give an even more stable base to have that advancing foot also come down firmly at an angle to the aim line?
I couldn’t understand the difference until recently when I was thinking about a different problem. How could I bowl smoothly if my stepping foot landed with a jolt as I set it firmly down in my delivery? The answer appears to be that I would need to come down on my forward stepping heel and rock forward transferring my weight from heel to sole and finally to my toes as I walked off the mat. But this is only possible if one points the advancing foot somewhat parallel to the aim line.
So that is the real reason why Nev Rodda says to use the advancing foot to aim: the purpose is not really to enhance your aim (as he says, “This is how I like to explain it.”) but rather to smoothly transfer weight from the anchor foot to the advancing foot!
I have just discovered your article about footwork Involved in using the Shooters’s Stance. I have used it since the early 1980s without using its name which is so apt.
ReplyDeleteWhere I vary from your action is in the placement of your leading foot during delivery.
Aiming your bowl along the delivery line all comes from having the following in place above it at your stance - bowl, vertical arm, shoulder and sighting eye as in rifle shooting, archery and othe target sports.
Try landing your front foot at the same angle (c.45 degrees) to the delivery line as it was in your stance. The advantages are:
1. Your body movement then is parallel to your delivery line from stance to release whereas changing the direction of your foot involves a slight twist of your body opening out your body movement as is shown in the illustration of you in action.
2. You maintain the same stability you had on the mat by landing on a wider base (toe to heel) than by pointing your foot at at your stare point on your aiming line. (I call it ‘Stare Spot’ which I think is a more powerful name than stare point).
3. An angled foot helps control forward body movement and hence gives better length control as it provides more resistance to forward movement than does a straight pointing foot.
Try it in practice sessions on your own for at least three weeks or until it becomes second nature to you.
Doug Cole, Buckingham Bowls Club, Hobart, Tas.
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DeleteI have actually placed my advancing foot as you recommend for years but found I couldn't consistently transfer my weight forward smoothly. Professional bowlers point their advancing foot from what I can see in videos.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Doug. I encourage other people's experience on the blog.
can you have you anchor foot lined up to the target line as old books say but use your front foot at a 45 degree angle ? reverse of shooter?
ReplyDeleteIt is loss of balanced while you are on one foot during the stepping forward that the shooters' stance is intended to remedy. Landing on a foot angled 45 degrees might not be able to correct balance already lost.
DeleteI FOUND THIS ARTICLE - RE THE LEADING FOOT WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?
ReplyDelete.
Step with your leading foot at about 45 degrees to the delivery line.
This gives a wider base to balance over rather than just the width
of your foot. It also gives greater resistance to forward body sway.
As I comment above, I have been landing with my stepping foot at an angle for some time. It is the resistance to smooth forward weight transfer that I found interfering with my weight control.
ReplyDelete