Two of the lawn bowling clubs to which I belong have extremely heavy greens this season. One needs to be an athletic bowler indeed to deliver a bowl from T to T. Whereas under a more normal condition one might have an aim line that runs from the center of the mat to the forward boundary marker, the present heavier conditions reduce bias so much that the line more typically runs to a spot on the forward bank about midway between the rink number and the same boundary marker— only half as wide.
Although this heaviness decreases the enjoyment of social competition, it is rather useful for practice. The reason—when you need to deliver a bowl with more weight, it dramatically exaggerates deficiencies in the mechanics of your delivery.
Let us say, for example, your delivery throws your body out of balance, this will be even more pronounced when you are forced to roll with more weight. Similarly, if either your backswing or your follow-through is poorly grooved, this will show up as increased wildness when you are forced to throw harder.
At the same time, you need to be aware of two caveats that pertain to practicing on a heavy green. First, be more critical of your results because with the reduced bias being exhibited by bowls under these heavier conditions even when you miss your line by quite a bit the deviation in terms of distance from the jack will be much less. The track of your bowl will be straighter than usual. Second, don’t get excited by what seems to be an improved weight control; the heavy green will be stopping your bowls faster and make weight control unnaturally easy.
Great article. Balance is the most important part I think, everything else flows from there.
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