After Watching Paul Foster’s Bowls Delivery

 

Paul Foster MBE has won the World Indoor Lawn Bowls Championship five times.

I think I saw something useful by stopped-frame examination of Paul Foster’s delivery in a match against Michael Dawes in the 2015 World Championships on Youtube.

 I noticed that as Foster starts his backswing he advances his non-anchor foot with the toe decidedly up in the air so that he necessarily plants it heel first. When it is in the air his sole is at an angle of 45 degrees above the horizontal.  In this way, he can smoothly rock his weight forward; his weight transferring from heel to full sole contact, then to toes. Then following smoothly his anchor foot comes up off the ground as he walks off the mat with his body moving forward like a sprinter coming out of the blocks.

 
This form combines with the idea that the delivery should start with your weight almost entirely on your anchor foot, so that the step forward is not restricted and does not bear any significant weight.

This will make weight transfer always the same. It compels the bowler to make contact with the heel of the advancing foot to provide smooth, rocking, weight transfer.

Suggested Adjustments to their Delivery for Older Bowlers

 

• To improve balance, use the Shooters’ stance
• To improve core stability, brace your body with your free hand on your forward knee in the ready position.
• To make your forward stepping smoother, raise the toe of the foot you will be stepping forward with while still in your set position.
• To keep your weight from shifting sideways, walk forward off the mat after releasing your bowl.
• To spare neck muscles, choose your aim line and stare point standing behind the mat.
• Target your bowl to finish 1 meter beyond the jack thereby reducing the likelihood of being short.

A Theory About the Lead’s Bowls Playing Lawn Bowls Triples

When the lead plays his bowls in a triples match at least 12 bowls are left to be played in every end. It cannot be guessed whether his team will need to be protective or aggressive. The skip and to a lesser extend the vice have indicators of how play is proceeding. What can the lead do to increase the value of those opening bowls?

I have an idea. The lead must try to create a head favourable to his side.

This is easier to do if his side has the mat but even bowling second there are superior and inferior contributions.

All thee lead bowls should finish behind the jack. To increase the probability of this, the lead’s first bowl must be weighted to be intentionally long.

Since it is the plan to be consistently further behind the jack with this bowl and subsequently subtract weight to approach nearer the jack, this first bowl should be delivered so that, more likely than not, it will come across the centre line. Since the intent is to be intentionally long, the opportunity should not be wasted to possibly trail the jack!

The lead’s 2nd and 3rd bowls will be delivered with better information both with respect to weight and line than that first bowl. The first bowl is in a sense a ‘sighter’ bowl. It provides feedback about the rink conditions.

This is all that can be expected from the lead that does not possess the mat.

If one’s side does possess the mat, more is possible. It should be prearranged that the skip will decide on jack length: short, intermediate, or long but the lead could be given authority to choose the mat position. If this permission is granted, the lead should choose the mat position so that whether a short, intermediate or long jack is called for, the jack will finish close to the forward T (2 meters from the front ditch).

Why do this? Because since we have already decided the lead’s first bowl is going to be intentionally behind the jack and more likely than not, narrow and If there is going to be a heightened chance that the jack will be trailed, the closer that trail takes the jack towards the front ditch the more difficulty for the opposition.

If your side has possession of the mat and your skip calls for a short jack, where should you locate the mat? The answer is 2 meters behind the closest hog line, because from there you can try to roll the jack to the forward T, but even if it is 2 meters short of the T, it will still have travelled the requisite 21 meters (in Canada). At the same time you have 2 meters behind your target length before you are too long and fall into the ditch and give the jack away!

If an intermediate jack is requested the mat position should be about 5 meters back from the closest hog line. If a long jack is called for, take the mat to the back T.

All this may be well and good but sometimes you, as lead, will deliver a bowl short of the jack. If your line is still good and your bowl only a little bit short, you may have a decent shot bowl! You still need to get behind the jack with your remaining bowls. 

More Comprehensive Lawn Bowls Signals Can Produce Better Game Results

Most novices know no more about signals than those indicating which hand to bowl on. This is because the single objective for beginner leads is to place at least one bowl close to the jack and preferably it should become the shot bowl. Leads are actually only rarely asked to change hands and niggling to obtain shot is seriously frowned upon. (Niggling is trying to knock away the other lead’s bowls.) They should leave the take out for the more experienced team members. When the opposing lead has clearly delivered a bowl that will almost certainly be shot, your skip is most likely to ask you to place receiving bowls or ‘catchers’. Your bowls should not be short, where they will obstruct your team’s effort to change the head. The saying is “when down be up.”

All team members should be able to read a variety of signs from the skip. Before stepping onto the mat, each person about to bowl should stand behind the mat and look down at the skip to receive signalled messages. The bowler can also signal questions for the skip, such as, “Are we up or down?” “Which hand do you recommend?”

Stop

At first your skip will need to start every communication with this signal. Otherwise, the person on the mat may deliver a bowl before information is exchanged. The skip places both hands in front of his/her chest palms facing towards the boiler on the mat. Like a traffic cop the message is STOP.

Catcher Bowls

A proposal for a signal to place receiving bowls and make a sustained effort not to be short could be cupped hands. The hand on which the bowl should be grassed can also be indicated or the lead can signal to be advised about the best side to bowl. Usually the skip will not ask for a change in hand when asking for a catcher bowl.

Put the Bowl in this Spot

Sometimes the skip will want to signal that a bowl should be delivered to a particular spot. The skip may be worried that the jack could be knocked in among a group of opposing bowls. This can be signalled by pointing the index finger towards the ground at the desired spot and rotating in an inward spiral motion.

Put another Bowl in the Head

This signal is delivered without fanfare. Unlike other signals, the object is to hide from the opponents what is being signalled. If the skip is concerned that a big count against is possible, if one of his team’s bowls is knocked out, the call will be for another close bowl in the head. The signal is to place the index finger on the side of the head as if scratching. The bowler should aim to draw to the jack, but not close to that single potential counter. In particular, the bowler should be especially cautious himself not to drive out that important bowl!

Cover the Back

A lead is unlikely to need to receive this instruction, but if the opposing lead delivers two or three bowls that are all good receiving bowls a skip might call for these to be ‘covered’ by placing a bowl in their midst to prevent the opposition from trailing the jack into the cluster. The signal for a covering bowl could be both hands cupped over the head like a hat. Most often covering will be required by the vice. Another form of cover asks for what is termed the ‘backest bowl’. This is the bowl closest to the ditch that is still in play. The signal to cover may be accompanied for a particular delivery location.

The signal has a special meaning when playing under conditions where there are no dead ends and the jack is respotted. Covering in this situation requires bowling to one of the re-spotting locations in anticipation of a drive to break up the head.

Jack or Bowl

When a bowl is jack high and there are 6 inches or less between the bowl and the jack, the pair present a most enticing target. A skip may want to go after this target early before the opponents can nudge either the jack or the bowl into a more protected orientation. The skip would signal jack or bowl meaning that a controlled weight shot should be directed at the head where hitting either the jack or the close sitting bowl would produce a great result. A possible signal for this would be for the skip to stand up close and directly behind the pair with both hands pointing down and with both palms away from the mat and alternately raise and lower each hand in turn while maintaining the palms open hidden from the mat.

Run-On through X Meters

Signalling this tactic is very frequently encountered by players who are vice skips. What is being requested is that the bowler should deliver a shot that will pass through the head and continue on for several meters after making contact. The skip points with his index finger at the side of his head and  then indicates, by raising a number of fingers, how much more weight should be placed on the bowl. A run through can also be called from the lead or second if one of the team’s bowls can be promoted onto the jack. If the bowl misses it becomes a good catcher for future tries.
 

Drive or Up-Shot

Disrupting the head with sufficient force that the end is often killed or the jack respotted is the most frequent purpose of the drive shot. The drive is almost always played by the skip. Very occasionally when the vice is a better driver, a skip may call for a drive from him or her. When a drive is called for it is important that the opponents also know what is coming because the bowls on nearby rinks need to be protected and there can be a danger of the jack flying through the air. When a signal is needed it can be the person at the head holding an imaginary bowl with a straight arm above the head as high as he can reach. It is important that everyone in the head recognize that a runner is coming. Since most drives are delivered by the skip, signalling is rarely needed but the signal is used as a warning. The skip makes this decision.

Block

When a novice is playing skip there will be many occasions when he has the second last bowl still to deliver but the best course is not to go near the head but take one’s chance that the opponent cannot convert it to their advantage with their single remaining bowl. In this situation the novice skip may be called on to place a block shot to challenge the last bowler even more severely. This can be done by placing a short bowl that would interfere with either a drive or a run-through shot that could disrupt the head, whichever is most likely. A signal calling for a block shot could be the tracing a square figure in the air with the index fingers of both hands used simultaneously.

A block will be most effective if one hand and the center drive are completely blocked by rather short bowls that cannot be promoted. Then a very short blocker at about 14 meters in the path of the remaining draw shot would be most effective. It should be delivered inside out to keep it off the neighbouring rinks.

Do Not

Sometimes the skip wants to signal what (s)he does not want the bowler to do. The signal is forearms crossed in an X in front of the face. This signal, for best effect, should be preceded by the ‘stop’ signal because otherwise the partner on the mat may not give it the attention required.

STOP

The stop signal is sent by the skip waving two arms to get attention and then extending both arms horizontally in front, fingers together and palms facing the mat as if his/her hands were a traffic stop sign. The signal that is very important then follows once attention has been gained.

I would love….

Skip places hands one on top of the other over his/her heart. What follows this signal conveys what the skip wants the bowler to try. For example. I would love… followed by the sign for a blocker. Then followed by the signal Bowl to here. 

Bowl to here

This signal is use by the skip to ask the bowler to place his bowl as close as possible to a particular spot which is different from trying to bowl to the jack.. This signal is used for placing blocker, placing a catching bowl or bowling to a ‘false jack’. The skip hangs his bowls towel down over the spot (s)he want to bowl to stop.

Chop & Lie on this Bowl

Sometimes your side would like to move an opposing bowl and take its position. This is called chop & Lie. The particular opposing bowl is the target and a little extra weight is needed. The skip can point close over the target and then make a repetitive sharp chopping motion with both hands.

If you regularly play with the same teammates, use these ortogether devise your own signals for what your team most often wants to communicate. 

Don’t Deliver the Jack Your Opponent’s ‘Natural Distance’ at Lawn Bowls

 

Each individual bowler has a particular ‘natural distance’ under a given set of green and weather conditions. This ‘natural distance’ is the number of meters his/her bowl will travel when delivered with a smooth, effortless, thought-free swing, on that rink, at that time.

Only players who have developed a grooved delivery after playing thousands of bowls have a ‘natural distance’. Tyros vary everything- position on the mat, posture, starting elevation of the bowl, degree of backswing, and length of step. With some or all of these shifting around, no natural length is possible: nor is any real control of length achievable.

Consequently, in this blog I’m talking about experienced bowlers playing against each other.

If there are practice ends most bowlers when they get them will deliver the jack to the length they are planning to play most often. Initially you can assume that this is their natural length. If you have the mat at the start of the match, do not deliver the jack this length! As play continues identify and remember any length at which the opposition seems particularly accurate. When you have the mat, remember and don’t play that length. In team bowls it is the skip who needs to be watching this, since it is the skip who calls for a particular length jack.

If you know nothing about the opposing side, assume that their natural distance is a medium length jack. Play longer or shorter instead.

Head Analysis: When the Jack is Really a Wider Target at Lawn Bowls!

    ➡︎  

The jack is only 64 millimeters in diameter. No wonder trailing the jack intentionally is so difficult. But sometimes it would seriously help your side if it were moved back a bit. Fortunately, there are situations where the target for moving the jack is significantly enlarged.

Suppose the head looks as in the figure above. Certainly, it would be very beneficial if the jack (lemon yellow circle) could be rolled a bit further down the rink since your bowls are the orange ones. The black bowls belong to your opposition.

You need not despair because the target to achieve jack movement is actually as wide as the cluster of bowls immediately in front of it. That is to say, if you can strike at any point on those two front bowls there is an excellent chance that the jack will be displaced backward towards your waiting catcher bowls.

Try practicing a running shot through the cluster with about 4 meters of weight!

The Remarkable Shot that Taught Us Some Rules

 

On Hallowe'en day the weather was mild in Toronto Canada so we had a pick-up men's pair match at James Gardens LBC. An unusual situation arose sending us scrambling to the Laws of Bowls Crystal Mark 4. Extraordinarily, we have images of the head position taken before the final shot of the end; the shot that elicited the questions. 

The top image shows part of the head before the delivery of the last blue bowl. My bowls are the lemon yellow ones; two close to the ditch and another in the ditch beside the jack. My ditched bowl is a toucher. None of my partner's bowls are close enough to be in the picture.  The green bowls and the single blue bowl belong to the opposition. The visible blue bowl is also a toucher. Although it can't be seen, all paths to knock my two yellow bowls into the ditch are blocked so my opponent with his last single blue bowl decided to try to move his single blue toucher to reduce the count.

He delivered a drive aiming to slice his toucher and send it in the direction of all the yellow bowls. In the event, he hits the shortest green bowl, bounces off it towards the yellow bowls, bounces off the bank, and removes the yellow bowl on the rink closest to the jack.  To add to the fun his blue bowl stays exactly where the yellow bowl it displaced had been sitting.

In the actual game, we incorrectly thought this bowl was live and the result was we scored just one - my yellow in the ditch. 

This was incorrect as we discovered later.

37.17.1 A bowl is a dead bowl if: 

• 17.1.1  it is not a toucher and comes to rest in the ditch; 
• 17.1.2  it is not a toucher and rebounds onto the rink after contact with the face of the bank or with the jack or a toucher in the ditch

37.5.3  Displacement of a bowl at rest

• If a bowl at rest or a toucher in the ditch is displaced by a non-toucher rebounding from the face of the bank, an opponent or the marker must put it back to its former position. 

My side should have scored three! But what a shot!

Controlling Weight at Lawn Bowls When You Take a Stare Point at 5 or more Meters

 

For a decade I worked with a stare point on my aim line 3 to 5 meters out from the front edge of the mat. This blog article is directed towards players who do this. If you take your stare point as the theoretical shoulder on the visualized path of your bowl, then this blog is not for you!

Using a stare point between 3 and 5 meters out along your aim line has the very significant advantage that you will know definitively after your bowl has been delivered whether you missed rolling the bowl over your stare point or whether it is your aim line itself that is wrong.

The disadvantage of the method is that you will have no instantaneous visual clue to help you get your weight correct. That will be entirely up to your recollection of the entire visualized path from a few moments before.

About 10 years ago I was in a roll-up at Broadbeach Bowls Club in Queensland Australia and a skip visiting from Melbourne gave me a tip about controlling weight when you use a stare point near the mat. He told me that if I was trying to deliver a bowl to a short jack my stare point should be no more than 3 meters out along my aim line, but if I wanted greater length I should be choosing a stare point 5 or 7 meters out.

At the time I tried following this advice and I remember my weight control did improve but I paid attention to it less and less thereafter, mainly because it didn’t make sense; why should it work?

Recently, during a practice session, a possible reason dawned on me.

If you are delivering a bowl to a short jack at 21-23 meters and you apply enough weight to get your bowl to travel along the aim line and over a stare point at 5 or more meters the bowl will be delivered too heavy. To roll straight along your aim line and over your stare point you have forced yourself to use too much weight. Instead, with a stare point only 3 meters away, you can bowl along your aim line, over your stare point, and still only apply the correct weight needed to reach the shorter jack.

In the alternative, if you are trying to roll your bowl straight along the aim line and over your stare point 5-7 meters out, that forces you to apply more weight and forces you not to be short!

Pertinent Definitions

An ‘aim line’ is the imaginary straight line that runs from the intersection of the rink’s center line and the front edge of the mat to a selected point on the front bank of the green. The bowler selects an aim line.

A ‘stare point’ is an imagined spot on an aim line over which the bowler tries to roll a bowl. 

Knowing How to Drive is Vital to Avoid Being Defeated by Long Jacks

The most popular strategy in lawn bowls is to consistently play long ends. The smallest deficiency in an opponent's bowling delivery is exaggerated when the shot that must be played is a heavy one. Moreover, many bowlers just don’t have the physical strength to bowl one long end after another.

The best defense is to get very good at rolling the jack very short and getting very good at drawing to very short jacks, to keep possession of the mat so you can make most ends short. But there is another element to this strategy that is too frequently ignored.

No matter how skilled your side may be, sometimes your opponents will get the closer bowls. On these occasions, you must be able to dependably deliver a weighted shot to break up that head.

This is how to get it right!

First, delivering a weighted shot that disrupts a head does not demand great strength. When one tries to break up a head, especially those only 21-23 meters beyond the mat, as the ones we are talking about will be, most players swing too hard. The bowl then misses and finishes in the forward ditch. You should deliver the bowl that will disrupt a short end with the weight required to travel somewhere between 27- 32 meters, whatever is comfortable for you, BUT that weight, whatever you choose, must be precise and consistent.

Second, you must study, before you need the information, by what fraction you must narrow your normal draw angle so it crosses the center line at a distance of 21-23 beyond the mat. Depending on the playing surface this will be between 1/3 and 1/4 of your normal draw angle.

Third, and least appreciated and the cause of most failures, you must walk off the mat following your bowl. This is important because it forces you to keep your body weight moving smoothly forward along your aim line and eliminates any jerkiness that would throw off your line as you release the bowl. 

 Even with normal draw shots, I try to remember to walk off the mat but it is the most frequent element of my delivery that I forget. When delivering a weighted shot to a short jack it is crucial not to forget. 

Delivering a Useful Back Bowl is at least Five Times Easier than a Useful Blocker

Recently I wrote a Greenbowler blog article on the subject of making block shots easier. Afterward, in some practice sessions applying this advice, wherein I assessed whether these attempts actually provided the protection sought, I discovered that only a small percentage of the blocking bowls I tried delivering were effective.

On the other hand, putting in strategically placed back bowls was at least five times easier than bowling a successful block shot.

Covering the respotting position ( on the center line two meters out from the forward ditch )seemed to be the action of choice if the opposition otherwise would have the closest bowl there.

In addition, I found an unexpected advantage in delivering any back bowls that were aimed to finish midway between the centre line and one of the boundaries. When delivering these, I sometimes found that the draw needed to reach these locations was quite different from what I would have guessed. This information would prove useful in playing to displaced jacks later in a match!

Block Shots Made Easier

Delivering an effective block shot is one of the most difficult skills in playing lawn bowls. One reason: the target is not a real visible object. One is trying to place a bowl onto an opponent’s bowling path which is an approximate and imaginary curve. There are two ways to make delivering a block shot a bit easier.

Skip/Vice Stand at the Target Location

The Laws of the Sport of Bowls do state that placing an object onto the green to guide a bowler’s delivery is not allowed (Section 34) but this does not mean that the person directing the head cannot stand anywhere he/she wants on the rink (Section 12.1.3). It is only required that once the bowl has been released that person must immediately withdraw to a position behind the head. Therefore, the Greenbowler recommends that the person directing play should first visualize the path that the expected opposition bowl is likely to take when it attacks the head and then stand, with heels together and toes apart as pictured above, at the exact spot the block is needed, as a target for the bowler at the mat. Then, when the bowl is released the person directing the play should immediately and directly move back behind the head. In this way delivering a block shot becomes no more difficult than drawing to a displaced jack because the target spot has been made visible!

Place Your Blocker to One or the Other of Just Two Lengths

A blocking shot can be effective at any position along the opponent’s bowling arc from mat to head; however, the shot is easier to deliver if it is delivered with a weight that is as reproducible as possible. Furthermore, a blocking shot is more obtrusive the closer it is to the mat, but to still be a live bowl, a bowl must travel a minimum of 14 meters “from the center of the mat line” ( Section 17.1.3 ).

The Greenbowler recommends that the first distance that should be attempted is just a bit over 14 meters. This distance is reproducibly achieved on many Canadian rinks by taking a stance with the feet positioned as they would be after stepping in a normal draw shot and then pushing the bowl firmly forward but with no backswing. That is to say with neither any stepping forward nor elevation of the bowl to accelerate it. The only momentum delivered to the bowl will be the arm push. With only that one element contributing to the velocity, consistency is easier and the required length can be achieved.

The second distance the Greenbowler recommends for a blocking shot is 21 meters, which is the distance to the hog line in Canada. In other countries, the hog line may be at 23 meters and then that should be the target distance.

The person directing the head should stand, heels together and toes apart as illustrated, at the spot where the imagined path of the opponent’s bowl and the hog line intersect. The bowler on the mat should visualize a path (usually choosing the inside-out path) from the mat to where the person directing the head is standing and then bowl with the same weight as for a jack at the minimum distance. Once the bowl is released the person directing the head must promptly move back behind the head.

Who and When

It is the skip or the person directing the head who must decide, first, that a block shot should be played, and second which delivery, forehand or backhand, draw, running shot, or drive the block shot should be attempting to thwart. A block shot should not be considered unless it is pretty clear what the opponent is likely to do. 

Getting Weight Right: Standing on the Aim Line 2/3 of the Way to the Jack

I have discovered a way to avoid short bowling by my lawn bowling team members. I do not understand why it works but it does seem to work with a variety of different subjects.

To do it you must learn the correct aim line for the bowler you wish to assist. The easiest way to do this is to make some deliveries with that team member’s bowls and compare the draw with your own.

Then stand at a spot on that aim line, 2/3 of the way from the front of the mat to the jack, and ask the bowler on the mat to bowl at you. For some mysterious reason, the bowl gets delivered with a weight appropriate to get it to the position of the jack!

I don’t know why this works but I can hypothesize. The bowler senses that at least a certain velocity is needed to take the bowl to you along the aim line without substantial bending away and that is quite a good approximation to the velocity required for the bowl to curve towards the center line and arrive at the jack. 

 That is to say, your request asks two things of the bowler:

1. Bowl along the proper aim line, and
2. Bowl with sufficient weight that the bowl does not curve away from me very much

These two demands actually indirectly define the perfect draw path. The bowl must start out on the required aim line and it must not curve to any substantial degree until it is 2/3 to 3/5 of the way down the rink!

If you adopt this methodology in a match the opposing skip may claim that your positioning is illegal and the rules require that you at all times stand behind the head. This is not correct. The applicable rule from The Laws of the Sport of Bowls Crystal Mark Fourth Edition is:

12.1.3  As soon as a bowl is delivered, a player who is controlling play from a position that is either level with or in front of the jack, must take their position as described in law 12.1.2.

12.1.2  Players at the head-end of the rink and who are not controlling play must stand: 

12.1.2.1 behind the jack if they are members of the team which is in possession of the rink; 

12.1.2.2 behind the jack and away from the head if they are members of the team which is not in  possession of the rink; 

12.1.2.3 on the surrounds of the green if the jack is in the ditch; or

12.1.2.4 well clear of the head if it is not possible to stand on the surrounds.

This means that once the bowl, whose play you are controlling, is released you are required to move immediately to a position behind the jack and then, once that bowl stops, away from the head. 

When You Need a Big End to Win a Set and You have the Last Bowl

 

I am not of set play at lawn bowls. Set play was devised to make the game more suitable for television broadcasting. When there is no such media necessity, I see no reason why we should abandon the traditional 21 up game.

But, if the authorities select set play and with repotting centered on the forward T of any jack out of bounds, then strategy should be directed to take advantage of these rules.

At set play, it doesn’t matter by how much you lose a set. When your side is behind by more than 1 point going into the last end you should play to do whatever is required to position yourself to win. If you fail it doesn’t matter by how much you lose.

Your object is to get a multiple in the end. To achieve that you need to retain the maximum number of ways this can happen.Having the last bowl in the final end is the better situation when you need a multiple to win or tie.

The opposition has the choice of mat position and can try for a preferred jack length. If the mat is taken up the rink to try for a short jack get ready to ask for a measure to see whether the jack has been rolled the requisite length. An extraordinary outcome would be if your side gets the jack back (if so see the close by blog article).

Another possibility is that they try for a long jack. If you see the opposition placing the mat at the 2 meter line say out loud, “Here comes that long jack.”  The idea is convey the idea that your worst nightmare is a very long jack. Actually, what you would like the opposition to do would be to ditch the jack or throw it out of bounds so your side could choose the mat position and jack length.

Once the mat position and jack length are settled the bowl deliveries begin. Your goal is to be in a position where you can secure the required multiple with your last bowl. Hopefully this can be done with a simple draw but often this will not be enough. If your deliveries are not very close to the jack they should be grouped together and behind the jack. Be particularly careful to get enough length because short bowls most likely won’t finish in the count.

When it comes down to your last bowl you need to:

• Draw to the jack if that will win or tie the end as needed
• Displace an opposition bowl if that will give you the required multiple
• Trail the jack to a grouping of your bowls if that will give you the required multiple
• Knock the jack out of bounds if that will give you the required multiple
• Push the jack into the ditch if that will give you the required multiple

No matter how difficult the shot that will give you the required multiple, there is no point in playing a simpler shot that even if successful will be insufficient.

When You Need a Big End to Win a Set and You have the Mat

 

I am not a fan of set play at lawn bowls. Set play was devised to make the game more suitable for television broadcasting. When there is no such media necessity, I see no reason why we should abandon the traditional 21-up game.

But if the authorities select set play and repotting of any jack out of bounds centered on the forward T, then, strategy should be directed to take advantage of these rules.

At set play, it doesn’t matter by how much you lose a set. When your side is behind by more than 1 point going into the last end you should play to at least tie the set. If you fail it doesn’t matter by how much you lose.

Your object is to get a multiple in the end. To achieve that you need to retain the maximum number of ways this can happen. You have the mat in this scenario but your opposition has the last bowl. Your goal is to have at least the required shots to tie the set when your opponent comes to the mat to deliver that last bowl.

To retain the most chances for this to occur you need a short jack and you need to have the respot position about 2 meters behind this jack. To do this you should place the mat about 5 meters behind the closer hog line and deliver the jack to about 2 meters in front of the forward respot position.

You play the end trying to score in the usual way. If the opposition delivers a very close bowl you should prepare to remove it but you do not need to try the removal immediately. All your side’s bowls need to be behind the jack either scoring or as potential catchers.

The idea is that when your side comes to its final bowl you want to have several alternative plays:

• Draw the shot for the required multiple
• Remove their closest bowl for the required multiple
• Trail the jack for the required multiple
• Knock the jack out of bounds with repotting for the required multiple
• Push the jack into the ditch for the required multiple

No matter how difficult the shot that will give you the required multiple, there is no point in playing a simpler shot that even if successful will be insufficient to win.

Then you must just cross your fingers and hope the opposition's last bowl doesn’t destroy your work.

Remember that if you are playing the first set or if you have already won or tied the first set, all you need is a tie.

The Disadvantages of Lawn Bowling from a Fixed Stance

 

No top-flight lawn bowler that I have seen, either professional or on a national squad, bowls from a fixed stance. By fixed stance, I mean delivering a bowl without taking a step forward of some length- small or large.  This suggests to me that this technique has some inherent disadvantages that cannot be completely overcome even by relentless practice.

Not all bowlers who use a fixed stance exhibit all the disadvantages and all of these bowlers do deliver many excellent shots. The problem comes from the inherent disadvantages of the technique causing increased inconsistency.

The first difficulty is that a fixed stance almost completely curtails the opportunity to contribute the body’s momentum to any shot. Every delivery depends upon arm strength for all the velocity transferred to the bowl. For this reason, extra effort is required to reach long jack placements.

Nevertheless, fixed stance bowlers often have excellent arm strength, so if you are trying to take advantage of this potential problem do it for best results at the end of a match or even better at the end of a full day of bowling.

The second shortcoming of fixed stance bowling is less obvious but cannot be overcome with strength. For a bowler who takes a stride as part of a delivery, the pendulum arc of that bowl has a greater amplitude than for a fixed stance delivery. By this I mean the length of the horizontal traverse of the bowl, from the top of the backswing to the point of release of the bowl from the hand, is longer for the person who takes a step. The increase in horizontal traverse corresponds to the length of the step. The result of this difference is that for any given deviation of the backswing away from the backward extension of the aim line, the error in bowling angle is less for the bowler who steps forward.

The result is that the bowler who takes a step makes smaller errors in the angle of delivery. This difference is most consequential in delivering to short jacks because with the necessarily shortened backswing, any step is a greater part of the horizontal traverse and the step contributes more to overall angle accuracy. So to take advantage of an opponent's fixed-stance delivery deliver short jacks!

I have tried to illustrate this in the Figure above wherein the fixed-stance bowler is right-handed and the stepping bowler left-handed to keep them out of each other's way in the figure. Each is trying to bowl the same line and each has the same magnitude error in the backswings.  

Teaching and Learning Lawn Bowls Badly

I made a mistake this spring when teaching new bowlers how to deliver lawn bowls.

I told them that the only requirement mandated by the Laws of Bowls was that when one released a bowl at least a part of one foot must be on or over the mat. This was true.

I also told them that lawn bowls was a game where consistency determined good performance; that is to say, although anyone, experienced or inexperienced, can occasionally deliver a perfect bowl using any manner of delivery, a simple delivery like we would be teaching, is the easiest to do consistently. Which is also true.

But what I ought to have also said— but failed to say, was that if one doesn’t adopt a delivery style mimicking a top-flight player, the kind one can watch competing on YouTube for example, one’s ability to improve is going to be limited. To put it another way, the reason there are almost no champion players bowling with unusual styles is that, no matter how much these styles are practiced, they have inherent limitations that cannot be overcome.

What I also ought to have said— but didn’t, was that a new bowler should perfect a style that he or she could continue to deliver for an entire bowling career. 

I remember well that I started bowling delivering from a severe crouch. See the blurred image above of me in those days taken from a publicity poster. A coach at the Turramurra Bowls Club in Sydney Australia, where I was spending the winter, asked me, “How long do you plan on playing bowls?”

“’ Til I’m over 90“ I replied.

“Well,” he said, “You're not going to be able to squat like that when you’re 90. Better change it now.”

So, I should teach, and new bowlers should learn, a delivery that will last their entire bowling life!