Why Whether the Opponent’s Bowl is Above or Behind the Jack Matters

 

Observing from the mat, a bowler often cannot be sure whether an opposition bowl that has finished to the side of the jack is partially in front of the jack or is distinctly behind it.  You will often hear top bowlers asking the marker about this.

Why is it important? The questioner wants to know whether his bowl, if it finishes resting squarely against that opposing bowl, will be the closer of the two. If the opposition bowl is partially short of the jack, it will be better so long as it isn’t pushed back. If the target bowl is behind jack level and the delivered bowl comes to rest against it (or moves it further back) the delivered bowl will be closer.

So if the marker responds that the opponent’s bowl is short of the jack, the questioner is more likely to bowl the other hand. If the competitor’s bowl is reported to be behind the jack, bowling on the same hand as where the opposing bowl rests has advantages, mutatis mutandis.

Notice that this is one situation where being a tiny bit short of jack-high is better than finishing behind the jack!

Lawn Bowling Tactics: Removing Opponent’s Best Bowl

 

At Valverde LBC the other day, I was watching a pairs match and a tactical situation arose where repeatedly the skip bowler of an experienced team played what seemed a lower probability shot when something significantly better was available. 

The side that missed the opportunities was lying one; they had a bowl close up to the jack- within a few centimeters. The opponents held the second shot about a bowl in front of the jack but about 12 inches to the right.  What made the situation special was that the side holding shot also had the 3rd and 4th best bowls located about 18 and 24 inches behind the jack and 18 and 24 inches to the left.

There were other shorter bowls blocking approaches down the center of the rink. 

The skip of the side holding shot delivered two bowls down the right side trying to add a second shot. There was a path to the jack but in my opinion, both bowls should have been delivered down the left side trying to push out the opponent’s best bowl because if it were removed they would have scored 3 or 4 depending upon whether the delivered bowl remained in the count. The path leading to the opponent’s best bowl was equally open.

Other good outcomes that would have been possible coming from the left side would be a jack trail back to those waiting 3rd and 4th catchers on the right and a dead draw to the jack. 

The only negative would have been to knock the opposing bowl in for shot but considering how close the shot bowl was to the jack, this would have been unlikely. 

The lesson: Even if your side already holds shot, consider the contribution to the score if the opponent’s best bowl gets removed.  

Take a Big Enough Backswing so your Subconscious has a Smooth Choice

By the time you have at least 6 full years of lawn bowling experience, your subconscious can be given responsibility for controlling the weight in your lawn bowling delivery. As David Bryant suggests in a useful video tutorial: you choose an aim line to bowl down; you take a stare point on that line; and then you look back and forth between this stare point and the target position (usually the jack) until you feel comfortable with the visualized trajectory. Then you let your mind go blank and send the bowl over your stare point.

Now, even though I have been bowling for 13 years, I have been playing rubbish bowls for the first few weeks since coming to Valverde LBC in Almancil Portugal, where I am spending the winter months.

What was going wrong? Usually, the most common error I make is failing to get my stepping foot planted before my arm swing delivers my bowl.

No— that wasn’t the problem. Maybe I wasn’t careful and methodical enough drawing my bowling arm back along the extension of the aim line behind the mat. No— checking that didn’t solve things.

Analyzing my bowl results suggested that the problem was related mostly to weight. For too many shots I found myself pushing out the bowl and applying too much energy at the end.

Well, I have now found the answer. Often, my backswing wasn’t high enough to smoothly propel my bowl the required distance and my subconscious was trying to compensate for this by over-accelerating my swing somewhat, trying to ‘steer’ the bowl and destroying smoothness from the motion.

In contrast, my subconscious had no difficulty slowing my arm motion down when bowling to a short jack even though my higher backswing would have permitted me to easily deliver to jacks at any length.

P.S. When you have less than 6 years of experience playing lawn bowls I have found you need to consciously control those elements of your swing that affect length (backswing length, crouch degree, set length, etc.) because your subconscious does not have a big enough ‘training set’ to do it itself.