Why Top Bowlers Tuck in One Knee During their Delivery?

 

For the past dozen years, when I looked at pictures of the top professional lawn bowlers delivering lawn bowls, I was mystified as to why they tucked the knee of their anchor leg (the one that stayed at the mat) behind the knee of their stepping leg (the leg that moves forward as they deliver a bowl). Then one day recently, while I was practising my delivery motion (without a bowl!!) in the hall of my condominium in Portugal, I found myself doing it.

Why was I now doing this? Let’s see whether you would also. 

Stand with one foot on an imaginary mat, with that foot at 45 degrees to the proposed line of delivery (as in the shooter’s stance). The line of delivery should run about 5 inches from the toe of your anchor foot.

The heel of your stepping foot should be level with the toes of your anchor foot, but about a foot away from the aim line. Your weight is essentially completely on your anchor foot. The stepping foot is only touching the ground for balance. The toe of your stepping foot should be pointing towards a spot on your aim line about 3 to 5 meters in front of you.

Rest your non-bowling hand gently on the thigh of your stepping leg.

Now slowly pull your bowling arm back along the aim line like it is a pendulum holding an imaginary bowl, and then step forward a foot towards that stare point on the aim line. Now, let your arm containing the imaginary bowl hang down beside the advanced stepping foot. When I do this, my hand is still a couple of inches above the ground. 

Now I lower my body to bring my hand to the ground. How do I do this lowering?  To my amazement, I do it automatically by tucking the knee of my anchor leg in behind the knee and ankle of my stepping leg. 

Why had I not recognised this before? The answer— because I was not lowering my body enough— I was dumping my bowl these last centimetres onto the green. Most top bowls delivered their bowls right onto the ground and they achieve this by tucking in that knee!!

Playing 4-3-2-1 to Win

 

The lawn bowling clubs I belong to in Canada have special events called Pizza & Play where the bowling is exclusively the 4-3-2-1 variety. I rarely participate. I find it too simple tactically. However, if one decides to play one needs to understand that the strategy for winning is different.

In regular lawn bowls a person or a team must have the single best bowl ( called ‘shot’ ) in each end to score any points at all. As a consequence, obtaining the shot bowl is absolutely essential. It is the only priority. Playing 4-3-2-1, one is awarded 4 points for that best bowl but also 3 points for second best, 2 points for third best, and 1 point for fourth best. In other words one can score (3+2+1= 6 points) even when you do not deliver the traditional shot bowl.

Because scoring the shot bowl is so essential to the regular lawn bowls games, particular bowl placements are designed to protect a shot bowl (blockers, catchers, back bowls) and other deliveries are designed to disrupt  the nearest bowl placement (overweight shots, drives). 

Playing 4-3-2-1 is essentially a game whose outcome depends on the precision of one’s draw shot. Every delivery has a single goal, getting close to the jack. There is no necessary need to have the closest bowl; the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th closest can accumulate enough points for you to win. There is no need to defend the show bowl or attack a shot bowl. There is no need to worry about displacing your own shot bowl. Just keep smoothly drawing to the jack- delivery after delivery.

Enjoy any pizza. Enjoy the socializing. But don’t confuse it with practice.

A Strategy for Fours (Rinks) at Lawn Bowls

 Playing fours gives each member of the team just two bowls. This presents a unique opportunity because every bowls set comes with four identical bowls. Only two sets of bowls can outfit an entire team. Lead and second could have identical bowls and Third and skip could have identical bowls.

How would this be advantageous? Each set of partners playing with identical bowls could gain better information from watching the other’s deliver result. For example, the person playing second by watching the leader’s bowls could get more perfect knowledge concerning what line to play. A skip moving to the mat could get better advice from the vice who just delivered two bowls that perfectly match those two remaining to be played.

The disadvantage is obvious. Two of the four players would be using bowls that they had no experience with. Also it would be particularly problematic when the two players preferred different sizes or weights for their bowls. Even with identical bowls left handed and a right handed players could not precisely reproduce each others deliveries; try as they might.

Nevertheless, with a little forethought the disadvantages could be minimized. For example, a team could first practice using only two sets of bowls. It’s a novel idea worth considering. 

When Winning in the Last End Cover Your Opponent’s Bowls

Eric Galipeau, a club-mate of mine, playing in the indoor world championship at Potters lost a singles match because he failed to “cover’ his opponent’s bowls in the final end of a set. This is the most dramatic example of this situation that I have ever seen and the shot that beat him was extraordinarily good!

It is a textbook example of the need to cover opposing bowls at the end of  game you are winning. The relevant end starts at  1:29:14 in the video against Z. Hadar which can be found by searching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h09UQar6HRE&t=4978s

 

Why are the Lawn Bowls Delivered by Club Players Predominantly Short?

Keep track of the numbers yourself or simply observe a typical head. Club level players deliver bowls, mostly finish short of the jack. Is there a reason for this? Is there a cure for it? 

Despite what the manufacturer of Aero Bowls says, no bowl travels in an arc that resembles the Sydney bridge! Lawn bowls have a substantial hook  towards the end of their  travel; the less bias the lawn bowl has, the less hook at the end, but a hook is still there.  Furthermore, viewing the jack from the mat, it is the last few yards of its proposed travel that are most difficult to visualize. As a consequence, our mind’s eye simplifies things and imagines that portion of the trip as just a smooth extension of the earlier part of the path. And we estimate too short!!! The hook shortens the the last bit of distance the bowl travels down the rink.

Is there a solution for average bowlers that a skip can implement? I think there is. Place your foot about 1meter behind the jack and ask your team members to bowl to your shoe as the target. Then those bowls will finish on average longer and the number of long bowls will more nearly equal the short bowls.

Both Being Polite and Getting Useful Practice Playing ‘Social’ Bowls: Delivering Short Jacks Near the Ditch

Successful lawn bowling clubs have regular roll ups where, because the teams are drawn randomly, players who only dabble at bowls can play with and against dedicated bowlers who most often compete in tournaments.

Some of these social-only bowlers may not be able to deliver a bowl with any kind of accuracy the full length of the rink. Indeed, it is only on the shortest jacks that they can usefully participate. Therefore more skilled bowlers who are also thoughtful and polite try to keep the jack length short; however, this means that this time, which could be practice time, is not well spent.

An answer for this situation is at hand but in my experience few avail it. Bring the mat up the rink to 2 meters short of the nearest hog line and deliver jacks to within 4 meters of the forward ditch. This will give jack lengths of between 23 and 25 meters. Furthermore, it will provide practice playing on a part of the rink and at a length that is used infrequently. Furthermore, the skilled player who practices for tournaments should play lead and thereby getting practice delivering the jack consistently over this shorter distance.

A useful skill is practiced while showing consideration for all the bowlers.

Place the Mat Carefully

 

One of my pet peeves is that most social lawn bowlers, not to mention a great many who play in small local tournaments, never move the mat. Real tyro bowlers may not even know that the mat is allowed to be moved! The result is that the area at the edge of the green near the ditches gets seriously worn, often to the point that the green slopes significantly towards the ditches; so much so that in some instances neither the jack nor any bowls can come to rest in that area. They may just roll off into the ditch. (This was true at the now defunct green of the Balaia Bowls Club in Portugal’s Algarve.)

Furthermore, positioning the mat with the mat line (the edge of the mat closest to the forward ditch) on the 2 metre line has a risk that you need to be aware of. If by accident the mat line is placed even a few millimetres short of that two metre distance and the jack is delivered and then the opposing side draws attention to this before the first bowl is delivered, then Rule 6.1.3 of The Laws of the Sport of Bowls Crystal Mark 4 states:

6.1.3 If, after the jack has been delivered but before the first bowl is delivered, a player or the marker finds that the mat line has not been positioned within the distances described in law 6.1.1, the opposing player must place the mat as described in law 6.1.1 and re-deliver the jack, making sure that it is centred, but the opposing player must not play first

That is to say, the side that is not in possession of the mat will get the mat and can deliver the jack that side’s preferred length!

What does this mean in practice for your own game? First thing- even if you, as a skip, strategically or tactically want long jacks, your lead should always place the mat line at least a few centimetres in front of the 2 metre mark on the rink. You don’t want to lose possession of the mat, precisely when you judge it most important to have it.

Second thing- when you are at the other end of the rink directing the play, you will not know the exact position of the mat. When the game is sufficiently important and the situation is sufficiently critical, you need to have taught another member of your team to call out the misplaced mat after the jack has been delivered but  before the first bowl has been delivered.

Notice that if your side draws attention to a mispositioned mat before the jack is delivered, all that happens is that the mat is placed properly and play continues. If attention to an improperly placed mat is only after the first bowl is rolled there is no penalty. It is only when the objection comes after the jack is rolled but before the first bowl is delivered that the other side gets to deliver the jack their chosen length.

WARNING: Do not exercise this rule in a social game or in any situation where there is no umpire. You will be correct calling upon this law but you will not be appreciated. Furthermore, in the absence of an experienced umpire your claim will just be ignored. 

Alternately, perhaps we could warn everyone about this rule. It might scare people into moving the mat up the green more often and give the grass a rest! 

 

Setting Up for Your First Bowl of an End at Lawn Bowls

 

Lawn Bowls is not like the winter sport of curling. The target is not a constant distance from the position one takes for each delivery. The target is not a bullseye painted on ice. The jack can be delivered any length between 23 and, on some rinks, 30 meters.

After you have delivered your first bowl in any end, your subsequent task is to correct line and weight based on that first result. Your first bowl in an end, however, has nothing to guide it except perhaps the fate of an opposition bowl played in front of you.

Of all the bowls you deliver this first bowl requires the most painstaking visualization of its contemplated path from your hand at the mat to the target position in the head. Because of this extra care visualizing, this first bowl of yours requires a bit more time preparation in your set up. 

Do not be rushed! I recommend at least twice tracing in your mind’s eye the contemplated path from hand to jack. The result, I predict, will be superior weight control.