A Bold Lawn Bowling Strategy

A sports strategy is a plan that can be made before a sports competition begins. It is not determined by the fine details of a particular match situation. This latter is the business of tactics.

I propose that a team ( let us consider a pairs team ) decide that when it has possession of the mat during a match, it will place the mat at the closer hog line and deliver a jack that gets centred on the forward T. 

The end is played tactically from that point on. If the end is won, the same strategy is repeated in the next end. If the end is lost, the side attempts to recover the mat and restart its strategy. The strategy tries to force the opponents to play a game with a fixed minimum jack length and a dead bowl line 2 meters behind the jack.

The idea upon which the strategy is based is that there will be an advantage in playing a game the details of which your side has practiced much more than the opposition and which has some features distinctly different from the standard bowls contest.

To be successful in the execution, the lead must be accomplished at rolling the jack reproducibly 21-23 meters. This seems like a tall order, but it is a precise challenge that can be practiced by borrowing a box of 16 jacks from the clubhouse.

Why should this strategy work?

 

In Canada, the minimum jack length is 21 meters; in most other countries, the minimum distance is 23 meters. First, few other teams practice bowling either 21 or 23-meter ends from a mat at the hog line.

According to bowls.co.uk, “At the beginning of the first end, the mat is placed lengthwise on the centre line of the rink, the back edge to be four feet from the ditch.” I can find no official evidence for this purported rule. There is no such requirement in the Laws of Sport of Bowls, Crystal Mark 4. Consequently, this is no longer required. The lead in the first end can place the mat anywhere from T to the closest hog line. The strategy proposed can be applied from end 1, so if the toss is won, you can take the mat and move it forward!

What is so different about playing this short game?

The re-spot position is identical to the initial spot for the jack. Putting the jack cleanly out of bounds will get it returned to the position from which it came!

Knocking the jack out of bounds is extremely unlikely; unless given a sharply glancing blow, the jack will end up live in the ditch. 

The team using this strategy should have learned to deliver the more accurate running bowl (since this is a more accurate delivery than a drive, with the best chance of ditching the jack), and this shot also provides the best chance to drive an opposing shot bowl into the ditch, where it will be dead. 

If the jack makes it to the ditch, the area available for the opposition to draw their own shot bowl is only half as big as usual. This is because the available area is only a semicircle around the jack. When the jack is in the ditch, placing a shot bowl behind the jack is not available.

 It is almost guaranteed that some deliveries will finish in the ditch as dead bowls. If the opposition does manage to deliver the shot bowl, your side has available the running shot to cancel it.

The probability of a rebounding bowl is much greater, and a rebounding toucher is live: 17.2.3.

The probability of a jack rebounding onto the rink is much higher, and a rebounding jack is live: 21.1.

Many more dispositions of bowls near the jack will constitute a target for a running shot because the depth of the head can be no more than 2 meters, so the gaps between bowls, or between a bowl and the jack, will be effectively smaller. A running shot is more likely to hit something.

Paul Foster bowls all his deliveries with the form required to deliver a runner; no backswing and a big forward step. In a famous open singles match, he came from behind in the last two ends by moving the mat up to the hog line and delivering a minimum length jack. You can see this starting at about the 1:17:02 mark in the online video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VEGkkHgZ6o

Take the Full 30 Seconds

 

I was bowling in one of the district playdowns last week in Toronto, and sitting at the table next to me in the clubhouse, a coach from the Canadian National Bowls team was telling some competitors whom she was coaching to visualize the path of their contemplated delivery and not to deliver the bowl until this was clear in their minds.

This got me thinking: could a person improve performance simply by taking 25-30 seconds to prepare for each delivery?

 This would provide sufficient time for multiple visualizations that would move one’s gaze back and forth between a stare point (say at 3-5 meters in front of the mat) and the jack.

Doing this as part of a delivery routine would very likely dramatically improve proper concentration, and that would provide benefits to all the players with less than perfect discipline.

Bowling Into Danger: Ezra R. Wyeth

I wanted to write a blog article about 'bowling into danger' but in searching for what had already been written I found this article by Ezra R. Wyeth from 1966. It is my pleasure to reproduce it here where such good advice can be found more easily!  

https://www.bowlsusa.us/uploads/7/5/9/0/75903269/1966-02.pdf

I find two important differences between bowling in the U.S.A. and elsewhere, and they both amount to the same thing - an unbelievable waste of bowls by many of our players. The first is the use of the block and the second is the attempt to match a catcher. I have never consciously played a block and only in dire extremity have I tried the other-both for the same reasons. Firstly, they require more skill than I possess; secondly, there are usually easier and more productive shots available. If you will be patient for a while, I will try to explain about matching the catcher. 

Let me start with a head like this. 

Playing the forehand, the lead has drawn a jack-high bowl, slightly wide, six inches from the jack. His opponent has followed with a bowl a foot behind and to the left. It is a safe bet that in 99 cases out of 100, the player by choice ( or at the direction of his skip ) will change his hand. He does this for three reasons. He believes the jack will be shifted; he can anticipate the direction it will go; and lastly; he thinks he can draw to a spot on the green. If he is completely honest he would admit to himself that he has little right to believe any of these reasons. If, on the other hand, he is stubborn and refuses to face the facts he will just have to count the number of times during a game that his beliefs are proved true. 

Only a superman could do what hundreds of players try to do each time they play. For any player the choice is simple. Either he plays like a superman or he assumes human status and plays an easier shot. The thing to do in the situation described above is to play the shot his opponent must play. His opponent has the choice of three shots:

 

• draw the shot anywhere within a twelve-inch circle 
• play to reach the shot with enough strength to take its place or to turn in off it 
• try to trail the jack 

The second is by far the best shot to play as it offers a greater margin for error. Our player, therefore, tries to play just that shot-  and for about seven good reasons. 

Examine all the possible outcomes. If he is short he can draw a second shot in a semi-circle, 24 inches in diameter. If shorter, he can well finish on a line that appears to be in his opponent's draw. If he gets his objective, he will have two shots. If he manages to turn his own bowl in or to wick off it, he will have an excellent position. If he has the right weight, or slightly less, and misses his first bowl he can draw a shot in a position to the right or left of his opponent's bowl. 

If his weight is right and he trails the jack he may lose the shot. Even so, he still has two bowls close to the shot, and his chances of losing more than one shot are reduced. There are other possibilities. If he is heavy he can take his other bowl out or shift the jack, or he can have a bowl behind the jack. If you are one of the stubborn ones and feel that in this last paragraph, I have undermined my position, please remember that these things can and do happen if a player changes his hand. 

Before you dismiss everything I have said, let me offer the most important reason of all. One of the delights of playing lead or singles is that a player can usually play the better side of the rink. The greens we play on rarely draw the same on both sides and one side is often faster than the other. It is usually much easier to play either the wide side or the narrow side consistently. A change of side means a change of green and a change of pace with a consequent increase in the chance of error. If you want more convincing proof than my arguments, you'll find it on the green. Borrow two bowls and place them in the positions shown above and try all the shots you like. The results will amaze you. 

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 three 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 the 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 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 traveled the requisite 21 meters (in Canada, 23 meters in some other countries). 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 is 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 frowned upon. (Niggling is trying to knock away the other lead’s bowls.) They should leave the takeout 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 must be 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 not to drive out that important bowl himself!

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. If the respot rule is in effect, the cover may be indicating a respotting 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 an on-shot or 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 presents 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 some 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. Everyone in the head must 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 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 very important signal 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 used by the skip to ask the bowler to place his bowl as close as possible to a particular spot that is different from trying to bowl to the jack.. This signal is used for placing a blocker, placing a catching bowl, or bowling to a ‘false jack’. The skip hangs his bowling towel down over the spot (s)he wants the 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. 

Knowing How to Deliver Up-shots 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, even on a short end, your opponents will get the closer bowl(s). 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, whichever 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 should 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. 

The Strategy of Really Long Ends at Lawn Bowls

In the northern hemisphere, on slow rinks, the most frequently adopted strategy in lawn bowling contests is to deliver very long jacks when the opposing team seems to prefer something shorter. 

Even so many bowlers underestimate the effectiveness of this strategy because they do not realize how dramatically the average bowler’s line control falls off as the jack length increases. As jack length trends towards full length each additional meter of length is responsible for a greater and greater decline in accuracy. 

That is to say, many bowlers underestimate the significance of jack length because they confuse ‘longish ends’ with ‘really long ends’. I would characterize ‘really long ends’ as being only those within 1 meter or less of full length (T to T).  It is on these ‘really long ends’ that the performance of many bowlers falls off precipitously.

“Aha,” you may say, “but to gain the advantage you claim, your lead must be able to consistently deliver these ‘really long jacks.’ “

“Well,” I say, “practice it.”

 Delivering a small white ball to within 3 meters of the forward ditch without any substantial need for line control is really not very hard for anyone. Besides, all that happens if your side does ditch the jack is that the other side gets their chance, and from what I have seen they don’t pay much attention to their delivery at all!

So the situation is this. You get a chance to deliver the jack for a ‘really long end’ for which your side has trained or is naturally advantaged. If you succeed in getting the jack you desire, you are odds on to win the end and furthermore you retain the jack. On the other hand, if your side makes a mistake rolling the jack it suffers no significant penalty!

Where can you find odds like that?

Choosing Bowl Size When Bowling with a Bowling Arm at Lawn Bowls

During a visit with a friend in Sun City Arizona, I was advised that since he now played with a bowling arm, he now used a number 4 bowl instead of the number 3 because grasping the bowl in one’s hand was no longer relevant.

This got me thinking. Why stop there? The larger the bowl’s diameter the more measurements your side is going to win and the better your score!

A size 00 bowl, (and these smaller bowls are becoming more and more popular), has a diameter of 116 mm. While the size 6 is  128.5 mm in diameter. If the centers of these two bowls are the same distance from a jack, the size 6 bowl’s outside edge will be 6.25 mm closer than the size 00’s outside edge. In close measurements between the two, the large bowl will win handily.

Even in the case of my friend, Bob, who could have switched from a number 3 to a number 6, the change would place him 2.25 mm closer to the jack on each delivery (so long as the bowls don’t stay on edge ). 

These largest-diameter bowls are now unpopular and a set can be picked up cheaply second-hand. Players using bowling arms should start picking these up for their own advantageous use!

I was given a set of size 7 bowls by the Etobicoke Lawn Bowling Club because no one was interested in them. One of these monsters is pictured!

That Very Significant Last Three Meters of Jack Length at Lawn Bowls

 

Just because your lawn bowling opponent(s) can successfully bowl to a jack twenty-seven meters from the mat doesn’t mean at 30 meters the same success will persist. It is that last little stretch in length that so often makes the difference.

 

Even if you are worried that you might deliver the jack into the forward ditch, it shouldn’t deter you from trying to deliver a really long jack, if you have reason to believe that that would benefit your side. Even if you do lose the jack occasionally in the front ditch and give away the mat and jack length to the other side, isn’t it better to have an authentic long jack some of the time if that is what you think would provide an advantage?

The other day I was leading for my side in a triples match where the opposing skip bowled with one knee on the mat. This meant that he was bowling with arm strength alone…..there was no possible contribution from body momentum because he could not step forward. He was able to bowl fairly well to 27 meter jacks but when the length went to 30 meters he was either erratic or three meters short. This provided the tactical advantage to win the match, even though I delivered the jack into the front ditch twice and lost the mat advantage those times. When I did succeed in placing the longer jack we were able to score several multi-point ends.

Lawn Bowling Triples: Maximizing Individual Skills by Having your 2nd Best Player Lead!

 

According to Law 40.1.10 of the Laws of the Sport of Bowls Fourth Edition, Skips can, at any time, delegate their own powers and any of their own duties (except those described in law 40.1.7 which all pertain to the scorecard) to any other members of the team as long as they tell the opposing skip immediately. 

In spite of this, I have seen without exception that skips place their least skilled bowler as the one who delivers the jack and the first bowls for their side. 

Why do they do this? The answer: because they believe, incorrectly, that if they put this less skilled bowler to deliver bowls in the second position, that person will be required to measure, count shots, and direct the head when the skip goes to the mat. 

But as Rule 40.1.10 paraphrased above acknowledges a skip is completely entitled to have his/her best teammate center the mat, deliver the jack, bowl first for the team, supervise the head when the skip goes to the mat, do the measuring, and report the score to the skip. The skip can then have his/her weakest bowler, bowl in the second position, and do the raking! All the normal lead and vice duties can be switched! All that is mandated is that such a skip must inform the opposing skip immediately.

There is an efficiency in doing this. Usually, as the two most experienced players on the team, they can communicate more deftly with signals to move the mat forward and backward and then get the mat aligned on the center line more quickly.

Then come the strategic benefits. The skip’s best teammate now gets the opportunity to deliver the jack to the length the skip indicates. Not only does this make more precise jack lengths more likely, but it also reduces the times the jack is too short, out of bounds, or in the forward ditch.

Advantages arise in the play as well. Because your best teammate is leading the way against what is usually the other side’s weakest bowler, your team is more often holding shot after the first six bowls have been delivered. Your best teammate has had unobstructed or minimally obstructed draw shots toward the jack. Your side has a reduced risk of playing those too-short-blocking bowls.

But now your weakest player must deliver alternating bowls with the other side’s vice. Well, if short bowls come now they may be blocking a head where your side is already more likely shot. Or maybe all your side needs is protection behind the jack. These are lower-skill assignments. Get the weight right and don’t be narrow.

This strategy has worked very well for me in inter-club competitions and above. Your teammates need to understand the reasons for the change.  It needs to be clear to your number two that the change augments both his/her responsibility and authority. The person who now delivers the 4-6th bowls for your side normally will immediately feel greater responsibility has been assigned to him/her even though the nonplaying duty is still raking.

I do not recommend this change for social games or other club roll-ups. The newer players who so often play lead need some opportunities to learn mat placement and jack delivery. Besides in open draws the person playing skip does not know the other team members so well. 

The Lead’s Bowls: the Second Bowl of an End at Lawn Bowls

 

When the opposition has the mat, they deliver the jack and the first bowl of the end. This is not the time to be chatting, getting a drink, or finding your own bowls. You should already be holding your first bowl and be standing behind your opposite lead watching the line taken and the result achieved. You should use this information to improve the outcome for your own first bowl of the end.

Leads are required to follow the instructions of their Skips and these instructions are provided by the hand and body signals they send once the previous bowler has completed a delivery. What is written here is only to acquaint you with some of the considerations a skip may be having when deciding what instructions to send.

Opposing Lead’s Bowl >2 meters from the Jack

An opposing bowl that finishes more than 2 meters from the jack should not be a consideration when deciding your own first delivery. Knowing the aim line that was taken by that bowl is very much a consideration. It can be a guide and a warning. Did it hit something in its course? Did it backup and break its smooth curving path? The rink may tell its secrets but you must listen!

Opposing Lead’s Bowl is Close and Behind the Jack

You might think that an opposing first bowl that finishes just to the side of the jack and around a bowl diameter behind would make your life more difficult, but in fact, it presents an opportunity. If you can follow that bowl down the rink and come to rest touching that bowl (resting the bowl) you will be shot. If by chance you strike that bowl with a bit more velocity you will roll it back and perhaps take its place! (chop and lie). In both cases, the opposition bowl makes it more likely that you will have a happy result.

Opposing Lead’s Bowl is Behind the Jack but Not Very Close

The opposing lead has just delivered a back bowl. Your skip will want your first bowl to finish closer to the jack but behind the jack. Your skip is likely to let you choose the hand you prefer. If you have no strong personal preference choose the hand your opposite lead just played, you will have a better estimate of the correct aim line. If you have no natural preference and the two sides are, as far as you know, equally well-known and equally ‘forgiving’ choose the same side as that upon which the opposing bowl has come to rest. If your bowl trails the jack you prefer it to go away from the opposing bowl.

Opposing Lead’s Bowl is Jack High but about a Mat Length Wide of the Jack.

‘Jack high’ means that the front edge of the bowl so described is level with the front edge of the jack. Another term is jack level.

This is a favorable situation for your side. This bowl does not block your delivery path and is not so close to the jack as to be an eventual serious competition for shot bowl. Rather it confers a small advantage to your side. 

If you deliver your bowl on the same hand with enough weight to reach to or behind the jack but your bowl runs a little wide you can get a wick off the inside edge of this opposing bowl that will nudge your bowl in towards the jack and push the opposing bowl away.

Your skip is likely to call for you to bowl to the jack on the same hand where the opposing jack high bowl is sitting.

Jack or Bowl Situation

Suppose the opposing lead delivers a jack-high bowl that is closer than the width of a bowl from the jack. This is the so-called ‘jack or bowl’ situation. Your skip might call for you to bowl to a specific spot on the other side of the rink from the close opposing bowl and slightly beyond the jack’s distance from the mat because that is where the jack is very likely to be by the completion of the end. You are being asked to prepare for the shot that will send this close bowl and the jack separate ways with the jack going hopefully towards your waiting bowl.

In Your Line but >1 meter in front of the Mat

Unfortunately, your skip will decide whether that bowl is in your drawline. I say unfortunately because often you will have a better idea of whether your delivery is blocked than your skip. For the sake of overall team cohesion please follow the skip’s decision in this situation; even though your judgment may be the better one. When the skip asks you to change the hand it is for fear that your bowl will be stopped far in front of the head. The open hand will give you a clear path to the jack! Check your bias. This is a situation where you might forget and the innocent error would be regarded as mutiny! 

In Your Line but Quite Close in Front of the Jack

Ironically, when your opposite’s lead bowl is unambiguously in your line, your skip may not switch you to the other hand. The reason is that even if you hit that blocking bowl squarely your bowl will finish a very good second and if your bowl just glances off that opposing bowl and rolls on a tad further it may be you who has shot bowl!

But if the opposition bowl is within 6 inches of the jack and you are asked to bowl the other hand still better! Your aim line runs between the bowl and jack but don’t be short. Anything behind is good.

Directly in Front of the Jack; Hiding the Jack

Your opposite has delivered an excellent shot. It is difficult to visualize your delivery when you cannot see the target. Ask your skip to show you the exact distance of the jack by placing a foot beside the jack with your toe pointing towards it. Let that visible toe be your target for visualizing your shot. There are three good outcomes of your delivery. You may hit this blocking bowl away. You may trail the jack or most likely of all you may widen the head making it easier to hit and disrupt.

 Centre Rink Close Behind the Jack

In lawn bowling ‘niggling’ is defined as unwarranted attacking your opposite's best bowls. Your opposition lead has delivered the best possible opening bowl!  Your own skip will probably call for you to get close behind the jack. Bowl enough narrow that besides getting behind the jack as your skip has instructed your bowl will make it back to center rink or even cross it. If perchance you hit something on the way you are a hero, if not you’ve done OK!

The Lead’s Bowls: The First Bowl of an End at Lawn Bowls

The lead whose side has possession of the mat has the privilege of delivering the jack. Remarkably to me, some people who can deliver bowls quite adequately cannot dependably keep the jack from passing out of bounds.  Therefore, a lead’s first responsibility is to be worthy of trust to keep the jack in bounds. The second responsibility is to be able to roll the jack to more or less the length the skipper signals.

In Canada and Portugal where I have mostly played, the centre line is not marked. When I bowled in Australia there was a clear white centre line extending about 10 metres out from the back ditch. Where there is no centre line, the lead needs to understand the skip’s signals that will be needed to make sure the mat is straight and on the center line, no matter where it is placed from the T up to the closest Hog line.

 While rolling and getting the jack centered, the lead’s first bowl should be sitting separate from the other bowls and close beside the mat. That way, immediately after the jack is centered, the lead can get set and deliver that first bowl. This is important because the weight used to deliver the bowl should be close to the same used for the jack and the shorter the intervening time the better the muscle memory.

Except for the first and second ends of a match, the lead should have learned the correct aim line from a previous end. It is the lead’s responsibility to remember the aim lines on the forehand and the backhand for each of the odd and even ends. The easiest way to do that is to remember the points where those aim lines intersect with the forward ditch. That is four distinct items. I used to write these down (for example): odd ends; forehand- at boundary, backhand- 3/4 towards boundary: even ends; forehand boundary, backhand 1 1/4 towards boundary.  These points move somewhat closer to center rink as the mat is moved up the rink toward the Hog line.

You can also learn how much bias to allow by watching the deliveries of other bowlers from a vantage position right behind the bowler to see precisely how they lay down their delivery and what the outcome is. You may have to make some allowance for the difference between your bowls and theirs. Check out what make and type of bowl they are used. That’s not against the rules!

For some reason that I cannot fathom, a lead’s first bowl is more often delivered too wide than too narrow when playing on grass.

This may be because, if the lead cannot remember the correct aim line for the hand and end, (s)he may take the boundary marker for the aim point. Because most greens in Canada or Portugal are somewhat slow, this aim line is too wide and the first bowl of the end doesn’t make it back to center rink. If you cannot remember or have never learned the correct aim line, I recommend running your aim line to intersect the front ditch 3/4 of the distance between the rink number and the boundary marker. This gives you a better chance to finish close to the jack on one side or the other.

The most important aspect of the first bowl of an end is that it should finish behind the jack. Perhaps you need to ask your skip to stand a useful distance behind the jack and imagine his/her feet as the target. However you do it, 70% preferably more of your first bowls need to finish behind the jack. 

When your side has the mat that first lead bowl is delivered with the knowledge that you have just sent the jack the same distance; but when you are the lead whose side did not deliver the jack, you must not fail to concentrate on visualizing the path your bowl must travel to reach that jack so that your first bowl will not be short. Watch carefully also the rhythm speed of the opposing lead to help with the weight. Of course, if it turns out to be a poor bowl you don’t want to emulate it!

As far as the correct aim line; you should remember it from previous ends but you also get a reminder hint from the line of your opposing lead— so long as you pay attention. 

Strategy to Take Advantage of a Rink that Slopes toward the Ditches

A lawn bowling rink is ideally completely flat. The most common deficiency is to find that the surface slopes towards the ditches for about the two meters closest to these edges. This sloping can be so severe that you can see bowls accelerating as they roll down towards the ditches. You may also feel a more gentle sloping when standing close to these edges.

This sloping surface increases the randomness of every delivery that passes over these areas. The effect upon a bowl’s travel is most pronounced as the bowl is slowing. Bowls that finish further than the forward T will not usually stop but continue rolling and finish dead in the gutter. To minimize this, therefore, your side should shun really long jacks, if you think you have the more consistent team. But perhaps a better idea is to figure out how to put this condition to your advantage.

It is a good tactic to keep your jack deliveries 3-4 meters short of the front ditch and then deliver your bowls a shade narrower than usual because it is advantageous if your bowls just cross the center line as they reach the jack length. Only a bowl that gets back to center rink has any chance to become a toucher and move the jack backward. Being a toucher is of real value in this situation because both your bowl and the jack are more likely to end up eventually in the ditch. Moreover, it will be exceedingly difficult for the opponents to get a live bowl close to a jack that has been pushed closer than 2 meters to the ditch because any longish bowl that makes it so far forward is likely to roll downhill and die in the ditch. Big ends are more likely when your side moves the jack backward into this sloping area of the rink, so particularly if your side gets seriously behind in a match on such a rink, move the mat so you can get your jack just in front of such a slope.

When the jack is delivered just short of the sloping area of the rink, trying to place ‘catcher’ bowls behind the jack is no longer a good strategy. Such efforts are most likely to finish as dead bowls in the gutter. An alert skip, in this situation, will direct his team’s bowls to err on the side of being narrow to have a chance to touch the jack and if they do finish just short they will block the draw. Here, blocking can be more effective than usual because the opposition cannot simply follow the same line with a greater weight to finish closer to the jack because stopping a bowl behind the jack has become so unlikely. Usefully blocking the forehand or backhand draw is a much more promising tactic in this situation.

When one short bowl has been located in the draw of the opponents on one hand, it will be easier to find the line to draw another short bowl to block the other hand. Both shots should be delivered from the same side without changing hands. It is particularly advantageous to block both sides of the rink. Otherwise, the opposition may deliver all their remaining bowls on that free hand without further risk. If both hands are barricaded by your bowls and delivering behind the jack seriously risks rolling into the ditch, the opposition must chance knocking your short bowls closer to the jack when they deliver.

When a bowling green has its edges so distinctly sloping that a bowler finds it obvious, it is increasingly likely that other parts of that rink are also not level. This increases the likelihood that there will be two very different hands- one more forgiving and the other less forgiving. Also, the correct line to compensate for bowl bias will be different depending on the mat location and the jack length. If you believe your side can more rapidly adjust to such changes, then continually varying these will work to your side’s advantage.

When you place the mat at the T, you will be delivering your bowl from the sloping area of the rink. If you can feel this slope it is likely to affect your delivery. Your body weight will not be providing momentum to the bowls as effectively. Consequently, you are more likely to bowl short. To counteract this effect you will need to stay down longer in the delivery and perhaps make sure you step forward off the mat in your follow-through. On the other hand, if your jack is finishing well up the green, you may want to be a bit shorter as argued above.