If You Accept that Length is More Important than Line, You Should Take the Mat in the First End

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In the first end of most lawn bowling matches in Ontario, Canada, there there are no trial ends.  Everything about the rinkmay be unknown. as a consequence, your first bowl is  least likely to end up as a counter. Still, because many experts believe that length is 9 times more important than line, you should take the mat and bowl the jack because delivering the jack will give you an good idea of the best opening weight. A bowl rolled with the same velocity as and immediately following the jack almost certainly will end up behind the jack and even if you misjudge the line badly your bowl will be in place to catch a displaced jack. Moreover, because the proper line is not yet known by either side, narrow bowls are more likely in this opening end and it is narrow bowls that can knock the jack backwards.

Lawn Bowling Practice:Quantifying Progress

The Author delivers

It is important to measure how you are doing with your lawn bowls. There are a number of methods of quantifying your draw bowling skill. I use a method I have devised called measuring the 'median of medians'. The method is described:

http://greenbowler.blogspot.ca/2013/04/median-of-medians-as-measure-of.html

I bowl three bowls to a centered jack at random lengths and measure the second-best bowl's distance from the jack. This is repeated between 9 and 15 times. The median value of these recorded bowls is the 'median of medians'. I just finished a test on the James Gardens synthetic surface which is running about 15 seconds. My 'median of medians' value was 49 inches or just about 4 feet. This is the second-best I have ever recorded. My best bowl in each end was approximately twice as good, meaning that a bowl better than two feet from the jack would usually be needed for an opponent to score. 

Bowls Strategy and Tactics: Does Shot Selection Depend Upon Skill Level?

I watch Youtube lawn bowling videos trying to learn from the shot selections made by the best players. Whether this is useful however depends, I think, upon the answer to the question, “Is correct shot selection dependent upon skill level?” That is to say,“ If I can only draw within an average two feet of a target, should I try the same shot as say Paul Foster who can bowl on average within 3 inches?”

Tacticians who write books tell us that for each shot we contemplate we should consider the risk/reward ratio. If this is true and it does make sense. the answer hinges on the answer to a second question: “Are there bowls positions where the risk/reward ratio changes depending upon the skill level of the bowler?” This latter question is easier to answer. I can fabricate a simple  situation that will make this point clearly.

I have the last bowl. The jack is in the ditch. My opponent sits four. One counter is four feet from the ditch. Three more counting bowls are eight feet from the ditch. Because I could easily accidentally ditch my bowl and go down four if I try to get shot (since my average error is two feet), I should simply stay out of the ditch and make sure I have second so I will only go down one. A professional, who can bowl within inches of his target, can play to get shot without undue risk.  So yes- risk/reward ratios for each tactical situation depend upon the bowler’s precision.

Does this mean an average bowler can learn nothing from the tactical choices made by a champion? No. The factors that are to be considered are the same for both. The terms in the weighing equation are the same but the weight (the likelihood or importance) of each term is different depending upon skill level. We should be able to enumerate to ourselves the different considerations that the pros are thinking about. We should then have a good chance to understand their selection of shot so long as we understand their level of precision. We should also have a fair idea where the selection the champion chooses will differ from what we ought to try in the same situation.

The video commentator will often give the viewer a ‘heads up’ where the professional’s selection differs from what a player of lower class might choose. How often have I heard something like, “This is a situation where only Marshall would back himself to draw the shot.” In other words, if you are an ordinary mortal, don’t try this!

My Lawn Bowls Delivery After Five Years of Trials

Recently I bowled in a pair’s tournament against my wife.  Fortuitously, because she was ’leading’ and I was ‘skipping’, we were always at opposite ends of the rink. The evening following the match, my wife told me that the particular background for the rink we were playing on enabled her to clearly see small movements of my trunk and that about 40% of the time my body position while I was taking my line differed from its position during my actual delivery; furthermore, when it did not deviate, my shots were clearly more effective.

Following from this sharp observation I have simplified my delivery so as to eliminate this difference. Subsequently, in practices, when I worked at keeping line and length constant, my bowls ended much more closely grouped than ever before.

As I have said repeatedly, one should on balance resist changing one’s delivery because unlearning routine is difficult; however, the changes in this case did not add, but removed, elements of my delivery routine while notably improving the outcomes.

What is left:

1.     Standing behind the mat: I decide on the shot; grip the bowl appropriately https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dr5UQ6XeB0

I imagine the path of the bowl from mat to target.

2.     I step onto the mat and assume the Shooters’ Stance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b9cKvPeWj4&t=121s .

3.     I bend forward from the waist keeping both legs straight and steady my bowl with my free hand at knee height and just beside the knee of my forward foot.

4.     With my head over the aim line, I look along this imaginary line and select and hold a stare point about 5 meters in front of the mat.

5.     I cock my wrist. http://greenbowler.blogspot.ca/2015/11/using-cocked-wrist-in-lawn-bowl-delivery.html

6.     I move my non-bowling hand from supporting the bowl onto the knee of the leg that will be advancing.

7.    Without straightening up I slowly draw the bowl back along the aim line like an archer drawing a bow.

8.     Just before I begin the forward pendulum swing, as I am completing my backswing, I step forward and plant my advancing foot.

9.     With my wrist still cocked, I release the bowl at the bottom of the swing.

                    I follow through but do not add rotation to the bowl either with my wrist or fingers (my bowling arm should finish at an angle of about 45 degrees to the ground).

 AAs I swing, my body weight should move forward so that I tend to take a step off the front of the mat after the bowl is released.

Forget About Adding or Subtracting a Yard for Now

Fairly often I see lawn bowlers practicing adding or subtracting a yard to their deliveries on a rink with cut up yellow tennis balls marking the intervals.  I’ve done it myself. My judgment: it’s a waste of time until you can consistently deliver four bowls the same length (within a yard).  This was so obvious once I thought about it. Delivering with exactly the same weight can be expected to be much, much easier than adding or subtracting weight, but who can consistently do it?  Certainly not me- yet. 

The Shooter’s Stance in Bowls can End Crouching to get a Stare Point

In videos of the legendary David Bryant, we see him squatting on the mat, unlit pipe between his teeth, picking out his line.

I also had a tendency to bend over from the waist to bring my eyes closer to the ground when taking my line and stare point. Then I would stand up straight and begin my bowl delivery. After being defeated 24-3 in an open singles encounter at the Willowdale Lawn Bowling Club, my talented and experienced opponent volunteered (after I agreed that I wanted advice) that I should stop this wasteful and time-consuming practice. With a bit of experience, I was advised, just as good a stare point can be achieved from a fully erect posture.

This is not the first time, I have been thus advised. My Canadian coach has been after me about it and a helpful opposing skip at the Turramurra LBC also suggested that I bowl within seven seconds of taking my line, because he said that the longer one tries to hold a stare point the more it will be distorted.

My resistance to this advice came because I was convinced that at least I must focus on something that I can see very distinctly and so that object cannot be more than 5 meters in front of the mat. Following this, selecting that point and making sure it was on my aim line could not be an instantaneous reflex judgment.

Since adopting the shooters’ stance no special aids are needed to pick out the correct line because having your eye directly over the aim line makes it easier. This is just another benefit of the amazing shooters’ stance.

Lawn Bowls is a Target Sport like Archery; so try a Slow, Controlled, Back Swing in the Delivery

There is no correlation between how rapidly you take your bowl back in the backswing and how much forward-directed force is provided to your delivery. No matter how rapidly you draw it back, the bowl becomes motionless at the top of the pendulum swing. Therefore, whatever velocity the bowl is intended to have must arise from the acceleration from both the forward swing and forward body motion. Rapidly drawing your bowl back has no advantage.

Nonetheless, drawing your bowl back quickly has disadvantages.  First, your bowl is less likely to remain directly above the backward extension of your aim line and as a consequence your bowl will not pass through your stare point on the aim line when you swing your arm forward.  Second, if proper elevation is part of the means by which you control length, the accuracy of your delivery weight will be reduced.

So your lawn bowling backswing should be performed with the same care as an archer draws his bow.

Lawn Bowls Tactics: When Not to Bowl to Get Shot

There are four tactical situations in lawn bowls. The opponents will

(a) hold one or more shots or

(b) they will not

and your skipper can respond by trying to

(i) get a bowl in the count or

(ii) not get a bowl in the count.

Trying to get shot or add another shot is the standard tactical action. Some skips almost always try to get or add a shot with every bowl whether they direct it or play it themselves; so (a)(i) and (b)(i) can be regarded as really the default choices. This article treats situations where the best tactic may well be not to try to get or add a shot.

First I will address the situation where the team does hold shot and the skipper should not try to get another shot.

Situation One- If the team does not have a bowl at the back and the opposition could change from shots down to shots up if they moved the jack back, drawing another bowl on the head may not be the best strategy.

Situation Two- Sometimes when the score for the team or the side is such that a second shot will give the team no advantage whatsoever, the skip should look for and protect against any tactic that would give the opposition a useful number of bowls.

 Situation Three- Play a block. Without moving the jack back, decrease the probability that the opposition can reduce the number of shots held byyour team by seeking to obtain one or more shots blocking the path of the likely opposition bowl that will have that undesirable result.

My second section considers situations where the team does not hold shot and the skipper should not try to get shot.

 Situation Four –Sometimes the opposition holds a shot very close to, or touching, the jack. To move off this shot bowl, the played bowl will need weight that could carry it past the shot bowl. Such bowls - if they miss –commonly leave a head that will make it easier for the opposition to score several shots. Your team will risk less if it tries for second shot and delays trying for shot bowl - until later.

Situation Five - The opposition holds one shot, your team holds several second shots and it is a high percentage shot to obtain shot by pushing out the present shot bowl; however, once this happens the opposition will try to obtain the shot again. If your skip “allows” the opposition to continue to hold shot, the opposition may choose to try for a position bowl or accidentally remove its own shot bowl or fail to add additional counters. That is to say, sometimes it will be better tactically to add close bowls and delay pushing out the shot bowl until the opposition has only one or no bowls left to play. This assumes that skip is quite confident that (s)he will only require one bowl to remove the present shot and this task won’t be made too much more difficult by upcoming opposing bowls.

Situation Six- The opposition holds one shot and your team has only one or two bowls in the head. The team could try a run-through shot to push out the shot bowl; sometimes that heavier shot will result in shot bowl but sometimes it changes the head unfavourably by knocking out your own best bowls. Even though a draw shot has less chance of pushing out the shot bowl, it has a still lower probability of producing a less-favourable position. Thus, it may prove better to try to draw another bowl on the head rather than try the run-through. Because the opposition still holds shot it may become complacent. You can build the head and wait for a later opportunity to remove their shot for a good count.

Situation Seven- Sometimes it will prove better for a player to play a second or later bowl on the same hand and obtain a close bowl rather than changing the player’s hand just because the position of bowls allows the player a better chance to get shot after the change. This is particularly true with lead bowlers.

Situation Eight- Sometimes it will prove better to go one down rather than risk going for shot because an error with an overweight bowl will mean more than one down. The loss of an end by one rarely losses a match!