Widening the Head in Preparation for a Drive

A situation can arise in lawn bowls where your side is down several shots in the head but the head is very narrow and makes a poor target for a forcing shot. This can happen when the opposition has some combination of bowls immediately in front of the jack and immediately behind it. The target is thus not much more than one bowl wide.

Attacking in this situation needs to be a two-step strategy. First, your side needs to deliver a bowl roughly jack high with a gap of less than a bowl between it and the bowls in front of and behind the jack. This close bowl can provide the base for a wick in onto the jack or one of the opposition bowls. Because the target has been substantially widened before the heavy shot intended to attack the head, the likelihood of a successful attack will be substantially increased.

When playing triples it is particularly important for the vice to understand that in this situation the vice’s job is to widen the target. The skip’s job is to subsequently disrupt the head with a wick in off the preparatory bowl.

An example of what not to do arises in a match between David Gourley and Kevin Kurkow at the 31:40 minute point. David is two down; the target is just one bowl wide, but he has two bowls remaining. In the instance he drives first and misses the small target, then draws very close, but not enough to reduce the count, with his last. If he had done the reverse he would have had a much enlarged target for a last bowl drive.

When and How to Deliver a Yard-On Shot

 

Turramurra LBC 2015?

An "up-shot", "yard-on" or ”on-shot” is a lawn bowl delivered with weight, greater than a draw shot, indeed enough to displace the jack or disturb other bowls in the head, without killing the end or losing the delivered bowl in the ditch or outside the rink boundaries. It is also referred to as "controlled weight” or as a “rambler".

The on-shot to a medium length jack is, for me, the most difficult shot in bowls. The target must be imagined. The exact length is more difficult to estimate compared with the very short or very long jacks and the correction in aim-angle compared to the normal draw angle is close to the error I have in actually bowling on the aim-angle.

The on-shot can only be dependable if you can correctly imagine the path your bowl would take on the rink if unobstructed. You also need to be able to estimate the velocity with which your bowl needs to hit the assemblage in the head and convert that velocity into an assessment of what distance that weight would carry your bowl if it was unobstructed. Combining this information with the imagined bowl’s unobstructed path that passes through the head provides a target location.

You then need to deliver your bowl with the correct line and length so that, if the path had been unobstructed, it would roll to the target location. To accomplish this, it is helpful if the person directing in the head indicates the target location with his(her) extended foot to provide a distinct target that can be seen from the mat.

An attempted on-shot should never be short. You only give oneself a chance to disrupt an unfavorable head by reaching it! A short bowl may make your next attacking bowl more difficult.

A yard-on shot should be considered when the opponent’s shot bowl is rather close to the jack or the opponent has a number of very close bowls or even if access to the head is simply blocked leaving you down in the count.

 The yard-on shot is characteristically used by skips and vices, not leads (who should be drawing their bowls to build the head and in so doing making sure that all their bowls are behind the jack).

Another Minor Change in My Own Delivery after Scrutinizing the Pros

In recent blog articles, I have examined the delivery styles of some of the top-ranked indoor lawn bowlers using slow-speed and stop-action footage. This instructed me more clearly whose delivery I most resembled and from whose I most diverged. My overall body movement most resembled David Gourlay’s. My grip and hand position most resembled Stuart Anderson’s. 

The Small Change

This analysis motivated me to make one small change in my own delivery. Stuart Anderson, alone among all the bowlers whom I looked at closely, was the only one who instead of using a Bryant twist in his backswing, instead, tilted his bowl while in the ready position, took it back tilted, and only straightened his wrist during his forward swing before releasing his bowl.

I have found that if I use a Bryant twist as I draw the bowl back by changing the center of mass of the bowl it causes a 'jiggle' in the otherwise smooth draw-back. This is avoided with Anderson's technique.   

The Mysterious Lawn Bowls Delivery of Andy Thomson MBE

Andy Thomson MBE is not among the top 14 bowlers as ranked in 2019-2020; nevertheless, he is among the top bowlers of all time and his delivery is the most distinctive of all. As such, it is worthy of analysis. Andy’s bowl delivery is not being presented as a model for imitators but as a mystery. 

What sets Thomson apart, first and foremost, is that after sighting along his aim line he does not hold his stare point. Prior to starting his delivery action, he is looking at his feet! 

Second, unlike other top bowlers he releases his bowl with a flick of his fingers to provide some spin to the bowl. Other bowlers either let the bowl roll off their fingers, or draw their fingers away from the bowl in a characteristic fashion. 

Finally, like the delivery of David Bryant, Andy Thomson rises up to delivery his bowl rather than bending down. He rises, lifting his bowl from a position touching the rink in order to make a short backswing before starting it forward. Unlike Bryant who initially squats to sight his delivery, Thomson is completely upright, bending forward with legs straight as if to touch his toes.

But let us analyze step by step.

Grip

Before gripping the bowl, Andy licks his baby finger. I do not know why he does this. The only hypothesis I can imagine is that it reminds him that he needs to keep his baby finger off the bowl. His grip is the three-finger claw grip with the three fingers under the bowl placed with the index finger in the groove, his middle finger on the running surface and his third finger in the groove opposite. His thumb is either in the grip groove or slightly towards the running surface.  I have difficulty identifying the exact position of Andy’s thumb. His three fingers are not parallel with the running surface of the bowl but their tips lie on an imaginary line at an angle of about 45 degrees to the line of the running surface.

Stance

Thomson stands with his feet parallel and side by side. He bends at the waist and not at all at the knees; in the pose of someone exercising by touching their toes. He slowly lowers the bowl until it just touches the ground. His non-bowling hand rests at the side of the bowl with fingers extended steadying the bowl.

Before taking this pose, he has looked carefully at the length and line but when his head is bowed in this pre-delivery pose, he cannot possibly see any stare point that is not within a few feet of his feet.

The Wobble-Stagger??

Delivery

Andy uses very little backswing. His free hand hangs loose and is not used to steadyhimself. Furthermore, his entire body seems to wobble as he sends forward his arm and releases his bowl.

I cannot understand why Andy Thomson would choose this delivery style unless he has a back problem that he is trying to avoid aggravating. There is a faint suggestion that this might be true. He regularly moves his non-bowling hand to his back at waist height as he rises after each delivery as if to ease a twinge of pain.

David Bryant's Secret connecting Length and Line

David Bryant has made a Youtube video teaching lawn bowling. In a snippet between 33:50 and 34:45 minutes into the presentation, he says that from his set position on the mat before delivery, his eyes switch back and forth between focussing on the stare point on his aim line and looking at the location of the jack target. He continues switching his focus back and forth between them until he feels comfortable and then, concentrating on his stare point, he delivers his bowl.

 I have never heard this advice before but based on my own subsequent imitation on the rink, I can confirm it does improve results! 

The reason it works I can only speculate. Perhaps it better links considerations of line and length into one operation. It doe not burden you to remember the required length while choosing line but rather refreshes that memory just an instant before commencing the delivery action.

Try it. I feel this is a significant insight that advances my bowling.

David Bryant’s Grip

Although it is widely acknowledged that David Bryant was the greatest lawn bowler of all-time, his delivery style is no longer followed by any of the top world lawn bowlers.

In particular, nothing is said about his grip which by today's standards is unconventional.

I have studied this grip by careful slow-motion and stop-action examination of videos of his matches, but most particularly his Youtube video sponsored by Toro.

Grip

Bryant places his thumb on top of the bowl on the mid-point of the running surface. His index fingertip rests on the side of the bowl close to the centre of the rotational axis. His middle finger seems to be about where the grip of the bowl would be. His actual bowls are without grips. It also appears that his third and pinky fingers are near the centre of the running surface opposite his thumb.

That this is approximately correct follows from seeing quite clearly that when he releases his bowl his hand is not an open up-facing palm but more like a hand extended for a hand-shake. What is problematic is that when I try to imitate this release my bowl leaves with a wobble while his is decidedly smooth!

An advantage is that this grip is easily modified by moving the thumb to one side or the other to tilt the bowl as many experts recommend for driving.

Backswing

When Bryant does the Bryant twist in taking his very substantial backswing, because the index finger is on the side of the bowl, that index finger completely supports the bowl from underneath at the top of this backswing.Because his grip so substantially supports the bowl during his backswing David can have a very long, high backswing. This can be very helpful on heavy greens.

Delivery

Two famous bowlers come up from a crouch and deliver their bowl from a higher position than their ready position: Andy Thomson and David Bryant.

Follow Through

Bryant releases his bowl from a standing position without any knee flexing. He bends entirely from the waist to bring his delivery arm to the ground. Unlike all twentieth-century world-class bowlers, he transfers all his weight to his stepping foot and raises his anchor foot off the mat often as high as his hips to avoid falling forward. Only after regaining his balance does he sometimes walk forward after his bowl.

Post Script: Excuse the fuzzy images; stopping the motion is imperfect.

 

Learning from David Gourlay’s Delivery

The author’s delivery is more like that of David Gourlay than any other professional indoor lawn bowler. It is interesting that although David is perhaps the best overall athlete among the top bowlers, his delivery is physically undemanding.

Grip 

David uses something between the claw grip and what is called the gyrostatic grip. The gyrostatic grip was designed to allow the hand and forearm to remain in its normal position, without needing to turn the hand palm up, as is the case with other grips. The palm and fingers are located on the side of the bowl with the thumb on top. Put simply it looks like the bowler is palming the bowl from the side.

According to Len Hyde, a coach from New South Wales Australia, it is no longer taught, at least in Zone 9 of Australia. Neither can I can find any online references to the grip.

In David’s adaption, his thumb rests on the grip but is more forward than most people’s. His thumb is almost above the rotational axis of the bowl. His index finger runs down the side of the bowl with the fingertip in the grip ring. His remaining three fingers seem to be together, all on the running surface, but with the long middle finger on the center of the running surface.

Ready Position

Gourlay adopts the Shooters’ stance to the extent that the toes of his anchor footare slightly turned in towards his aim line. His stepping foot is a shoe length forward of it. Most characteristically- his non-bowling hand is already on his knee before his action begins. His arm when ready is about 30 degrees from vertical and the bowl is at a height just below his knee.

Delivery

Because his grip already turns his palm in towards his side, no Bryant twist is needed in David’s backswing. The backswing is short and tight enough to his body that he wouldn't actually need to bend his anchor leg in behind his advancing leg, although he does. 

When he releases his bowl his index finger remains outstretched but his other fingers curl up behind the bowl as if to give it a flick. This is made clear in the close-up picture of his hand just after letting go of the bowl. This seems a consistent attribute of his delivery.

Because of his grip, the bowl leaves his hand with some wobble. Gourlay seems to adjust for length by varying the length of his forward stepping. He follows through low and does not walk off the mat.

For some reason that I cannot even hypothesize about, he, more than other players, asks the marker to move because the rink boundary stripe is being obscured.

Follow-through

Walking off the mat is not part of David's delivery. His weight goes fully forward but his anchor foot remains on the mat until the bowl is well down the rink.

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.