In Support of Trial Ends at Lawn Bowls

 In Toronto Canada, at the clubs where I am a member, no trial ends (as in The Laws of Bowls Section 5.1) are allowed before either a social game or an intra-club tournament match. Similarly, in local open inter-club tournaments, I have not encountered trial ends. In the provincial playdowns, on the other hand, there are trial ends.

In Canada, for domestic play, ‘the Controlling Body can limit the number of trial ends to be played (no trial ends or one trial end in one direction). It can also decide whether the trial ends are played immediately before or immediately after the scheduled start time for the game.’

The most common reason for denying trial ends is that it unnecessarily extends the duration of play. This is incorrect. There is no requirement that any player to participate in the trial ends, there are only some rules governing the management of practice when everyone is participating. Since the regular rules of play are not enforced during trial ends, things like playing out of turn or foot faulting have no real meaning. Furthermore, the local organizers are empowered to require that trial ends be completed before the official start time for the games. So quite the opposite, encouraging trial ends would result in fewer players arriving at the last minute for their game! 

What is more, having trial ends will, I think, encourage more beginning bowlers to participate in competitions. Thinking back, what worried me most when I was a new bowler, was looking ridiculous when delivering my opening bowls in a match. Trial ends would reduce this fear. (Before a match, practice at right angles to the direction of match play, which is permitted, already allows one to get an idea of proper weight.) 

The most substantive problems where no trial ends are allowed are:

1. Not having trial ends can give an advantage to teams with members from the club hosting the event. 

2. Because there is no opportunity for the lead to discover the more playable hand during trial ends, it introduces a greater element of luck rather than skill into the first few ends.

3. Not having trial ends removes the opportunity for any player to try out, in a limited way, different sets of bowls before the match play begins.

4. Not having trial ends removes the opportunity to assess your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses before the matchplay begins.

5. It provides an unfair advantage to the team bowling second in the first two ends.

There is no good reason to disallow trial ends and a few good reasons to promote them.

A Novel Way to Introduce Beginners to Competitive Play at Lawn Bowls: Retaining New Bowlers

 

We must be doing something wrong. The middle to older demographic, whom we expect to be interested in taking up lawn bowls has yet to arrive.  Bowls clubs are closing.

My hypothesis is that the instructing period is too long, we need to get new bowlers into real games more quickly. It is taking too long for initiates to pick up what is needed to fit into a game with more experienced bowlers.

To address this I propose a very slightly modified game that enables one experienced bowler on each team to be with the beginning bowler, coaching and encouraging throughout the play.

The setup is just a game of fours with the difference that the tyro leads each deliver three bowls. Thus it is a standard game of fours with the difference that nine bowls are delivered by each side in an end.

Why will this provide more support for the starting bowler and enable him or her to get actually playing a game sooner? In the fours game, the lead and second are physically together all the time. If the person playing second, quietly coaches the new lead throughout the match—“Now you center the mat.” “Now you deliver the jack and guide skip to center it.” “The aim line is about the number sign on the adjacent rink.” “Check to see whether your bowl is inside or outside the rink.” etc. then the lead will feel more at ease and will be less likely to be criticized by other irritated players who want to play faster games.  With someone dedicated to keeping the new bowler aware of both aspects of a good delivery and their team duties, they can begin actually playing games after less instruction and practice.

This may work or may not. What is certain is something has to change or our great game is a goner!  

Beating the Last Bowl at Lawn Bowling

 

To win at bowls one does not need to play superbly. All one needs to do is play better than the opposition. If every time you deliver a bowl it finishes closer to the jack than the opposition bowl that preceded it, your side will be heavily favored to win that match (you can still lose to an opponent’s last bowl).

“That is obvious,” you may say, “but how is that approach superior to the standard idea of just consistently drawing well and protecting against unexpected jack movements?”

The standard approach assumes a perfectly flat green. When this is the case, mat position and jack length don’t change the delivery angle. You learn the proper bias from a few of your own prior bowls. You don’t need to be concerned to watch your opponent’s deliveries. You have all the knowledge you will need to deliver your own bowls. You often see this illustrated by professional bowlers playing indoors on a near-perfect carpet. They wander off between bowls and pay little attention to what their opposition is doing.

Outdoors, and particularly if the rink is imperfect, I find that standing immediately behind my opponent and watching precisely the line being taken gives some surprising insights into the variability in line that arises when the mat is moved and the jack length is changed. Having seen precisely the line taken by that preceding bowl and seeing where it ended up provides me with the best information for how to beat that last bowl to finish closer to my target.

What You Should Note about Lawn Bowling Conditions/Opponents

 

The Rink

Is the rink level towards the ditches or does it slope?

Is the grass higher at the edges or are there metal or wooden edges elevated above the grass?

Are there seriously uneven unplayable spots on the rink?

Is the rink an end rink?

What is the actual length of the rink (rinks may vary in length within limits)?

Does the surface comprise visual marks that can be used as stare points and where are they? Where would the mat have to be placed to use them?

If the surface is not natural grass, are there elevated seams in the carpet?

What is the wind condition? (cross-wind, head-wind, up and down gusts)

What is the precipitation condition?

Opponents

Left or right handed?

Types of bowls (narrow or wide bias)?

Bowling arms?

Preferred hand or preferred side of rink odd and even ends when given a choice?

What jack length does opposing skip ask for?

Does the lead choose a hand and stick to it or bowl around the clock?

Does an opposing bowl in the draw cause a change of hand?

Does an opposing bowler change foot position on the mat?

When down does the oposition drive or draw?

Opponent’s Style

Do the opposing bowlers each have a pre-delivery routine? Or does it vary? (Would handing them their bowls or chatting upset their routine?)

Do the opposing bowlers play slowly or quickly?

Where do opposing bowlers sight for their bias?

Are any of them very tall or have athletic postures? (short bowls may give them difficulty)

Are any of them very short or crouch low? (long jacks may be more difficult)

Do any lose their balance? (longer jacks or very short jacks)

No step? (longer jacks can be tiring)

Palm grip? (longer jacks can be tiring)

The Burnt End is Dead/No Place for the Drive in Modern Lawn Bowls

Re-spotting of the jack has become the new normal as part of the rules applied in modern lawn bowls and as a result ‘killing’ or ’burning’ an end no longer is a rational choice in the game. It is being erased from the regular bowls rule book and has become simply a chapter in bowls' history. 

The tool for killing ends, the ‘drive’ or ‘runner’ (the latter, the deceptive term used in the northern hemisphere) has lost its only substantial utility, which was to force an end to be completely replayed. The reason for delivering the maximum velocity required for the drive was to increase the chance that the jack would fly off the rink no matter how it was packed round with close bowls.

This does not mean that ‘overweight’ shots, in general, will disappear. Instead what will happen is what should have been happening in the first place; running shots will be played instead. The defining difference is that the running shot is taught to be delivered with a constant, at least ditch weight no matter where the jack is located on the rink. Because its weight is less the running shot will be more consistently accurate than the drive it replaces. Because its weight is less the running bowl is more likely to stay on the rink. Because its weight is more precisely controlled taking the correct line to the target is easier to discern. 

Bowling March 31st, 2022 Toronto

 

Wow! I was able to get out for an hour of bowls practice on a synthetic outdoor green today— the 31st of March. The temperature was 16 C— remarkable for Toronto Canada. It’s a one-day wonder. The wind is gusting and tomorrow we are expecting it to snow some more.

Snow is gone except in the woods. I had to clean a rink. There were big sticks, twigs, pine cones, dead earthworms, and Canada geese shit but not too much of any one of them. 

I met the man who used to do the grass greens when we had two greens here at James Gardens. He remembers when one was removed and the single outdoor carpet installed. The lighting standards for the two greens are still in place and functioning.

I told him that the club had received a provincial grant to resurface the present green. It has outlived its’ useful playing life. The wood supporting the carpet on the banks has rotted and goose shit and dandelion fuzz has glued the carpet fibers together into something the texture of rolled clay. It's excellent for growing moss which is challenging to kill off. The carpet seams which run diagonally from corner to corner are becoming elevated as have the edges of the green next to the ditches.

No matter; we’re rolling.

Bringing the Mat Forward to the Hog Line to Confidently Deliver a Very Short Jack Length

 

An indoor World Pairs 2022 match at Potters, illustrated a point I have consistently urged in this Greenbowler blog. 

The most dependable way to get the shortest jack length is to bring the mat forward to the hog line and then bowl the jack just past the forward T. In a match that Andersen/Burnett played against Foster /Marshall, Foster, who was leading, first tried to deliver a short jack with the mat back (at 34:54 minutes) and lost the jack when it was too short whereupon the opponents continued playing full-length jacks to easily win the first set. 

In the second set, Foster got the jack back, and he took the mat forward to the hog line and easily delivered this jack past the forward T (at 49:55 minutes) whereupon it was spotted at exactly 23 meters.  Foster and Marshall, using this length change, got a good lead and won the second set to force a tiebreaker.

Bringing the mat forward to play a short jack length is even more of a no-brainer on the portable rink because there are 3.5 meters from the T to the ditch instead of the regulation distance of only 2.0 meters! It is equally a no-brainer outdoors in Canada where there can be a distinct lip at the edge of some greens that reduces the likelihood of ditching the jack.

When playing on such a rink, before the match commences, go and inspect the edges of both ditches. There may be a bigger lip in one area as opposed to the remainder of the edges. 

When employing this strategy your lead should deliver the jack toward that area.

If you are playing in Canada and would be content with a 23 meter jack length, place the mat  2 meters short of the first hog line and deliver the jack from there. You will have 2 meters leeway to be short and 2 meters leeway to be long!

Too many good shots: A Common Error of new singles players and talented leads/vices playing pairs and triples

 

A common error of new singles players and talented leads and vices, when they are playing pairs and triples, is to place a third close bowl tight into the head. This all too often just fattens the target for an opponent’s inevitable weighted shot. If your early bowls are very close to the jack, the chance that the opponent can outdraw them is low already. More very close bowls may just improve the chances that a runner can break apart the head.  The best bowl is one that is as far behind as possible while still staying in the count. The purpose is to force the opponent to draw to reduce your score and to increase the likelihood that you will retain the shot bowl even after a successful drive while increasing the penalty if it is unsuccessful.

In pairs or triples as well as singles having the three closest bowls invites an attacking shot so once your side has two close bowls the lead or vice should put any remaining bowls in receiving positions behind the jack or less preferably in front of the jack where they can act as (a) blocker(s).  The most desired situation in a developing head is two up. The worst acceptable final outcome should be one down. Steer towards these objectives.