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

When the opposition have 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 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 first bowl of the end.

Leads are required to follow the instructions of their Skips and these instructions are provided by 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 metres 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 or a warning depending on how that bowl finished.

Opposing Lead’s Bowl is Close  but Behind the Jack

You might think that an opposing first bowl that finishes just to the side of the jack and around a bowl length behind it 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 bowl. If by chance you strike that bowl with a bit more velocity you will roll it back and 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 and preferably 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 played, you will have a better estimate of the correct aim line.

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

When a bowl is jack high the term means that the front edge of that bowl and the front edge of the jack are the same distance down the rink. Another term is they are jack level.

This is a favourable 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 this opposing bowl that will push 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 so close to the jack that another bowl would be impossible or almost impossible to squeeze between them without any contact. This is called the 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 because that is where the jack is very likely to be by the completion of the end.

In Your Line but >1 metre in Front of the Mat

Unfortunately your skip will decide whether that bowl is in your draw line. I say unfortunate because often you will have a better idea of whether your delivery is blocked than the skip. For the sake of the 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!

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 my be you who has shot bowl!

Teaching Beginners Lawn Bowls a New & Better Way

I have discovered a new approach to teaching new lawn bowlers.

From what I have seen, this method leads more quickly to an effective, consistent paradigm that works for fast and slow surfaces, different body types, and different ages.

It starts with what is most familiar to beginners and adapts that to the more unfamiliar elements.

It starts by having the students roll jacks from a standing position on the mat aiming to send them smoothly down the center line of the rink over a chalk mark three meters in advance of the front edge of the mat. The jack is perfectly round, no different from objects these people are already familiar with such as baseballs, golf balls, or tennis balls. The goal is familiar also— precisely directing the ball along a desired path.

All that needs to be added to the instructions is the request that the jack travel between 21 and 30 meters and that it not be bounced on the bowling surface. The distance requirement will enforce the need for some backswing and the requirement for rolling will require the lowering of the body to bring a hand near to the rolling surface.

For the teacher, an added advantage of starting with jacks is that there are usually many more of them available for instruction and one does not need to start out struggling with different size bowls. All students can roll from the same collection of jacks. At this stage, it doesn’t even matter if some jacks are the heavier ones for playing on synthetic surfaces while others are the smaller lighter ones for playing on grass. 

If you fancy it, the teacher can at first let everyone experiment with how they get a jack smoothly past 21 meters down the center line. Once they recognize how difficult this is to reproducibly do, then you can demonstrate how you propose they learn to execute it! The reason we bowl the way we do is because it works better than other styles. It isn’t just convention or tradition!

Once your students can properly roll the jack, only then is it time to introduce the bowl itself.

Messing Up with the Jack at Lawn Bowls

 

In a sixteen-end triples match recently, the opposing lead bowler four times delivered the jack out of bounds and once put it into the forward ditch. Although apparently he didn’t think much of it, his team was trying to play long jacks while our side wanted short ones. These errors led substantially to our win and their defeat.

Too many casual bowlers just chuck the jack down the rink when it should be delivered with exactly the same delivery motion as a bowl. The privilege to deliver the jack and almost immediately follow it with the first bowl of the end provides a lead with an enormous assist in getting the correct weight from their very first bowl.

It is shocking how many beginner and even more experienced players can deliver a bowl reasonably well but frequently mess up delivering the jack.

Perhaps coaches should begin by teaching the delivery with that small white ball and only when the correct form is mastered move on to rolling a bowl with bias.

Choking at Competitive Lawn Bowls

 Do you bowl your best when you have little chance to win or when you don’t care whether you win? Do you annoyingly bowl badly in competition- so much so that it isn’t enjoyable. I am one of those persons and for a long time, I was mystified why this happens. 

Then I was listening to a spirituality podcast with Anthony de Mello and he recited the words of the Chinese poet/mystic Zhuangzi:

When the archer shoots for nothing he has all his skill.

When he shoots for a brass buckle he is already nervous.

When he shoots for a prize of gold he goes blind;

Or sees two targets. He is out of his mind.

His skill has not changed, but the prize divides him.

He cares; he thinks more of winning than of shooting.

And the need to win drains him of power.

It seems one must compete until it doesn’t matter anymore!

Thoughts about Blockers at Lawn Bowls

Just because a bowl is short doesn’t make it a blocker. Usually, short bowls are wasted bowls. “When your side is down you need to be up” is a saying that means when the other side is shot it complicates your difficulties if your bowl finishes short of the jack.

Block shots are defensive shots, only contemplated when you have a favorable head to protect. A favorable head comprises a close shot bowl and at least another counter. Remember that if the opposition gains the shot after your short bowl, your blocker will block you!

When your side is up by two or more in the head and ahead in the game, and it is the latter part of the match, a skip can consider trying to block against either a draw or a drive. The usual trade-off is between trying a blocker and putting a ‘catcher’ bowl behind the jack. Choosing between these is a function of

• the skill of your opposing skip
• The closeness of your counting bowls in the head
• The length of the end
• Whether the opposing skip has tested the line on both sides of the rink
• Whether the opposing skip has back bowls
• Whether the target is wide but you need a high score

How does the skill of the opposing skip factor into this decision?  A perfect block shot confounds the perfect draw or drive line to the jack (but not both). If the opposing skip isn’t going to deliver that perfect bowl, there is no point in a block.

Blocking the Second Chance

 If the opposing skip has already tried an aggressive shot and can be expected to try again with his next bowl, a block shot is particularly recommended. Even a bowler who is just ‘good’ can often make a shot if given a second try. Attempting to ‘change things’ by placing something close to the line has a better chance of avoiding loss in such a situation.

How does the closeness of your counting bowls in the head enter into the choice between a ‘blocker’ and a ’catcher’? The word ‘close’ is relative. If it is unsurprising for the opposing skip to bowl within two mat lengths of the jack, ‘close’ is perhaps one mat length. If his average bowl is just one mat length from the jack, a ‘close’ bowl is, say, 9 inches. 

 If your side has only one bowl in the head, you should not try to block. You need another bowl in the head in case your ‘close’ bowl is driven out resulting in a big score against you.

Second  Last Bowl in a Promising Multiple-Win End

If you have a ‘close’ shot bowl and several others counting but which the opposing skip can probably beat, a block shot with your last bowl can really put pressure on the other side’s skip. The reason- if that block works and is hit, the bowl being delivered is unlikely to reach the head and your side stands to make a big count.  The alternative, putting in a ‘catcher’ bowl, does nothing to prevent the opposing skip from drawing to save so he would only go down one. Even a poor blocker in this situation may convince the opposing skip to accept the risk of changing hands just because hitting on it would be so devastating. 

How does the length of the end enter into the choice between a ‘block’ and a ‘catcher’ bowl? The shorter the end, the more likely an on-shot will succeed in disrupting the head or causing the re-spotting of the jack. Do not block against a skip who never drives! Don’t try to block against a short drive. The opposing skip has too little problem visualizing whether your intended block is actually in the way. Draw to the jack again. Or put in a catcher at the back. I estimate it is about five times as easy to deliver a useful catcher bowl as a useful blocker. When re-spotting is in effect, cover the re-spot position. It is an easy bowl to deliver and won’t disrupt the head.

Why should it matter whether the opposing skip has tested the line on both sides of the rink in deciding whether to block or set a catcher? A blocker can convince an opposing skip to change hands, even if your blocker is not perfect; moreover, changing hands is particularly prone to errors if the line on the less familiar side of the rink has to be guessed. It is a good idea for a skip to keep track of how many bowls his/her opposite delivers on each side of the rink in each of the directions. If you can cause a change to a less tested side, it will be to your greater advantage.

Why would it matter whether the opposition has a back bowl? A good skip will not drive if his side does not have back bowls. The chance of ending up in an even worse predicament will deter him. In such a situation an overweight delivery can be expected but not one where the skip would expect to lose his bowl out of bounds or in the ditch. Since no drive is tactically sensible there is no point in setting a block against it. Blocking an over-weight shot is impossible because its path to the jack depends upon velocity. Besides, it is the hardest shot to deliver, so invite your opposition to try it! The best shot is to add to the count with a bowl just beyond the head.

If you are going to try to block a draw shot, set your block just 14-16 meters in front of the mat in the draw path. The closer the bowl is to the mat the more different paths it blocks. A block shot is more likely to succeed on a slow rink. Watch to see whether your opposite moves on the mat to avoid short bowls.

A ‘catcher’ bowl cannot reduce the chance of an opposing drive hitting its target. If the target is hit usually at least one shot will be lost. A blocker can save the entire head because the blocked drive usually careens away without damage.  A blocker can convince the other side to try a draw to save shots.

Although pairs, triples, and fours are team games, a lead bowler new to the game often keeps count of how many of the points scored arise from his/her bowls. If a skip plays a block that successfully protects his lead bowler’s counter it gives a psychological morale boost, particularly if the lead is a less experienced bowler. It’s worth considering.

When you are trying to block a draw and the path is otherwise unobstructed your block should be short to cover different paths to the jack; if there is only one portal try to get your blocker into its entry. If you are trying to block a short drive your bowl should be 14-16 meters out on the center line.

If you are skipping and your side is ahead well into the game but your opponent will be presented with the chance to trail the jack into a cluster, don’t try to block. Rather play his shot. If you trail the jack your own bowl is likely to trail with it and remove the danger. It is the big score you are protecting against. 

The Forgiving Side at Lawn Bowls

 

Bowling in a particular direction on a particular lawn bowling rink may have a more forgiving and less forgiving side. This will not be visible.

If a portion of the path that a lawn bowl takes from mat to jack has a slightly concave (center lower than sides) curvature, even though this is undetectable to the eye, the effect will be to correct a delivery that is slightly miss-delivered. Such a side, whether it be backhand or forehand, is said to be ‘forgiving’. Conversely, if a portion of the path that a lawn bowl takes from mat to jack is convex (center higher than sides), this will amplify any miss-delivery and send the bowl further from its intended target. Such a hand is called ‘unforgiving’. The most frequently observed consequence of an ‘unforgiving’ hand is the failure of a bowl to come back toward the center of the rink as it slows. We say, “The bowl hangs out”. We mean the bowl can’t get back because it is on the wrong side of a ridge in the rink. Ridge is just another name for a convex surface!

Whether a rink has ‘forgiving’ or ‘unforgiving’ characteristics doesn’t matter in most instances. Both your team and your opponents usually face identical challenges. But what if your side and the opposition end up repeatedly bowling on opposite sides of the rink and your opponents are consistently getting closer to the jack. They may be simply more skilled— well, not much can be done about that! But the other possibility is that they are bowling on the more ‘forgiving’ hand of that rink.

When that might be the case, you need to switch to match the hand on which they are bowling. It is remarkable how often this is ignored. Today, for example, bowling at Valverde LBC against a visiting touring team from England, the two leads bowled 18 ends with each playing his own side doggedly, even though it seemed apparent that the side one opponent was choosing was punishing the slightest deviation in delivery.

The rules of bowls require that the team that won the previous end must bowl first in the next end. So if the player you are paired against must bowl first, you can bowl the same side and the same line. Follow him down! Beat his bowl! Don’t just stubbornly struggle when the green may be conspiring against you. 

When You Can’t Hit your Line at Lawn Bowls Do this!

 If you have been reading the Greenbowler blog for a while you could be expected to know the answer to this question: If you are missing your line— that is failing to roll your bowl over your stare point, usually a spot about five meters in front of the mat — and consequently either leaving your bowl wide of the jack or having it cross over the center line and end up a distance away on the other side, what is the most likely problem with your delivery?

If you author that blog, you would be even more likely to think by now, after more than 10 years of lawn bowling, that surely that guy would quickly analyze what was going wrong and correct it within a few ends.

No such thing! For 36 ends, here in Portugal, bowling first at Valverde LBC and then the following day at Balaia LBC, my deliveries were all over the place and I was left scratching my head, wondering what was going wrong. My weight was fine but I was wide sometimes and narrow other times.

I should have reread my own blogs! If one fails to get one’s forward stepping foot firmly on the ground before one’s forward swing is well underway, the chance to deliver a bowl along the proper path to the jack is seriously degraded. What was infuriating— well not quite, it is only a game— was that I have written at least five blog articles emphasizing this— more than about any other aspect of the delivery.

Anyway, my bowling today confirms it; that was the problem. I hope my readers catch on faster than I did when they encounter the same problem!

The Discipline of Pre-delivery Routine During Bowls Practice

 

In a good practice session, every bowl that you grass should be preceded by your consistent pre-delivery routine. If you are leaving out steps because it is just a repetition of your last bowl, then you are hard-wiring bad habits.

But let's be honest, if you get into the habit of delivering bowls one after the other to the same jack, at the same distance, from the same mat position; then, it is tempting to omit some of the steps of your pre-delivery routine because over that briefer period, your muscle memory can and will provide you an otherwise unavailable help getting your weight and line correct.

 Remember— you don’t get to grass bowl after bowl, in relatively quick succession in a game. An opponent alternates with you and not necessarily promptly!

It is better in practice to place two or more jacks (or flapjacks) at different positions on a rink and bowl to them alternately. This will cause you to follow your complete pre-delivery routine more faithfully since no two consecutive bowls will be aiming for the same target.

When I catch myself disregarding even a single element of my delivery protocol  I give myself a mental warning the first time it happens. I end my practice session if it happens again.

If you are not serious about practicing, let's agree to call what you are doing a pastime, because that's all you are doing-- passing time!