Teaching and Learning Lawn Bowls Badly

I made a mistake this spring when teaching new bowlers how to deliver lawn bowls.

I told them that the only requirement mandated by the Laws of Bowls was that when one released a bowl at least a part of one foot must be on or over the mat. This was true.

I also told them that lawn bowls was a game where consistency determined good performance; that is to say, although anyone, experienced or inexperienced, can occasionally deliver a perfect bowl using any manner of delivery, a simple delivery like we would be teaching, is the easiest to do consistently. Which is also true.

But what I ought to have also said— but failed to say, was that if one doesn’t adopt a delivery style mimicking a top-flight player, the kind one can watch competing on YouTube for example, one’s ability to improve is going to be limited. To put it another way, the reason there are almost no champion players bowling with unusual styles is that, no matter how much these styles are practiced, they have inherent limitations that cannot be overcome.

What I also ought to have said— but didn’t, was that a new bowler should perfect a style that he or she could continue to deliver for an entire bowling career. 

I remember well that I started bowling delivering from a severe crouch. See the blurred image above of me in those days taken from a publicity poster. A coach at the Turramurra Bowls Club in Sydney Australia, where I was spending the winter, asked me, “How long do you plan on playing bowls?”

“’ Til I’m over 90“ I replied.

“Well,” he said, “You're not going to be able to squat like that when you’re 90. Better change it now.”

So, I should teach, and new bowlers should learn, a delivery that will last their entire bowling life!

Getting Your Weight Right: Using the 2/3 Rule at Lawn Bowls

 

Delivering your lawn bowl the same distance as the jack is the most difficult skill in lawn bowls. Visualization of the path that your bowl is going to travel is the most common method taught for achieving this; but, I have found, that most players need about 6 years of experience to get this right.

For new bowlers, I have found a simpler approach called the two-thirds (2/3) rule.

As always the first step is to decide on the correct aim line. The aim line is an imaginary straight line that runs from the center of the front edge of the mat and ends at some spot on or behind the forward ditch. The new step is to focus or stare at (as best you can) a section of that aim line 2/3 of the distance towards the jack. Then deliver your bowl as if trying to roll your bowl over that spot by delivering it down your aim line.

What will happen is that your bowl should travel without much deceleration as far as this stare point, passing it on the inside, and slowing down from that point on to arrive at the jack length!

Why this works I have no idea. Perhaps our ancestral caveman intuition for how to throw projectiles controls our muscles once the target is 14-21 meters away. What we do learn from bowling experience is that a well-delivered bowl starts to slow down visibly once it is 2/3 to 3/5 the way towards the jack and continues rolling and curving in towards the target for the last 1/3 to 2/5 of its journey.

The downside of this trick is that you must give up using a stare point at 3-5 meters in front of the mat. As a consequence, it will be harder to recognize when you have chosen an incorrect aim line. 

Suggestions for New Bowlers

 

New bowlers tend to be particularly enthusiastic. They want to know whether their team is doing well and particularly if their bowls are in the count. Consequently, they have a tendency to stand around when measurements are being taken and even an inclination to offer suggestions about which bowls are likely important in the count. This is understandable but is simply not acceptable bowling etiquette. 

Leads are supposed both to keep quiet and to leave the determination of outcomes to others. Instead, get ready with the rake to bring the bowls together for the next end if your side is going to lose the end. The lead on the side winning the end should get the mat ready and be prepared to throw the next jack. I found it useful when playing lead not to worry about the score and just concentrate on my own good bowling.

During every game when I am playing lead [I play lead in interclub tournaments] I keep a bowl in my hands continually once the jack is in place until all my bowls have been delivered. That way I am immediately ready to receive instructions from the skip and make my delivery. That way, even if I take more time setting up for my delivery, I don’t unnecessarily slow down the game.

Leads, more than other players, are very often permitted to roll whichever hand they prefer because there are fewer interfering bowls in the head. 

You may have a preference for one hand over the other based simply on a better stare point because of a fortuitously located inhomogeneity on the rink. 

You should not change hands unless specifically requested by your skip. If there is a bowl that seems to be in the way of a delivery your skip is calling for, shifting the position of your anchor foot on the mat by a few inches can increase the likelihood that your bowl will reach the head and not suffer collision while still not defying your skip.  

Teaching the Correct Bias to Beginners

 I just finished teaching some new bowlers how to deliver lawn bowls at the James Gardens LBC Open House.

I was incorrectly teaching them how to avoid wrong biases and as a result, there were a lot of wrong biases. I was telling them the same thing I was taught 12 years ago. That is “ The small circle needs to be closest to the centre line of the rink.”

This doesn’t work!! The students are confused. I think it would be clearer if we said, “Make sure the bigger emblem on your bowl faces the side of the rink you will be bowling on.” That is, if you are bowling down closer to the left boundary, the big emblem should be on the left; if bowling closer to the right boundary, the big emblem should be on the right.

The boundaries are easier to recognise than the centre line. Particularly because the centre line is not marked in Canada and many other jurisdictions.

Delivering wrong-biased bowls is embarrassing. Let’s make it less likely to happen during these critical moments when new bowlers are deciding whether to take up our game! 

Laser Focus on your Stare Point at Lawn Bowls

  In lawn bowls terminology a stare point is a point on the surface of the lawn bowling rink that is from 3 to 5 meters in front of the front edge of the mat and on the aim line down which a bowl must start to roll to finish close to the target (which is usually the jack).

What does the word ‘stare’ mean? Is it no more than to consistently look in the direction of some object? Is it no more than positioning some target in the center of your visible field?

Well- if that is all staring means then I am not communicating adequately when I advise lawn bowlers to stare at the particular ‘stare point’ over which they wish to roll their lawn bowl. No- I am looking for much more than that! I want the person delivering a lawn bowl to focus his eyes so narrowly that the surrounding square meter of the rink goes out of focus. I am looking for that person to achieve such tunnel vision that if their eyes were shooting a beam of light like a laser they would ignite that spot. Yes- they should be laser-focused!

Why do I say this? Because I find that if you can do this, then you can much more dependably roll your bowl over that exact spot and the bowl so directed will be a better bowl.

The Lead Bowler in Triples

For the lead bowler delivering the first bowl in the end it needs to be emphasized,: line is not the most important concern, weight is.  If you are within three feet on either side of the jack, that is probably not going to get you a reprimand but being three feet short may. What one must emphasize is proper depth and it is your first bowl in the end that is most likely to be wrongly weighted. It is OK to be a yard past the jack and one should err on the side of being that distance past rather than short. Four feet short is a bad bowl; four feet long can be useful for the development of the head. Four feet short cannot be promoted easily so it is likely to stay out of the scoring, since the jack has a significant chance of being moved backward during the end. Grassing two bowls three feet past gives the vice and skip some things to work with in developing a scoring situation. A close bowl by a lead in triples rarely survives as the shot bowl. There are too many good bowlers to follow and a bowl close to the jack makes an excellent target for run-through shots. Even if both of the opposition lead’s bowls are 1^st and 2^nd shot, your side’s situation is not too bad so long as your lead bowls are behind the jack!  

True Shoulder & Imaginary Shoulder at Lawn Bowls

The true shoulder in a lawn bowl’s delivery is that point on the path of the lawn bowl at which it is furthest away from the center line. This is the point at which it ceases moving towards the rink boundary and starts returning towards center rink. A perfectly delivered bowl actually rolls over the point that is this ‘true shoulder.’

The imaginary shoulder is that spot on your aim line that is the same distance down the rink as the true shoulder. The imaginary shoulder is the stare point many players aim at when preparing to deliver a bowl from the mat.

This distinction had never been taught to me. The difference is taught in the following reference.

https://www.wivenhoebowls.club/bowls-tactics/

Heretofore, I have been taking as my stare point a location on my aim line from 3 to 5 meters in front of the mat line. I had been disregarding every teaching that one should choose as stare point the [true] shoulder of your imagined delivery path because I realized that doing so would cause narrow bowling. Choosing as stare point the imaginary shoulder, however, is consistent with theory and needs to be considered seriously.

Taking the imaginary shoulder as one’s stare point has the advantage that it makes visualization of the complete bowl’s path top of mind and so possibly improves weight control.

For several months at the end of 2024, I experimented with a stare point on the imaginary shoulder but returned to using a stare point at 3 to 5 meters out on my aim line because it gave better bowling angle control. 

Who is the Greatest Lawn Bowler Ever?

A popular choice would be David Bryant.

What is interesting to me about this, is that from everything I have observed in my 12 years playing bowls in Canada, the USA, Portugal, Malaysia, and Australia I have never seen a single bowler who has modeled his/her delivery style after him. Neither have I ever found a book recommending his form or met a coach teaching his style.

The reason for this becomes apparent if you try to imitate. To achieve it would require you to have the skill of a gymnast!  

If you have never seen David Bryant bowl, there is a famous YouTube video of his world championship match against Chok at

 

youtube.com/watch?v=HtLLDKIhQ7M&t=169s 

As you can see David Bryant squats on the mat to take his aim line. He then delivers his bowl not by lowering his body from an erect position but as he rises from his squat. He then takes a substantial step forward and releases his bowl substantially further ahead of this stepping foot. Then finally in his follow through he raises his anchor foot completely off but high above the mat! All these features seem to me to be unique.