When You & Your Opponent are Each Bowling Well from Opposing Hands

When you & your opponent are each bowling well but from opposing hands, the advantage is likely to pass from the side that is forced to switch hands because that side will have to judge afresh both the correct grass and weight. You can force your opponent to change hands by delivering a short bowl that crosses the center line and comes to rest in the opponent’s draw. Your opponent will probably get worried about hitting this bowl and promoting it onto the jack and for this reason, may be induced to change hand. This strategy can be seen being practiced in the match between Harlow and Chok  

So in this situation shade, your draw shot towards being narrow. If it is short it can block your opponent’s line. If it is perfectly weighted it can possibly trail the jack and if it is behind it becomes a good ‘catcher’ for your subsequent deliveries.

P.S. In the above-linked video Harlow also demonstrates a different tactic. When the draw on both sides is blocked he bowls with more weight for the bare jack and takes it and his bowl into the ditch. This occurs at time 1:16:23 on the video.

A Lawn Bowls Strategy for Playing Singles against a Perennial Skip

Suppose you most often play lead or vice in triples matches but now you are matched to play singles against a player who typically skips.  What possible advantage could you have? This was the question I asked myself recently here in Portugal when I was drawn against one of the top players in our men’s club singles tournament.

Leads and vices have more practice estimating the length of the jack seeing it just from the mat. Skips are the only players who regularly stand at the head and then later deliver their bowls. Consequently, they know precisely the distance from jack to mat when they walk to the mat end of the rink. They don’t have to guesstimate: they can even pace it off if they wish! This is different with singles play. Only the marker is in the head. The singles competitors must, each in turn, eyeball the jack and from that, work out their proper weight. 

That is, unless you as the opposition deliver standard lengths, placing the mat on the tee and sending full length jacks or some other length which an experienced bowler can handle in his sleep. Don’t do it…..every time you get hold of the mat move it up the green and deliver anything except a jack on the front tee. That way the ‘Perennial Skip’ is challenged to estimate the length from the mat alone and you quite possibly have more experience doing that. Furthermore, if you have delivered the jack, you have your muscle memory to help you. 

Rolling your ‘natural length’ from different mat positions is a strategy I have used.

This may not bring victory but it can avoid what otherwise might be a blowout!

Social Lawn Bowls is Becoming Boring

I started playing lawn bowls seven years ago, I felt it was a challenging game both in terms of body control and strategic and tactical thinking. Sadly, the way social lawn bowls is being played today, in Portugal during the winter and in Canada during the summer, the game seems to be degrading towards boredom.

Skips seem more intent on chit-chatting with their opposite than working with their leads to choose the best jack length and mat position given the twists of the game. Front ends don’t communicate among themselves to improve their deliveries. Short jacks, jacks in the gutter, or jacks out of bounds are just dragged back into an approximately acceptable position rather than being sent back to the opposing lead for re-delivery.

It has apparently become socially unacceptable to move the mat more than three meters from the back ditch. “It’s just a practice game” I’m told when I ask about these things. Some practice: when the length more than 80% of the time is just between 27 and 30 meters. Some practice when the mat is 99% of the time within 2 to 3 meters of the back ditch. If it’s just practice why isn’t the careless bowler, who delivers a wrong bias, returned that bowl for another try? Why do they even keep score?

At least in Portugal, a match is 18 ends. In Canada, players frequently vote for as few as 10 ends and 12 ends is common. Why not?...... Well, bowls is a game that is designed to reward consistent execution. It is the length of the game that sorts out the meritorious from the plain lucky.

Look. People can choose to entertain themselves however they want. I accept this. But I think what new participants look for in a sport is something that is both challenging and vigorously contested. Lawn bowls cannot help being slower than other sports but it doesn’t need to become lackadaisical!  

Lawn Bowls Tactics with Short Jacks

When you are losing a lawn bowls competition some change is required. That change may be resorting to short jack lengths.

Situation 1

If your side is trying to roll short jacks, the moment the jack stops rolling your skip should move the jack towards the center line with his foot.  If the center line is marked, centering can be done without the help of the lead which means that the lead can speedily be ready to bowl. If the opposition skip calls for a measure, of course, you should immediately agree. The club will have an appropriate tape measure available. However, if a different player from the opposing team calls for a measure from the mat you should hold up your lead briefly to give the opposition skip a chance to speak out. It is their skip who must question the length. A member of the other team may call out the distance the mat is up the rink. If nothing is said, signal your lead to proceed to bowl. Once the first bowl has been put down the jack length can no longer be questioned.

Situation 2

If you are playing under the condition of no dead ends with re-spotting at the 2 meter mark and you are both (i) ahead in the game and (ii) have the mat, you should bowl your lead’s preferred length with the mat placed so that the jack will end up about 2 meters from the front ditch. This way there is little chance to drive the jack out of bounds, but there is plenty of opportunity to drive opposing non-touchers into the ditch or out of bounds.

Situation 3

When your side is trying for short jacks, the best chance to get a playable jack at a short length is to move the mat up until it is two meters short of the hog line. Then you will have two meters in front of the T line and two meters behind it to receive your jack delivery while still being at least the minimum distance.

Situation 4

 If it is the last end and you have the mat but are behind in the score, deliver a short jack from a mat position such that the re-spot position is three meters behind the jack. This will give you the best chance for a big end. Trailing the jack, putting the jack in the ditch or driving the jack out of bounds for a re-spot all offer different results.

Besides tactical changes on the green, you can change the pace of the game. You can even cause a break in a game by requesting a measure to see whether a short jack is the required 23 meters from the front edge of the mat (21 meters in Canada). Your side may even have delivered this where you request a measure. This is legal. It can cause the other team to lose its concentration. They may subsequently choose longer jacks to avoid your requests. In a timed game it can shorten the number of ends played against a stronger team.

A Streak of Rubbish Bowls

When I took up lawn bowling I read that this game was at least 90% mental and only 10% or less physical skill. Mostly, I have continued to struggle with the supposed 10% but now that I have run into a run of ‘rubbish bowls’ I begin to understand the supreme importance of confidence to playing good bowls.

Since the beginning of January my wife and I have been playing bowls either at the Valverde LBC in Almancil or at the Balaia LBC which is located on the grounds of the Balaia Golf Village just east of Albufeira, both in the Algarve in Portugal.

The weather here has been great; however, my bowling has been aweful. That is:  I am full of awe at exactly how consistently bad it has been. But, this gives me the opportunity to write about how I handled a streak of poor performance.

 I did not handle it well! Instead of accepting that rough spots can arise from time to time and that one’s subconscious muscle memory will likely soon assert itself and the problem will disappear as mysteriously as it arose, I regularly panic and conclude that I am just not cut out for this sport and that  I have wasted more than a half-dozen years of my retirement trying to improve.

If possible the problem should be addressed during the game in which it first arises. You should have conducted in advance a self-analysis of your delivery that has identified a personal list of the most frequent deterioration in your ideal delivery. In my case I have found two that I have identified more than twice. By far the most frequent is not getting my forward stepping foot firmly planted before swinging my arm forward to launch my bowl. I have written about this problem repeatedly in my blogs. When this happens one cannot consistently pass near a stare point.

  The second  deviation that I have identified more than once is selecting a stare point more than 5 meters up the green with the result that my bowl has started to curl even before it passes this point and consequently I become confused about the proper line.

My difficulty during this last ‘rubbish bowls’ period was more complicated. At the same time as I was consistently missing rolling my bowl over my stare point I was all over the place with regard to weight. As it turned out I was suffering from two deviations from proper delivery at the same time and the interplay of these caused this random erring.  How did I diagnose what was going wrong? I reread my own blog articles describing my proper delivery. The line missing was as usual attributable to stepping out late-after I had already begun my arm swing. The error in length was not caused by my failure to mentally imagine the path of the bowl from hand to jack (this is the most frequent  cause) but  by me bending my elbow as I released the bowl giving it a slight spin as it came out of my hand. For me, my arm should remain straight as I release my bowl and remain pointing at a 45 degree angle towards the ground as I step forward off the mat. This is modelled after Alex Marshall MBE.

Nevertheless, even if you cannot identify what is causing a run of bad bowls so long as you have been bowling for several years your muscle memory will most likely correct any delivery defect in future matches so long as you don’t dwell on the problem and over-think it. This over-thinking is my cross to bear!

The Delivery at Lawn Bowls: Alex Marshall’s Bowling Grip

As mentioned in a previous blog, November and December are months for a lot of Youtube watching of bowls matches. The bowls season ended in mid October in Canada and my wife and I don’t head off for Portugal and the Valverde LBC until New Year’s eve.

Since I model my own bowling delivery after Alex Marshall MBE, I watch his matches particularly closely, employing slow motion and free frame techniques to see even the smaller elements of technique. I am noticing this year that besides exhibiting the shooters’ stance, he uses a non-standard bowls grip. I have tried to show this in the screen pictures above. This grip was being taught as an alternative grip in a teaching manual that I obtained while bowling in New South Wales, Australia about five years ago.

The advantage that I see with this grip is that it corresponds more completely to the natural angle that your relaxed hand would take up if you let your arm hang loosely at your side. I have tried to show this in my own photo below. The aim line is the edge of the carpet. I am left-handed and my arm is hanging relaxed at my side. My fingers are not parallel to the aim line. If a bowl is now simple inserted into my hand with the running surface parallel to the aim line I will be holding the bowl just like Alex is doing in the pictures above.

You can also see illustrated that I too am in the shooters' stance with my anchor (left) foot is at an angle to the aim line to provide greater stability when I step forward.

What the Complaints About Bowling Arms Tells Me

I have noted an editorial in Bowls Plus Magazine  

 positing that some special regulation should be applied to bowlers who use bowling arms because they create an unfair advantage. It is claimed that these 'armed' bowlers make errors of line only about 2% of the time while regular 'hand' bowlers make errors around 30-35% of the time. These numbers come from the letter’s author, Geoff Mathers of MCC-Kew Sports Club Inc., Victoria in Australia, who claims to have watched both types of bowlers extensively.

Two points arise in my mind that follow from this. First of all, this data must pertain to run-of-the-mill, club bowlers like so many of us! Good match-play bowlers do not miss their line so often. You can gather your own statistics watching on Youtube. Second, I think if this is correct it should be teaching us regular ‘hand’ bowlers something about how to improve ourselves.

What would give ‘arm’ bowlers such a big advantage? Think about it. I can think of two possibilities.

 First, the ‘arm’ bowler does not need to lower his/her body to release the bowl onto the green. Lowering your body by bending your knees while simultaneously swinging your arm can disturb your balance more than just swinging your arm the way the ‘arm’ bowler is required to do. This points to the importance for us unassisted bowlers of starting with our advancing foot somewhat forward so that our body lowering can be minimized by being already closer to the ground. Also, the ‘hand’ bowler can stabilize his/her body during the stepping forward by resting one hand on the forward stepping knee. This extra stabilization is not available to the ‘arm’ bowler. But many ‘hand’ bowlers do not use these elements in their deliveries. Having given up two advantages that would strengthen their balance, perhaps, it is these less-experienced bowlers who are complain the most about the supposed unfairness.

Another possibility is that the ‘arm’ bowlers get a clearer, more consistent view of the correct line because their  bowl is released from a more upright position so that the ‘armed’ bowler can easily keep his/her eyes fixed on an aim point on the forward ditch. The ‘hand’ bowler often finds it a great strain on the neck to stare at a point on the forward ditch while simultaneously bending down to grass his/her bowl. If this is the cause of the large discrepancy in holding the correct line, it may just need to be reemphasized that ‘hand’ bowlers should pick out their line while standing upright (like the ‘arm’ bowler) behind the mat, then select the appropriate stare point on that line, position themselves correctly on the mat, and deliver their bowl over that stare point. 

I do not think even we club bowlers will miss our line 30-35% of the time so long as we maintain the proper pre-shot routine. Perhaps the posited success of bowlers using a bowling arm can assist us all to be better.

Suggestions for Videographing Lawn Bowls

All November and December-It’s too cold to bowl outside in Canada. It’s too early to leave for a more hospitable climate; so, I watch a lot of lawn bowls online. 

General Atmosphere

Why is it required that spectators be quiet during play? Other sports do not ask for this. A basketball player throwing a free throw does not have silence or lack of motion from spectators. A baseball pitcher trying to throw strikes doesn’t. In the Australian Premier League there does not seem to be any such requirement for quiet. What do players think about this topic? If we want popularity, let’s lighten up!

Videography

Couldn’t the broadcast show some slow motion and freeze frame pictures of the different bowlers’ deliveries?

 Couldn’t a camera show some overhead shots from behind the bowler when he is delivering so we can see how wide a line is being taken? I have seen such shots but they do not continue long enough to provide all the information they could.

Sometimes a commentator seems ( from what is being said ) to be  marking on the screen where the best bowl should come in but I can’t see the marking on my screen. Why is that? Can’t it be fixed? 

In ice hockey, video is available from a camera mounted on a referee’s head. Couldn’t this be available for bowls by mounting a camera on the marker’s head (wearing a helmet!). It would also be useful when the marker is asked for an opinion about close bowls. The viewers could  see what the marker sees.

You have a ditch camera but it is only used when there is jack and/or bowl in the ditch. Couldn’t it be used for variety at other times?

Couldn’t overlapped pictures of a bowler’s deliveries be used to show how consistent these  deliveries are? The amazing skill of top bowlers is that they can do exactly the same thing over and over. We need videographer expertise to be able to make this point. 

Would it be possible to show close-ups of the grip of a bowler or his eyes during delivery? This would interest viewers and provide variety in the telecasting.

The sport has an inherent problem. There is an extended period of inaction between when a bowl is released at the mat and when it arrives in the head. Perhaps during this space, when the commentators are speaking, a camera could switch so we can see them. It would be more interesting than all the time watching a close-up of a running bowl.

The Participants

Viewers would be interested in the previous bowling history of the participants. This is already done to some extent but could be expanded. This would include what tournaments they had already won or participated in with a good outcome. Have these bowlers ever played against each other before? What was the outcome? What previous matches have they played in the present tournament? Where are they ranked in the world now? Have either of them been members of national teams? Do the participants play both indoors and outdoors?

What about injuries; have any of the competitors had injuries that have kept them out of competition for long periods? Have any participants had foot, leg or knee injuries? It would be comforting to compare their travails with our own.

Do these participants have good anecdotes about themselves? Talking about the players can nicely fill during the play. Viewers can watch and listen at the same time.

The Rink and the Rules

What is the maximum length of jack in this game? On typical outdoor rinks what is the maximum length? What is the speed on the surface being used in this match? How does this speed affect the shots chosen?

Can a bowling arm be used by participants in top level play? I know Kelvin Kerkow uses a cane.

 Strategy

What is the preferred length for each player? What lengths has each player preferred in prior matches? If involved in a tie breaker and given the mat, what positions and lengths does each player prefer?

What bowls does each player use in the match? Is either player under contract to use a particular make of bowls?

Tactics

Some top bowlers drive very hard, apparently to reduce the bias of their bowl; others have a more controlled delivery, apparently just trying to produce a consistent but small amount of curl. What is the best strategy given the rink conditions?

Why are on-shots so difficult on the carpet?

Do professional bowlers deliver their bowl differently when they need to deliver a.bowl close to one of the re-spot points?

Very rarely does one see bowlers at this level try to push one of their short bowls over to make it closer to the jack. Why is this?

Discussion of the use of the mat and possession of the mat. do statistics indicate that possessing the mat is an advantage or is possessing the mat just the consequence of being the better player and hence being forced to take the mat.

Why is it that we so seldom see professional bowlers bring the mat up to the hog line and bowl short lengths with the jack on the front T?

Style

What are the stare point for the different participants? What about particulars of stance? Why does the marker tell the participants the distance of the jack; ordinary bowlers need to estimate the length themselves?

Some bowlers use a Bryant twist in their backswing; what are the pros and cons of this?

Many professional bowlers walk off the mat in their delivery and are not behind the mat when their bowl stops. Isn’t this a violation of the rules?

Many bowlers bend the knee of their anchor foot behind their advancing leg during delivery. Why do they do this?

Some international bowlers seem to be looking down at their feet when they deliver the bowl (like Darren Burnett ). How are they controlling line? Along each side of the indoor rink there are pictures on the siding. Do bowlers use these images as aim points?

Andy Thomson has a strange set up in which he stands straight without any knee bending, then he bends over completely from the waist placing the bowl on his shoe tops and then proceeds to deliver. Comment on the advantage of this approach. Ask him how and why he developed this style? Other bowlers have other unique habits that viewers would be eager to learn more about.

 At least one former world champion, David Gourlay, often asks the marker to move apparently because he needs to see the boundary strip on the front ditch. Is he using the boundary marker for taking his grass? Many everyday bowlers take as a stare point some discolouration on a carpet or pock mark on a grass green but the indoor carpet appears perfectly blank. How does this change, taking and maintaining a draw line?

Top bowlers, like Greg Harlow, are noted to be moving around on the mat to make fine adjustments to their deliveries? Could the commentator point out when this is being done, explain more about it and propose a reason for doing it under the circumstances of play?

 The Play

What are the statistics concerning which hand each bowler is playing? How is each bowler’s performance going away from the commentary box versus coming towards it? Is either bowler leading off playing consistently around  the clock?

Sometimes the competitors use different grips. Could the commentators demonstrate these grips on camera?

Quite often commentators make some remark intended for viewers new to bowls; however, these usually pertain just to the rules. Couldn’t it sometimes be mentioned about the built in bias of the bowls and how that bias is quite independent of the velocity with which they are rolled (so long as the surface is completely flat and horizontal). Even long time social bowlers seem to think that if a bowl ends up short but on what seems like a perfect path to the jack, all that is needed is more weight on the same line! It is not intuitive that line and length are not correlated!

Commentators are often heard to maintain that differences in bowling are attributable to changes in the temperature inside the rink (during indoor bowling). Using a bowling ramp to deliver identical bowls, could you produce a video to show that this is true?  Is this difference, if any, significant compared to the natural variation in a top bowler’s delivery? Such a clip could be could be shown to break up monotony in a match.