Aspects Of The Game

The overall aim of the game is fairly simple for anyone to understand, it is to deliver your bowls as close as possible to a smaller white ball which is known as a jack. It gives the impression that it may be easy, but at the highest level different elements become apparent to that of the beginner.

All games are competed for on a standard bowling green which can either be an outdoor grass surface or an indoor carpet surface. A mat is then placed accordingly and a jack is rolled to the other end of the green as a target, with different lengths and options being available to high performance players. The jack will be centred at the start of play to let bowling commence, the players then take turns to deliver their bowls in the appropriate sequence. When all bowls have been delivered, this means an end has been completed and the player or team will score shots according to how many bowls they have closer than that of their opposition. The direction of play is then played in reverse to the end before.

The game of bowls can be played in a singles, pairs, triples and fours format. There are a variety of different lengths of games, dependent on the competition or format being played. However, commonly singles is played with four bowls per player, pairs is player with four bowls per player in teams of two, triples is played with three bowls per player in teams of three and fours is played with two bowls per player in teams of four. Normally the player who plays last will be in charge of have an instrumental influence in directing the team’s shots and tactics throughout a game.

There are a different variety of shots that can be played, but for a beginner the main shots that are element will be the draw shots, the strike shots and the over the weight shot. Bowls can be played on the forehand and backhand which means for a right handed bowler the forehand draw is initially aimed to the right of the jack and curves in to the left. The same bowler will be able to deliver a bowl on the backhand which will be aimed to the left and will curve in to the right. For a left hander, the opposite would apply for this.

A draw shot is when the bowl is delivered to a specific location without disturbing the other bowls too much. The strike shot involves delivering a bowl with a lot of power in aim to substantially move either the jack or a specific bowl depending on the tactics being deployed by the team, there is very little curve on this shot. The over the weight shot is when a bowl is delivered with enough power to guarantee reaching the final destination with a little more power, in order to create minor disturbance. The curve of a bowl is known as the bias to players in the bowling community.

The gap at each end of the bowling green is known as the ditch. Bowls reaching the ditch will be removed from play, however if the bowl touches the jack during the initial delivery of that bowl then it will remain alive and in play. This is known as a chalker to players, as it will be marked with chalk or spray chalk to signify it is alive in the ditch. If the jack is knocked into the ditch it remains alive, unless the jack leaves the markings on the side of the rink of play. If this happens, the end is declared dead and will be replayed unless the rules of the format deem otherwise which is not common on a high performance level where the jack will be respotted on set points on the rink which players would be aware of before play commenced.

Shown below is an example of a white jack. Jacks may have a different weight dependent on whether they are meant for indoor or outdoor surface.

All jacks are fairly similar in size and have no bias, they come in different colour although it is common that they will be white, yellow and pink.

There are a variety of different brands available in the sport of lawn bowls. The most common being Henselite, Aero Bowls, Taylor Bowls and Drakes Pride. Each brand offers their own lawn bowls with different types of bowls available with different biases. Aero Bowls is the most popular brand in the modern age, but I have a preference for most Henselite branded products at the present moment.

There are a range of bowls available to each player with different biases which will curve less and more. The bowl the player will play with will be down to the surface they are playing on and individual preference. As bowls will have more bias on a quicker surface, some players will play with a bowl with less bias which is known as a tighter line bowl where as a bowl with a big bias is known as a high line or swinging bowl. Each bowl is available in different sizes which include 00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Aero Bowls have started offering sizes in half measures as well, to gain an advantage over its competitors. Most sets of bowls are offered in either a medium weight or heavy weight. Size and weight is all down to the size of hand and what feels comfortable to each player. Usually the bigger the hand a player has, the higher size of bowl they will play with. Some particular sets are also available in a range of colours and patterns.

I personally play with a big bias bowl on the outdoor surface to create as high a line as possible to suit my individual preference, this particular model is known as the Henselite Tiger. Whereas on the indoor surface I play with a medium bias bowl which is in between a tight line and high line bowl, as the bowls have more bias on the quicker indoor surface so I do not need as high a line bowl to suit my individual preference. This model is known as the Henselite Tiger II. Both my sets of bowls are a size 3 heavy, which is the around about the normal. On a non bowling relating matter, this must mean I have normal sized hands (haha).

The way specific bowling green's play may demand specific types of bowls. This is the case for my the bowling green I play at during the indoor season as the runs on the surface does not suit a high line bias bowl so a medium bias is the biggest bias bowl I can play with to have a consistent level of performance on my home surface.

Stay tuned for my next blog, which will information about the different bowling surfaces players will have to adapt to.