Learning to Bowl & Improving your Game (Lesson 1)

You will no doubt be bombarded with advice when you are new to the game. Well wishing experienced bowlers are always eager to pass on their own methods of doing something, some things will be very helpful, some may not, but they all mean well, but they forget that there is a lot to take in on your first few games, and getting too much advice can confuse, as no doubt you have already found. Of course you can enrol on a organized coaching scheme, if there is one being held locally, but if not you will be left to pick up the game as you go along from our bowling friends. We will not go into the many laws and rules of the game here, as they can be found on the various governing bodies sites, instead we will look at arming you with the basics to get started, and improving your game.
It has been said in the past, I think it was the Great man himself David Bryant that 'Bowls is 10% skill and 90% intangibles', this may sound like it is a game of luck, but this could not be further from the truth. What is meant is that, we can all be taught to bowl a bowl along a desired path, but no one can teach you to make that ball stop at a desired length, this is solely down to your touch, feel, co-ordination, and most importantly your sub- consciouses thoughts, which will work out the weight of the object you are holding, and how far it has got to travel, the type of surface it is rolling on, etc. and then signal to your arm how much back swing you will need to propel the bowl to where you want it to go, (intangibles). You will often hear bowlers say, they don't know why sometimes they can play brilliantly, and the next night have a poor game, (intangibles), we can never quite understand why this is, but we can learn ways, to help make us more consistent, which is all we can strive for, consistency is fundamental to the sport, and probably any sport. We will look at the mental side of the game in later posts, but for now, we will concentrate on what can be taught, which is a consistent delivery, which will enable you to bowl a consistent line, which is half the game.
We will assume that you have already been told what side of the bowl is the bias side, which side is your forehand and backhand, that you will be using the athletic style delivery, and that you are practising on your own.
It is important that you try and keep everything in line when you step on to the delivery mat to play, so begin by standing behind the mat, make a point of always starting from the same position, don't walk on from the side, remember we are trying to make your delivery stance a 'habit', so you don't have to think about it, 'just do it' to coin a Fraze. Walk onto the mat looking in the direction you plan to bowl, stand with your feet a small distance apart, so as to give you a stable base to start your delivery from. position yourself so you are pointing in the direction you intend to bowl, ie. forehand, or backhand. For now all we will be doing is delivering the bowl, not at any target, so take a comfortable step forward with your left foot if right handed, or your right foot if left handed, while at the same time bringing your bowling arm back to create a back swing, your non bowling arm should be used to steady yourself, and keep balance,bending down as you go forward, you should just about be able scrape the grass with your finger tips as your arm comes through. Release the bowl, as close to the ground as possible, and continue to follow through with your arm on the projected path. This is very important, so as not to 'pull' the bowl on release. A good practise is too imagine that your photo is being taken each time you deliver, and you need to hold the pose after delivering the bowl, this will make sure you do not get up to early, or snatch at the bowl as it is released, everything must be smooth, slow, and deliberate. practise this for several ends on your forehand, and again on your backhand, you can never practise your delivery style too much, it is going to be one of the most important aspects of your game, you must develop a smooth consistent delivery, which we don't need to think about, it is just part of you, the simpler you keep it the better, the less there is to go wrong with it over the years to come, just make it your own, and stick to it.
now you have mastered your delivery technique, it is time to learn how to bowl a 'perfect line'. You will need 2 extra delivery mats for this excercise if possible, if not anything of a similar size which the bowl will roll over. Take 1 mat and place it aprox 5 metres in front of the delivery mat, and aprox 1 metre out from the centre line of the rink, do the same both sides of the centre line. Now using your new super smooth delivery action, make this mat your aiming point, and with enought weight to reach half way down the green, try and roll your bowl directly over the mat, when you are able to do this with all 4 bowls on your forehand and backhand, move the mat froward to 10 metres and 1.5 metres out, and then 15 metres and 2 metres out. When you have learnt to do this consistently, you know that you can 'pick a line' and bowl it, now you just need to learn which line to bowl.
There are several different methods employed to determine line, some players will use a marker on the bank, some will use a marker on the green, whichever you choose make sure it is a permanent marker, not one which may be moved during the game, there have been stories of somebody having a brilliant game, using a bowls bag at the other end of the green, as a marker, only for the bag to be moved, or a leaf on the green only for it to be moved by the wind. The only problem with markers is that you will need to adjust in or out from your chosen marker, depending on the length of the Jack. Another method is to 'bowl to an imaginary arc', the arc of your chosen bowls will differ, but you will learn this with experience. On visualizing your chosen path to the jack, you will be able to determine the shoulder of the are, the point where the bowl will start to draw in, this is your aiming point, normally about 2/3 of the way along the draw line. If you can learn to visualize the path you are taking to the jack, before you bowl, it will be advantageous to your game in years to come, and as you start to improve, it will mean you can not only visualize the draw line required, but also the line you need to pick, when 'Driving' at the head, playing 'controlled weight', or the 'yard on' shot. Concentrating and picturing (visualizing) the line you are about to take, while standing on the mat waiting to bowl, will also help your sub consciouses mind feed in valuable data on how much weight you will need to bowl, but that is getting back into the intangibles of the game, and that is another lesson for another day.

The Bowls Buying Guide

First and foremost is the size of bowl that you choose to play with, it must fit your hand without being so big as to slip, but equally not to small so that it sits too far back in the hand, which leads to you coping the bowl out, instead of it rolling of the fingers. There are a few ways you can tell if a bowls is the right size for you. Firstly place the bowl in your hand that you would normally bowl with, place your fingers around the bowl in your normal 'claw grip' then extend your arm to arms length, at this point turn your hand upside down, you should be able to do this without the bowl starting to slip, and without your hand shaking. Taking this into account, you should play with the largest bowl you can execute this exercise with. As a guide the most common Gents size bowl is a size 4, a size 3 being the smaller hand gent, and a size 5 being the larger hand gent. most popular Ladies size is a size 1, with a size 0 being a smaller hand lady, and a size 2 being a larger hand lady, but remember this is only a guide it will greatly depend on the size of your hand, length, width, and strength of grip. Measuring your hand is unsatisfactory as you cannot determine if you will be able to handle the weight of the bowl you have chosen, this particularly applies to Ladies with long slender fingers, which upon measuring leads you to buy a much larger bowl then is suitable, because is has not got the width in her hand, nor the strength required. You will normally find players at your local club, will let you hold their bowls for this purpose, If you haven’t got a specialist bowls shop nearby.

Next is the weight of bowl, this is not quite so important, most bowls are made in a medium and heavyweight, and some slimmer shape bowls made in a heavymedium weight. The weight difference is very small only 3oz on a size 5, dropping down to under 1oz on the size 0 bowl, but surprisingly it is noticeable when coming to bowl. I would normally recommend a mediumweight bowl for outdoor grass surfaces, and a heavyweight bowl for indoor and artificial surfaces, mainly because the mediumweight bowl will get a little more turn at the end of the draw, which is usually a good thing on the heavier grass surfaces, and with heavyweights it is the reverse, just stoping them from getting a couple more rolls on the indoor surface, it can also help the bowl from being displaced so easily, particularly indoors. It is a popular misconception that the heavvweight bowl will roll further having the momentum to carry it on, not so we are told. From research we know that although the heavier bowl will be carried by the momentum in the first half of the draw, it will slow down quicker as it comes to rest, as the heavier weight begins to dig into the surface, of course the heavier or wetter the surface the more this will be noticeable.

Now the interesting part, well for me anyway. What make and model shall I buy ?, This is where your bowls specialist can really play a part in determining you go away with the right bowl for you. There are now over 15 models available in the UK, from 3 different manufacturers, then given the various weight, grip, size and colour combinations, there is hundreds of outcome’s. Taylor bowls are the oldest manufacturer, dating back over 200 years, they are based in Glasgow, Scotland, in the UK, they have 6 current models available, The Lignoid, Legacy SL, International, Ace, Vector VS, and Lazer. In Liverpool we have Drakes Pride, the only English bowls manufacturer; they have the Jazz, Professional, and Advantage models on the UK market. Then we have probably the most well known manufacturer, Henselite, they are based in Australia, and were the first company to develop a composition bowl as we know it today, it was developed in Australia with the help of a British scientist during the early 50’s to combat the heat from the sun, which was shrinking the wood in the old wooden bowls and having an effect on the bias.

You should first determine where you will play most of your games, is it indoors or outside, is the surface, considered fast or slow, are the end rinks a problem (being able to take enough green) what position will you play most of your games Skip, No3. 2^nd, or Lead. Armed with this information, your chosen Bowls Specialist should be able to steer you through the minefield of different models available.