The Surprisingly Difficult Game of Lawn Bowling
When lawn bowling is mentioned, most people picture ten-pin bowling on grass. Bowls can take place on a number of different surfaces, such as grass and synthetic surfaces. Both variations are known as lawn bowls. Lawn Bowls belong to the boules sport family,
which consist of any sports played with metal balls. Bowls are popular in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and other Commonwealth nations. In New Zealand, the natural playing surface is cotula, which is a far-spreading, flowering plant.
Dated as far back as the 13th century in London, bowls have been represented in literature and pictures in a form similar to that which is played today. The oldest bowling green known is the Southampton Old Bowling Green, with records stating
that it has been used since 1299. In the early forms of bowl, players would choose a target to bowl, and both would have one shot to try to get it as close to the target as possible, without touching it.
As the game’s popularity grew, the king and parliament banned it. They feared that interest in other recreation would draw people away from archery, which was important in battle. Even after gunpowder and firearms were invented, the ban was not lifted until
much later. Ludicrous laws were set to keep the middle and lower classes from playing, such as only being allowed to play on Christmas and can only play in their own garden orchard, with the purchase of a £100 license.
National Bowling Associations were set up in the late 1800s, with the Royal Victorian Bowling Association in 1880 and The Scottish Bowling Association in 1892. 200 Scottish clubs attempted to start this organization in 1848, but where unsuccessful.
Today, over 40 countries play the sport with over 50 member national authorities. The home of the game continues to reside in Scotland, while Edinburgh hosts the World Bowls centre.
Lawn bowls are played on a precisely leveled, smooth, manicured rectangular pitch of grass. The pitches that the games take place on are called rinks. In a normal game, a coin is tossed to decide who sets the jack, which is a smaller, white ball. The winner
of the toss takes the mat and begins the round by placing the mat, and rolling the jack. The jack is then aligned to the center of the rink and players take turns bowling, attempting to bowl as close to the jack as possible. The bowl is usually 11.6 to 13.1
cm in diameter, in a variety of different colors. Fouls are given if the bowl touches the jack or goes out of bounds, known as the “ditch.” After all of the bowls have taken place, a point, or “shot,” is awarded for each bowl closer than the opponents. For
example, if one player had two bowls closer to the jack than the opponent’s closest one, they receive two points. This round is known as an “end.” A game of lawn bowl consists of 21 ends.
Though this might seem simple, it is actually much more difficult than it sounds. To understand this, the bowls must be taken into account. A bowl is designed to travel a curved path, with a weight bias on one side. If the player bowls straight, the bowl
will go either left or right, based on the positioning of the weight, and at different angles, based on the speed of the bowl and amount of weight in the bowl. Once made of “lignum vitae,” which is a dense wood, bowls are now usually made of hard plastic composite.
The bowls have a number of different symbols. The side with a large symbol within a circle is the side away from the bias. The other side will have a smaller symbol within a small circle, indicating that the bowl will roll in the direction of the smaller symbol.
Now that lawn bowls are not a mystery, it is apparent that bowls are indeed difficult. The bowler has no idea about the weight bias until they hold it in their hand right before they must bowl it. Even the best of players sometimes misinterpret the weight
bias and end up sending their carefully calculated bowl across other bowlers’ rinks instead of heading towards the jack.
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