Draw the line

Besides an annoying tendency to pull my arm across when delivering a bowl, something I’m working hard at sorting, my biggest problem last year was finding the right line. In one competition match I struggled with this so much my bowls were all over the place, so no surprise when I got thrashed. Yet in one or two other matches I could deliver one bowl after another to the same spot.

Been doing some homework over the Christmas break a bowls book from the club library. One of the things that caught my eye was a section on finding the right line. Here’s what the book says...

‘Imagine three bowls delivered in such a way as to come to rest at different positions along the centre line of the green, say one on the jack, one short and one long. In all three cases they got there because the line selected was the line - and the only line - that correctly anticipated the effect of the bias on the running bowl. And because the bias is a constant factor for that bowl, it follows that the line for each bowl was the same line. It was the weight of the shot that took the bowls to different positions along the centre line, but the line did not change.’

Now that’s a bit of a revelation to me. I’ve been adjusting my line depending on where I want the bowl to end up. What this says is that wherever you want the bowl to end up along the centre of the rink, the line is always the same. It’s just the shot weight that determines where the bowl comes to rest. 

The book goes on to say finding that line for forehand and backhand, up the green and down, is the single most important thing to establish during trial ends and at the beginning of a match. The length can follow.

I suppose the line needs to vary slightly if the jack is knocked off the centre line, or narrow if the shot required is a drive. But that consistency of line in all other circumstances has helped me understand why I got such varying results last season.

Can’t wait for the next indoor bowls match on Wednesday, so I can see what effect the above revelation and my five weeks of daily practice at keeping a straight arm has on my performance.