Getting started

Bowls for Beginners: The Basics

To start playing lawn bowls, you’ll need a set of bowls and flat shoes/runners (no heels or ridges). Railway Union Bowling Club provides bowls for newcomers use and all other necessary equipment (jacks, mats, and scoreboards).

Details:

• The game is played on a ‘green’ (square of closely-mown grass) or a ‘mat’ (artificial surface).

• The green/mat is divided into ‘rinks’, surrounded by a shallow ditch and a bank on which are marked each rink's centerlines and edges.

• Players deliver bowls from a small mat towards a ‘jack’ (small white or yellow ball) at the other end, until all bowls are sent. This is called an ‘end’.

• The goal is not to hit the jack but to get your bowls closer to it than your opponent’s. Bowls curve towards the jack rather than traveling in a straight line - it's not marbles.

• After all bowls are delivered, the arrangement of bowls around the jack is called the ‘head’. Once you agree the score with your opponent, the next end is played in the opposite direction. This continues until the game ends.

• Games can be singles (one-on-one) or in teams of two (pairs), three (triples), or four (fours/rinks).

• In singles, the winner is the first to score 21 shots. Team games are played over a set number of ends (usually 18), with the highest score at the end winning.

So Bowls is really easy?

While it's quick and easy to learn the basics and get started, perfecting your game and learning all the tricks can take years. You're always trying to stay a step ahead of your opponent and anticipate their next move. For example:

• Will they simply try to 'draw' their bowl close to the jack, or...

• Will they fire at one of your bowls to move it, and if so, where will both bowls end up, or...

• Will they fire at the jack to move it, and if so, do you have a bowl behind it to collect it, or...

• On your shot, should you block their path to the jack with a short bowl (a ‘blocker’), or…

• Should you draw to the jack, or fire at your opponent’s bowl, or at the jack, or…

• Could you try to hit your own bowl to knock it closer to the jack, or…

• …questions, decisions, questions, decisions, AAAGGHHH!!

Your (or your team’s) strategy and how you play and ‘build’ the head is crucial and may change several times during the match, or even during a single end, depending on how things are going!