WHAT IS THIS GAME?

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A Gentle Game  Lawn bowls is a gentle game, full of careful deliberation rather than frenzied action.  It is a game in which skill and finesse are regularly honored, while strength and power are almost irrelevant.  For this reason it is a democratic game, one in which age, size, and gender are not good indicators of success.

The game is often played in beautiful surroundings.  In Williamsburg, we play on a green located between the Williamsburg Inn and the Golden Horseshoe golf course.  It is beautiful and serene.  The green is a 120 foot square, and will accommodate as many as eight games at the same time.

The Goal   The basic goal in lawn bowls is to roll the bowl as close as possible to a small object ball called a jack.  After all the bowls have been delivered, a team receives one point if it has one bowl closer than any bowl of its competitor.  If it has two bowls closer than any bowl of its competitor, it earns two points.  And so forth.  Only one team scores on each end.

 
Bowls   Bowls vary in size, weight, color and bias.  Bowlers use different sizes depending on their hands; use different weights depending on their goals; and use different colors depending on their individual preferences.   The most intriguing characteristic is bias.  Bowls are not round but are flattened on one side.  Consequently a bowl curves, especially as it slows down.  The bias is both a blessing and a curse for a bowler.  It is a curse when a bowler struggles to find the line of delivery that will result in the bowl coming to rest near the jack.  But it is a blessing when the bowler is trying to go around several bowls that form a barrier in front of the jack.

 
Delivery   Success depends in good part on the delivery of the bowl.  As in all sports, there are many successful styles.   Most bowlers think “low and slow,” that is, they bend low in order to deliver the bowl smoothly and they deliver the bowl slowly and deliberately.  One common element of success is consistent delivery, since errors are minimized if the bowl is delivered the same way every time.

 
Shots and Strategy   When there are few bowls on the rink, players can rely on a “draw” shot (one designed to finish close to the jack without colliding with any other object).  But when bowls have come to rest blocking the normal paths to the jack, a player must rely on another strategy, such as rebounding off one of the bowls or knocking away an opponent’s bowl.  Strategy depends on shrewd predictions of the likely results of different shots.  The most popular games on our green are singles and pairs, with each player delivering four bowls.  In pairs, with the four players rolling a total of 16 bowls, the rink becomes so cluttered with bowls that strategy becomes critical.  This is also true of the other games that can be played, called  triples and fours.

 
A Game for All Reasons   For some players, the social aspect of bowls is uppermost.  It is an interesting game played in a beautiful place with friends and acquaintances.  Others play more competitively, where winning is a critical consideration.  Most players enjoy the competitive as well as the social aspect of the game.  Lawn bowls will accommodate both.