Catch up Bowls

Various parts of a game of Bowls require different mental disciplines and controls.  The first few end of play of a game of Lawn Bowls should be a information gathering part of the game for the whole team.  I would like to say this information is "for the skip" but if a team works together; then these first few ends should be carefully studied by all the team members.

   The lead should be inproving his performance by establishing the best draw lines, while studing the opponent weakness as to the jack distance. The second and/or mate should be more involved in a comparsion  of the strength and weakness of  the opponents and also any unique difficulties the green.  The skip, who may have some knowledge of the opponents as a team, especially if the team has played together for several years. However, in each game and with different conditions of the green, the team will find several different demands upon each  team member.

The skip must at the end of 4 ends (2 up  and 2 back) established the best control and strategy for the game.  He should also know the success ratio of his opponent though out the game play.

In an erlier blog about patience, a reader and blogger, Clarke, who writes "we will be blwling out of two bowls clubs: The Vilamoura LBC in Vilamoura and the Balerde LBC in Almancil" (photos below) asked.

Clarke and wife at Winter Bowls Club

 " As a novice playing on teams with much more experienced bowlers, my number one complaint is that my team mates usually feel they can only get back into a game through their own extraordinary shots. Won't steady play and a gradual comeback sometimes cause the opponents to 'choke'? Trying for a big end and failing lets the other team relax and this can produce better bowls for them, n'est-ce pas?" Clarke Slemon, ( His Blog "Greenbowler")

A big part of this question is the context of the expression of " through their own extraordinary shot "     This ego building or showing should be continually checked by the team members together. To tell a skip or mate that the game was lost due to their EGO is hard to do but necessary if the team is to play well together. If the skip or mate can do the shot and misses it is always that percentage of failure defined by hard shots.  However, bowls is a draw game and a skip who can not draw or overdraw, maybe should not be directing his team. 

Vilamoura LBC, Vilamoura, Portugal Clarke's winter Bowls

 Calculate the success ratio of the shot to the possible Failure percentage while studying the dangerous "What if" questions.

 First, I must say, as the game progress the general performance of all players actually tend to improve as each team finds the line and green speed. (Unless the play conditions are changing, Rain, Morning Dew, wind). So in competitive play the opponent, and yourself, should not choke but always improve.. A lot of novice players wonder why the skip and mate take such seemly difficult to achieve big point gain.  This blog will attempt to answer this question with some "Can they do it ?" questions about the opponent.

Doing a Jack Rolls. "Can they do it ?" Although a lead or second should be reading the green and what their delivery choices are, by watching the skip and mate of your team and the opponent should show if calculated gambles of their skip are high percentage of success shots.
  In a game of fours where the skip has only two bowls it is harder to do a jack roll than pairs where four bowls each teaching the player how to improve the delivery and get a jack roll or touch.

Another nice Portugal LB Club

 Some "Delivery Tools" also improve the success upon difficult shots like jack rolls.  Delivery tools are skills developed and placed in a "If needed" toolbox .  Has the skip been seen to walk the mat. Special mats like the Henslite mat with holes and Marks help the bowler to slowly move his footing by small amounts.  Mat walking occurs when a previous roll to the jack missed the jack by a few inches, and the next bowl is moved that few inches by changing the placement on the mat and using the same line of delivery.

Balanced Head .  "Can they do it ?" With a "Balanced Head" where each opponent bowl is matched by a nearby team's bowl; it can be difficult to develop a large point end with a changing of the jack's position. Of course, you can not have three or 4 bowls on the jack if you are also putting bowls near the opponent's bowls.  But with a lead of several points and only a few remaining  ends all your team needs is one point for the few remaining ends.  Even giving up one or two points for these few ends will not result in losing the game.

Control of Skip  "Can they do it ?"  As the game approaches the last few ends, the skip should know the force and weakness of the opponent skip.  If the skip is throwing actuate runners then does he always do the same hand runner.  Most skips do the same forehand runner and a block can be very successful.  Often a near successful block can be sufficiently in the view of the shot to cause the opponent skip to not be successful.  Does your skip attempt to control the opponent skip on his strong force.

Back to the main question "Won't steady play and a gradual comeback sometimes cause the opponents to 'choke'?. Yes, steady play is important, but requires steady improved performance of each member of the team.. The skip may find that his team is losing ground rather than improving with each new end of play. And if not, and the team weakness persist, then the skip must consider the quick recovery opportunities and take advantage of opportunities as they present them self.

 For Example. If the opponent are not balancing the head and has not evaluated if your skip can do a Jack roll, the strategy should be to build the head and keep an eye on a dangerously unbalance set of bowls.  If the head becomes a "only one cutting point bowl  in the head" then to remove, or back off  that bowl with a light overdraw can be a big point gain and if missed does not cause any damage. (Of course a jack roll is harder and then again a runner which destroys all the hard work of building several points head is not the answer) Success of  the skip efforts should be accepted as acceptable if the end was won and control of the jack is to help the team progress.


Lastly, "Trying for a big end and failing lets the other team relax and this can produce better bowls for them"  Interesting.  the use of the word "relax" as to feeling the pressure. Yes as the team gains a reasonable gain there is a relax attitude.  But relax is strange because if part of your delivery is a pre-mat routine and relax means you don't do this pre-mat routine; then the relax may result in failing results.  Relax is part of the mental process of a delivery.  Relax and let the body and mind do the work it know how to do. So we look at the question " Does the question suggest that to "lets the other team relax"  will give the players a better delivery?".

Comment added July 12, 2026 - In one of my last blogs on my site, the Lead who is normally a skip had a few wine between games of a major tournament and as per the blog "To relax" caused Muscle Memory" of her Bowl Delivery to shift the "Trigger Point" of Performance. When we have Muscle Memory Performance, we also have a point where the Muscle Memory (or the subconscious mind) takes control from the conscious mind. In that blog I discuss the brain as a computer because what has happen is that the "Trigger point" shifted back to "foot on the Mat" and so every time she went to throw the jack she found her Muscle Memory  taking line for a "Bowl Delivery" and throwing the jack out of bounds.  (Not once but three time in a row). Being relax has stopped what muscle memory ignored as Pre-Delivery Routine. Now, with a relax attitude or focus of game, her subconscious mind did not see (or feel) any restriction and shifted the trigger point to stepping on the mat. 

P.S.  Clark's Website of "Greenbowler" has a lot of interesting views on Lawn Bowls over the last nearly 10 years of blogs.. well worth the "checking it out".