Did you know the ball with which one bowls in lawn bowls is “biased”. This means one side is flattened. As if life isn't hard enough!
The nuance of the physics in this distributed weight anomaly is beyond this author. But the result is that the bowl follows a curved horizontal trajectory when rolled, something like the curve of a banana laying down.
Could it be that the inventor of bowls always bowled off to one side and so invented a non-spherical ball (termed bowl) to compensate? Subsequently, all those that followed had to deal with this. The ever dependable Encyclopedia Britannica informed me that a form of bowls was played in ancient Egypt. Moving forward a millennia or two, the ruling body of today's form of lawn bowls - the International Bowling Board - was founded in 1905.
But back to the balls, or in this case the bowls. The concept of a biased bowl leaves this author somewhat discombobulated. Can you imagine the same physics being applied to ten pin bowling? The lanes would have to be three times wider. What about playing golf with a ball that is biased. One spends too much time looking for a ball the size of your eye as it is - whereas in squash one spends time avoiding being hit in the eye with a ball just the right size to replace it.
Some counties in England play a variation named Crown Green Bowls. In this version, a square area with a raised hump (aka crown) is located in the centre of the green. If that doesn’t add sufficient challenge, the surface of the green can also be uneven – just for a little more random excitement. At least here in AUS our greens are flat, true and generally surfaced with beautifully manicured grass or Astro turf. I must say the latter sounds a little like something the Jetsons would be using to play this game.
Whatever they were thinking (or drinking) when the governing body decided the rules, the result is a sport which is not only highly enjoyable but also very social. I tried my luck at bowls as did my children. We found ourselves engaged in what was for us initially a game of chance, largely due to the fact we had no skill in this discipline. But it was great fun from the first bowl to the last. And social! I cannot think of another ball game where one can equally enjoy the social aspect throughout the experience as well as the sporting competition.
All in all, can I recommend bowls to others? You bet! Would I recommend bowls as a family activity? You bet! So armed with this considered research, why not pick up the phone, call your local Middle Park Bowls Club on (03) 9690 4048 and give the casual “Barefoot Bowls” a try.
https://www.middleparkbowls.com.au/
Opposite the Middle Park Hotel - Canterbury Road, Melbourne VIC 3206
