How to Play
Lawn bowling is a challenging and precision sport where slightly asymmetrical “bowls” are rolled to get as close as possible to a smaller white ball known as “the jack.” It’s a globally popular sport, played everywhere from New Zealand and Australia, to the Philippines, Brazil and Pakistan.
In the U.S. there are lawn bowling greens in Washington state, Florida, Arizona and even in the heart of New York City, Central Park. But we think the most beautiful greens are right here in Pittsburgh. In fact, the Frick Park Lawn Bowling Greens are the only public lawn bowling greens in Pennsylvania. It’s a sport that’s welcoming to people of all ages and athletic ability, requiring only comfortable shoes and patience to learn.
Lawn Bowling is Different from Bocce.
Lawn bowling is different from its cousin bocce. The bocce ball is round. The lawn bowling “bowl” is round only in one direction and elliptical in the other, causing it to curve as it slows down. Another way lawn bowling is different from bocce is that bocce balls are tossed under hand, like a soft ball, but a lawn “bowl” is rolled.
What is Lawn Bowling?
Lawn Bowls are played on a “green” that is finely cut, rolled and manicured grass or an artificial surface that is similar to putting greens on a golf course.
There is a sand ditch that surrounds the green. Each rink, the designated area for a game, is approximately 15 feet wide and 120 feet long. The Frick Park Lawn Bowling Club has two greens, each with 7 rinks. This means that 14 matches can be played at the same time. Matches are played in a singles, doubles or triples format.
Basic Lawn Bowling Play
Triples
Games are played either with a set number of “ends,” (e.g. 14 ends) or until one player or team has reached a fixed number of points (e.g. first to 18 points.) Doubles and Triples are played in a similar fashion except played as teams. In Triples, each team has three players each using 3 bowls. The Lead is the first bowler and is often a relatively new player. Once the leads have alternately rolled their three bowls, the Vice-Skips (up and coming bowlers) bowl second. Finally, when both leads and vice-skips have bowled three bowls each, the Skips roll. The Skips are the team captains and are accomplished players who provide strategic advice to their team. When an end is completed there are 18 bowls surrounding the jack. After each end, points are counted and kept by both skips on scorecards.
The Basics - One on One
Play is initiated when the first bowler (determined by a flip of a coin) stands on the mat and throws the “jack” out. The jack must go a minimum distance, past a marker on the green called “the hog line”. The jack is centered and then play begins. Assuming you are playing one on one, each bowler has four bowls. The bowls are rolled one at a time, going back and forth, trying to get closest to the jack.
The “head” is the area where the jack and all the rolled bowls are. A bowl can hit and move the jack or any of the bowls in the head.
Bowls that go outside of the boundary marker or bowls that are rolled too far without hitting the jack and going into the “ditch” are considered out of play and removed from the rink.
Once all the bowls have been rolled, the players walk to the “head” where the bowls are and measure who is closest to the jack. Points are awarded for how many bowls a player has inside the closest bowl of their opponent. This score marks the completion of one “end” of the game. The bowls are then cleared and the winner of the “end” sets down the mat and rolls the target jack back in the other direction and begins bowling another end.
Strategy
Strategy is the best part of the game.
Bowls in front of the jack are considered either blockers or bowls that can be “promoted” by hitting them forward close to the jack. Bowls behind the jack are considered as insurance in case the jack is pushed backwards near them.
The skip, the vice-skip and the lead are constantly signaling each other, letting each other know how far their shots are from the jack, where they should put their next bowl, how many points have been accumulated so far.
A Lead can’t go wrong using the old adage “One on the jack and one in the back.”