Lawn Bowling

Saturday we went lawn bowling with the young adult group. There are several criteria that must be met in order to play this sport.

1. You must own a complete outfit in the color white

2. You must own some sort of hat, preferably a broad rim, straw hat.

3. You must be over the age of 50



Lawn bowling is not really like bowling at all. It is probably closer to bochi ball.
First of all you play on a grass court. The grass is cut so close to the dirt you would not think it could survive, but some how it does. I guess it is similar to the grass on the green of a golf course, but am not 100% sure seeing as though I have never played true golf.

The Equipment:

- A little white ball known as "the jack"
- Two larger black balls/per person that are not completely round (I'm not sure what they are called).
-Flat shoes or bare feet
-Your white outfit
-A plastic mat


How to Play:

Form your teams. Usually 2-3 teams of 2-3 people. Start at one end of the lawn and roll the jack to the other side of the lawn. Each person then takes a turn rolling their first black ball towards the jack. After the first balls have been rolled down the lawn each person then rolls their second ball down to the jack.
The object of the game is to get as close to the jack as possible. You can knock other people's black balls away from the jack. A team will receive points for the number of balls it has closest to the jack.

A good roll will get your ball within a few inches of the jack.

This seems fairly easy right?

Well the hard is this.

1. The lawn is really, really flat with absolutely no bumps or holes. It is hard to judge how far a ball will roll when friction as been reduce to as little as possible.

2. One side of the ball is weighted. This means that it won't roll in a straight line. In order to handle this you put the weighted side of the ball closest in line with the jack. Then when you roll the ball you aim wide and the ball will then curve in as it heads down the green. Basically the ball has a natural curve to it when rolled down the lawn.
This curving action sometimes makes it hard to judge how wide you should aim and the like.


All in all a good day was had. Brandon and I both had a few good ones, which made our teacher very proud.


Cheerio! Meg