Saturday 11 June 2016

On a roll

Most likely a ham roll, judging from my early season singles' results. But I've won my last two singles matches, both competition fixtures. Can I win my first round club senior singles match this evening? Played over sixteen ends, I'm up against a tricky opponent who knocked me out of a previous year's competition. But my choice of rink. No surprise I choose my favourite rink six.

The green is so fast, we both put our first trial bowls in the ditch. As a result we're playing cagey, tending to roll short. It's neck and neck right up to the eleventh end. Several times I've got bowls around the jack, but his single is closest. Several times I roll right up to the jack only for my opponent to immediately knock me out.

I've been using an aiming point part way up the green, but switch to using my primary aiming point at the rink end. Immediately makes the difference I need. Doesn't always work, but having the jack in view when delivering seems to help with length as well as getting a better line.

Within three ends I'm winning 12-8. He needs to win the penultimate end to have a chance of catching me. He does, gaining two. Now needs all four bowls to draw. I get the score he needed, gaining four to win 16-8.

Maybe I'm gaining form just at the right time of the season. Here's the scorecard.

2 comments:

  1. Your paragraph concerning changing your aiming point interests me. Could you elaborate? Other writers suggest that if you are bowling short moving your 'secondary' aim point further up the green can help you systematically increase your length and you imply that this works best for you with long jacks. Was your secondary aim point a distinct physical mark on the green? Could your eye have been slipping off an indistinct mark during the bowling action? I have found that having a 'secondary' mark that includes the jack in my field of vision helps with drives.

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    1. Hi Clarke... For the last couple of seasons I've been trying to fix a primary aiming point at the far end of the green, but then fix a secondary aiming point as a mark somewhere not too far up the green to aim for when delivering the bowl. I've found this helps accuracy, since I was having trouble being accurate for a mark at the end of the green.

      But increasingly often this season I'm able to use the end of rink marker alone. Part of the advantage of this is you can watch the bowl heading towards the aiming point for a longer period, and therefore judge if an unsatisfactory end result was because delivery was slightly off target. For a marker much nearer the mat, the bowl is over it so quickly it can be hard to tell how accurate delivery was. I also do find, as you suggest, that this method helps with weight since the jack is in view.

      Hope you're Canadian bowling season is going well. Regards, John

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