Point of Aim
The effect of the bias on the bowl is negligible until the bowl has covered about sixty percent of its path. From then onwards the bowl follows a curving path, the amount of the curve increasing all the time until the bowl comes to rest. When the bowl has travelled sixty percent of its path it will be at its widest point from the straight line connecting the mat and the jack. This is known as the ‘Point of Aim’.
Fixing the point of aim will vary with each bowl sent down the green, and will depend on the length of the jack (distance from mat to jack); the bias on the bowl; wind; heaviness of the green – on a wet, heavy green less land will be used than on a dry green; trueness of the green – one side of the green might draw better than the other.
This is the reason for trial ends in a competitive game to establish these facts.
Grip
There are two recognised grips, or methods of holding the bowl.
There is the claw grip where the bowl is placed in the palm of the hand, the middle fingers being spread out under the bowl. The thumb and little finger provide extra support, the little finger being level with the bottom of the disc, and thumb over the top. The bowl should not be held tightly, but gripped enough to prevent it slipping at the moment of delivery.
The cradle grip has the bowl resting in the hand. Middle fingers are placed fairly close together with the thumb much lower down the side of the bowl than in the claw grip. With both grips the middle fingers must be parallel to the running surface. A wobbly wood is caused by the middle finger being pulled across its’ running surface.
Formal Roll-up’s at Balaia have finished on Friday, July 28 and recommence on Friday, September 1 at 09.45am. Anyone wishing to bowl during August will need to visit the Golf Reception.
Floresta Bowls Club green is open to all Bowls Algarve Members, but members should contact George Humphreys (georgehumphreysceltic67@hotmail.co.uk) to reserve a rink in advance before travelling.
Albufeira Cats home ground at CPO is closed for the summer.
By Miriam Hare
