Montestan’s take on bowls: Bowls come in all shapes, colours and sizes
With regard to colour, they used to be brown when made of lignum vitae wood, people still call them woods. Then it was black, when a kind of plastic or rubber resin was first used, but now the sky is the limit, single colours, mixed colours. Manufacturers have gone daft, there is an unbelievable range, talk about psychedelic. I was playing over at Country Bowls the other week where a guy had a combination of large bright yellow, red and black blobs. Watching them go down the rink was mesmerising, the sort of sensation you get with flashing lights. Anyway, I digress - size, weight and shape are strictly governed. The rules state that ‘they be between 112 and 131mm across their widest points’. I could not see any limits to their diameter (I am sure somebody will let me know) but their weight may be up to 1.5kg.
Most manufacturers have a range of sizes, for example, one has from 000 up to 8. I have never seen anybody using 000 and 00 but 0 to 5 I have seen. The grading is dependent on the hand size so I assume 000 and 00 are for children, hobbits and munchkins and the rest is up to your own choice based on your hand size. There are ways of assessing your size. One I was told is, if you form a circle around the circumference of the bowl with your thumbs and index fingers, if they just touch that should be okay for you. I have small hands and should use a size 1 but use a 2 now and have got used to them as I find they play well. God knows who uses 8‘s their hands must be the size of shovels.
Without going into it too deeply the type of green plays an important part too. Playing over at La Manga, one of the only real grass rinks in Spain, I noticed a large number of their players using size 5’s even the ladies. Obviously, an advantage as hardly any teams win there. Weight is important too, there seems to be three main ones Medium (M) Heavy (H) Extra
James Parkes
Heavy (EH); for example, I have weighed both my 1 and 2 heavies and they are 1.4 each approx. Again, this is a thing of choice dependent on your size, health and other factors.
Now we come to the subject of bias or the ‘swing’ of the bowl. Rule 52.2 - Bias of bowls. A Working Reference Bowl will have a bias approved by the World Bowls (WB). All bowls must have a bias that is not less than that of a Working Reference Bowl and must be imprinted with the World Reference Stamp. What does that all mean? I will expand on this subject next week.
Vistabella Bowls Club is sponsored by: Venture Fleet
Services, TV Choice, Oneway Services, Serenity Insurance, Carpet Heaven. The Winter league is sponsored by Laguna Tavern Entre Naranjos
How about coming and have a go at bowling we at Vistabella Bowls Club would be pleased to see you. We can arrange a free session and lesson. You could get hooked it’s a fabulous game and a very sociable one, where you will meet lots of new friends.
Established bowlers are also most welcome, we have a brandnew green and are looking for new members.
Please contact: Club Captain David Jenkins pacadasu@ yahoo.com or Charlie Watkins charlieatpathways@yahoo.co.uk
Dave Jones - Rotativos del Mediterráneo, S.L. Calle Alicante, n° 39, Polígono Industrial La Cala, 03509 Finestrat Apartado 95, 03508 Benidorm (Alicante), Spain
Dep. Legal CBN A-432-1973 - ISSN 0214-7521 - C.I.F. B-03056579 – Servicios de Impresión de Levante, S.A., 03410 Biar (Alicante)