Continuing the Information Series about Bowls.

 

Additional to last newsletter,

• Henselite have just brought out a new grip for their Dreamline XG model called "Series C" also deeper and easier to hold. At the moment it is a limited edition model.

•  Drakes Pride are no longer making the deep channel grip. Their machine broke down and they are not replacing it.....

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Do I really need more than 1 set? Information taken from Drakes Pride technical Information​​

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In a word, yes. If you like narrow running bowls you will need an easy-play set for inferior or windy greens. If the only set you have is a wider draw set, competing against narrower models that play the weighted up-shot well is very difficult as the greens speeds up. It may play brilliantly on a 15-16 sec green but your options are restricted to only draw shots on a 19sec green. The new models are designed to give the same range of shot options as green speed get quicker.

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Points to remember:
A  bowl is only "reading" the green and acting accordingly. Sometimes a wider draw set will go very narrow especially on a heavy or wet green and a narrower running model can sometimes have a lot more turn at the finish than it would on a hard and fast green. You may also experience a much wider draw on the forehand than normal and almost no draw on the backhand, usually caused by cross-wind and angles will change playing from the other direction. Various playing surfaces can have your bowls doing something different to normal when they are heavy.

 

Changing to a narrow running model that simply cannot work due to the inherent design flaw. They require perfect greens, no wind and very consistent delivery with no wobble, many players deliver from a greater height as they age or pay little attention to the way the bowl arrives onto the green. Older, wider drawing sets, and balanced sole type are much more forgiving than the recent models that have a high degree of un-balance on the sole to achieve the narrow path on the green but still have full legal bias on the table. Any model that goes more than about 10% narrower than 1.75 mtrs of draw on 17sec green is employing greater amounts of the un-balanced sole design and will not play consistently in this country. 

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Missing usually makes the player adjust the line on the next delivery which switches back to normal and again has the bowl finishing on the other side of the head in the wrong place. Players are making line changes based on where the last bowl finished and in this example line direction was never the problem, it's green conditions or non-vertical delivery angle that's giving different bias percentage on different deliveries. Delivery angle, any wobble, green quality, grass type and especially windy weather conditions have a marked effect on this bias-subtraction bowl type. Although very poorly performing, we can make bowls that go almost straight on the green and it's reasonable to assume the game is easier to play with very narrow running bowls. Not true, they come with "strings attached" having their own set of difficulities due to the design flaw that cannot be overcome and generally play much better indoors.

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