BOWLING FALLACIES

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 175, 9 July 1932, Page 5 (Supplement)

BOWLING FALLACIES

HOW SPIN ENTERS CAME. • DO YOU HAVE BOWLS SPRING CLEANING? That our imaginations trick us at times must be granted. It is continually tricking us at the game of bowls. I propose (writes B. T. Harrison in the “Referee”) to explode one or two ideas that have taken root in the fertile brain-soil of the unbeliever, and which no amount of talk has exterminated.

Do you know that under certaip conditions, and mostly any condition, a light bowl will run farther than a heavy one? Ninety-nine players in 100 woul'd say that when a bowl leaves the hand, and lays on any exact spot, it will mako the same number of revolutions each time. It will do so on the testing table, but not by the human hand. That is where “spin” comes in. One man will get several more revolutions (each revolution equals about a foot) out of his bowl than another, and yet send it from and to the precise spot every time.

That sounds ilßogical; but let me explain: Very old men, and some younger ones, who have not “trained” their spinal cords in the “way they should go,” throw the bowl out in front of them, ranging up to five and six feet. Their bowls do not begin to revolve until they strike the ground, practically, and then there is no life (known as spin) in them, and results come accordingly. Life is as essential to a bowl as it is to a billiards ball. There are various names for the ones you should avoid; chuck, dump, throw, drop. None have any relation to spin, the essential. Do you often wonder, when playing a very short 66-footer, that whereas your claim to play short ends is admitted, you continually over-run the head? Ninety uer cent. do this.

It is because you vary your step, unconsciously. On a keen green the shorter the end, the shorter the step. That gives you more control, and is a local conclusion. Get into the habit of standing different parts of the mat for different lengths.

This is a fairly safe system: A foot from the rear for a long end, centre for a medium, and a foot from front for minimum—66 feet. Always use judgment in fractional cases, such as lengthy shots, long mediums, and long three-quarters.

I don’t advocate a light bowl—31b. bare, or thereabout—but did it ever strike you that a small bowl lying on its side is difficult to inovel

It is because the centre of the big bowl strikes the little one above the centre, thus having the effect of driving it (on the draw, not drive) “into the ground,” rather than pushing it forward. “A light, small bowl is so easy to push out,” says an authority. After all, it is just as easy to push it

Reverting to the delivery of a bowl: If spin is so essential, something to spin it with is also essential. That proves the value of the thumb grip. There’s nothing else to spin it with. Do you know that 98 per cent, of players intently watch their opponent’s bowl from the time it is grasped till it reaches the end and stops? Why? In 31 up, does it ever strike you that you waste brain effort, and at times produce unnecessary heart-thump, in approximately 150 instances? You need not follow me, necessarily, but I mako it a practice of “saving” eye-strain, heart-thump, and at times “funk,” if you like, bv only viewing the bowl of my opponent in its last finishing stages. It is a good thing to have a sort of “spring-cleaning” of oneself in season. Sit down and ask yourself: “Do I win prizes, or games? If I don’t, what is the reason? Have I the right bowl? Do I grip it correctly? Do I stand correctly? Is my delivery all right ? How about my touch and length, do they, satisfy?” Tick off those you are sure about (bd quite sure) and add a cross to those you are not entirely satisfied with. Then go out on your own and cure the weak parts, making strong Iniks in your chain throughout. If you don’t get results then, see a specialist.