BOWLING NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20238, 24 April 1929, Page 18

BOWLING NOTES.

GREENS FOR WINTER PLAY. CLUB COMPETITIONS. PERCENTAGE FOURS SYSTEM. BY SKir. With the conclusion of Saturday's play thero remains but a couple more weekends before the fall of the curtain on the -summer season. Shortly the winter season will bo commenced, and players will be catered for better than ever this season. Nearly every club now has a winter green. The Ponsonby Clnb is supplying a full-sized green for winter play, and as this has been specially kept for winter purposes throughout the summer it should be in good order. West End's small winter area will not bo available until the spring, as the green has undergone a complete renovation. The Epsom Club has adopted a progressive policy in deciding to make use of the two areas hitherto used for croquet. This will relieve the strain on the club's summer area, a part of which was formerly used to accomodate winter players. • This club has now such a large membership that good and adequate summer green accommodation is an absolute necessity. Both Carlton and Remuera will have the usual amount of greens at their disposal. In both these clubs winter bowling has assumed large proportions. Mount Albert generally uses its large summer green as a winter area until well into the season. The club's socond green was recently renovated, and will not be availablo until near the start of the summer season. Onebunga is another club in which* winter bowling flourishes, and, as usual, tho necessary accommodation will bo available. Auckland's New Green. The new green just put down by the Auckland Club on the Domain ground should make an admirable winter green in time. If kept wholly for summer purposes, it is going to be an ideal place from a spectator's point of view to play off the finals of important matches, as it is so well terraced round the sides. The special attention to drainage should help to discount tho trouble of heaviness usually associated with greens other than on volcanic soil.

, Tho majority of local clubs are now deciding tlio semi-final and final games of those rink competitions which aro conducted on the percentage principle. Many of the clubs now-a-days have adopted the percentage fours in favour of the old idea of. club fours. The honour of instituting tho percentage fours system lies with the Dominion Road Club, which has had it in use for a good many years. Of course, the system at present in use by that club has been altered and perfected slightly as the result of experience. The Dominion Road Club's scheme involves a grading of tho players into the respective groups of leads, twos, threes and skips, and by this working any number of players (usually 16 all told) can be obtained at the finish out of each of tho groups. It is then a fairly simple matter to fonn the players into the teams for tho semifinal games. Son™ clubs restrict the number to two players in each group, or eight all told, and have only a final game'to play at the end of the series.

Grading ol Players. Again, some clubs do without the grading of players, which usually results in an uneven distribution in ..the respective grades for the final games Sometimes there is a preponderance of front division men surviving! and the difficul y- » to not only make up the teams, but also to nuke them of even status. A modification In the shape of a minimum number of games to be played by any one player is a plank in the system of percentage fours. Usually there arc eight games with five to qualify, and'a further proviso ensures that tlie percentage is taken on 75 per cent, of the games played. This provision has been made for the purpose of discounting the practice of somo players who, having had a good sequence _of wins, take no further risk of endangering the already good percentage. Ono club this season was rather hard in its policy of making tho final percentage based "on the full number of games in tho round. This, of course, was all in favour of tho 100 per cent, attender Players who wore*" genuinely precluded from taking part in one or two of tho rounds wero thus penalised and lost any change they had by reason of absence. One hears frequently tho expression that thero are too many bowls in the pairs game, and that somo modification of the number would make, for better bowling and a better game. Thero is no doubt that a lesser number of bowls in use in this game would have a tendency to curtail that element of luck which now obtains as the result of so many chances of what might be termed promiscuous shooting. Some peoplo go so far as to advocato a cutting out of two of the four bowls and make a two-bowl pairs game. It is said that this style of play exists in Australia and gives general satisfaction. A Good System. The system of three-bowl pairs would bo a step in the right direction. There have been sevoral isolated attempts to establish this way of playing, and in experience worked out well, but continuance was discouraged on tho grounds that it was not the fashion and was not in keoping with the requirements of games os played in the big tournaments with the full ii'imbcr of bowls in use. . The annual inter-club match between tho two old-established and largo membership clubs, Auckland and Remuera, took place on Saturday, when an unusually large number of players took part. Games of this sort at the end of tho season are invested with a greater interest than if played during the height of tho season. On this occasion Remuera showed a docided superiority over tho parent club and won on the grand total .of points by a margin of 75, and took 11£ out of tho 19 games. At Remuera, where the majority of tho games wero played, only four Auckland rinks won. The club's president, T. Proctor, romped homo against 0. Osmond The Auckland singles champion, Russell, also had an easy win over Woolley, Auckland, while S. Kissling had almost a two to ono margin of points over Brackebusb. Dr. Moir experienced a bad time at the hands of Coe, Remuera. Bailey and Bray had an oven game, with tho Remuera player ft. few up at the finish. Davidson. Auckland, still in good form, decisively beat Young, the Remuera Club's runnorup for the singles championship Play at Auckland. On the Auckland green Muston continued his winning way and won from Long, Remuera, Both Steele, Auckland, and Macfarlane ha'vo figured prominently in tournaments this season, and fought out a hard drawn game. The Remuera new members, Hosking and Mingins, brought home victories for their club. The' former had a very big win over Walker. On account of the change of the dale of the annual meeting of J.U& Dominion Council it becomes necessary for the past season's delegates to tho various centres to meet again for tho purpose of nominating tho officers and members of the coun- • oil, who will go forward for election. Local delegates will meet on April 30 for this purpose. A prominent member,of the Avondale Club, Mr. J Brookes, has been transferred to Birkenjiead, and he was recently given a farewell and presentation by tho members of the club.