INTRODUCTION
Short mat bowls is great fun to play and players get a lot of enjoyment from the game. If all you want is a nice social gathering with friends and a cup of tea and a biscuit at half time, a short mat bowls club is an ideal place to be. But many people feel their enjoyment would be enhanced if they could just improve their skills a little. This section of the website sets out to give you some ideas on aspects of technique and tactics that might help you.
The Skills Development section is divided into 3 sub-sections:
Technique
There is no right way or wrong way to play short mat bowls. The best way is the way that works for you. You can see many very successful bowlers at national and international level who don’t have the perfect grip, stance or delivery. But the quality they all share is consistency. Whatever they do, they do it the same each time. Any bowler can throw a good bowl occasionally. All they have to do is send it down the right line with the correct pace and the bowl will do the rest for them. Better bowlers are able to do that consistently. To give you some things to try that might help you throw good bowls more often, this sub-section covers the basics of;
| Grip |
How you hold the bowl |
| Stance |
How you stand |
| Delivery |
How you let go of the bowl |
After the bowl has left you, there is nothing more you can do to influence its finishing position (some people shout at the bowl but, trust me, that has no effect). Your job is to give each bowl the best start on its journey to the other end of the mat.
Tactics
On occasions, you will come off the mat having lost a game where you feel that you played better than your opposition. Of course, luck may have had an influence on the outcome but it could be that your tactics were wrong. This sub-section covers the following tactical considerations;
| General Tactics |
| Defensive Tactics |
| Attacking Tactics |
Shot Selection and Execution
One of the great joys of short mat bowling is the closely packed heads that occur. With many bowls clustered together around the jack, you will have a lot of choice of shot to improve, protect or change the position to your benefit. This sub-section describes the options open to you and the best way to play your selected shot.