The sport of Bowls has many of it’s own phrases and words that you will hear frequently on and around the green.
Below is a list of common everyday terminology used by bowlers.
| Term | What it means in Bowls! |
|---|---|
| Action | If you hear the words "Great Action" it usually refers to a players body motion when rolling the bowl down the rink. The best players tend to have a smooth consistent action which ensures that the bowl always leaves their hand going in the direction they want with minimal wobble and very little drop to the rink as it leaves their hand. |
| Back Wood | A back wood describes any wood that is beyond the jack and still in play. |
| Best Back | The best back is the back wood that is the closest of all back woods to the back ditch for that end. |
| Backhand | Backhand is where a bowler delivers a bowl that starts is journey on the opposite side to their delivery hand relative to the centre line of the rink.. - A left handed person will deliver a backhand so that its journey will take it down the right hand side of the rink - A right handed person will deliver a backhand so that its journey will take it down the left hand side of the rink |
| Bias | The bias of a bowl describes the amount of curve that a bowl will take as it rolls down the rink. Bowls come with a variety of bias's with some bowls have a very wide curve and others with a very narrow curve. |
| Blocker | A blocker is a bowl that is short of the jack and is likely on the rolling line of bowls that remain to be played. Blockers are often deliberately attempted in order to block an opponent from hitting the jack or the bowl |
| Building the head | Building the head is where a player / players bowl their bowls to the jack or strategic areas around the jack to ensure that any movement of jack or bowls will result in either a positive result or minimise a negative result. |
| Cover Bowl | A cover bowl is one that matches the position of opponents bowls so that if the jack moves towards the opponents bowls the cover bowl will ensure that the score is minimised or may even become shot. |
| Dead End | A Dead end is most often one where the Jack has been moved outside the boundaries of the rink by a bowl in play. The Laws of Bowls book describes a couple of other reasons for an end being called dead. In normal competition dead ends must be replayed. |
| Delivery | You will often hear bowlers say "Great Delivery" when a bowl stops in perfect place at the head end of the rink. Delivery describes the totality of the action of the bowler and the end result of the bowl. |
| Draw | A "Draw" is an attempt to deliver a bowl to an exact area on the rink. A player may be told to draw to the jack, draw to another bowl, draw into the head or draw to a specific area to cover opponents bowls. |
| Drive | A Drive is where a player delivers the bowl with significant force toward the target end in order to remove opponents bowls or the jack. |
| End | An end is a section of play in a match where the players play their bowls from one end of the rink to the other. An end starts with placxing the mat and bowling the jack, through the bowling of all bowls in sequence to the decision process of who has won how many shots for that END. |
| Forehand | Forehand is where a bowler delivers a bowl that starts is journey on the sane side to their delivery hand relative to the centre line of the rink.. - A left handed person will deliver a forehand so that its journey will take it down the left hand side of the rink - A right handed person will deliver a forehand so that its journey will take it down the right hand side of the rink |
| Front Wood | A front wood describes any wood that is nearer to the delivery mat than the jack and is still in play. |
| Full length | Full length describes a position where the Jack is at or very near to the playing limits of the rink. |
| Head | The head is the collection of Jack and Bowls that have been bowled so far. As soon as the first legal bowl has been bowled the head is said to have been established |
| Heavy | A Heavy bowl is when a player delivers a bowl such that it will finish beyond the intended target. Bowlers often unintentioanlly bowl heavy however not always. A "heavy bowl" can be just enough to move the bowls in the head around a bit. If a heavy bowl is sent with very high force to move the head a lot this is normally referred to as a drive. |
| Jack | The Jack is the small ball that is used as the target in bowls. The jack is usually white but many clubs use yellow jacks. |
| Jack High / Jack Level | A bowl that is called "Jack High" is one where any part of it is level with the jack when looking horizontally across the rink. i.e Both Jack and Bowls are the same distance from the mat. Some players will use the term "Jack Level" instead. |
| Lead | A lead is a player in a Pairs, Triples or Fours (Rinks) team that will always bowls first for that team. When it is their teams turn to go first the Lead is responsible for setting the mat, bowling the jack and bowling their teams first bowl(s). |
| Length | Length is the distance from the mat to the intended target point on the rink. The words "Your Length is Good" mean that the Bowl has travelled the correct distance from the mat to an intended area on the rink. |
| Line | The line is the optimal route of the bowl along it's curved path to reach it's goal. Usually players are trying to achieve a line that brings the bowl back to the centre of the rink where the Jack starts but if the jack moves off centre then the line required to reach the jack will move with it. "Good Line" means that regardless of how far the bowl will travel it is liklely to finish in line with the intended target when viewed down the rink. |
| Long | A long bowl is one where it finishes it's journey beyond the jack or intended target. |
| Marker | A marker is an independent person who will officiate a singles match. The marker, on request, will provide feedback to the players on the mat who is holding shot, whether a bowl is out and will also clear any non touching bowls from the ditch. The marker will also measure the distance of competing bowls from the jack if this cannot be decided by the players. (Players can opt to do the measuring themselves for a match or in a situation where, even after the marker, has done the measure they remain unsure of the outcome. The marker will also complete the match card for each end. |
| Mat / Delivery Mat | The mat, sometimes refered to as the Delivery Mat, is a rubber mat that is placed on the centre line of the rink at a distance from the ditch desired by the player who is placing the mat. At the start of games you will often here the words "Who has got the mat?", this is asking which player / team will place the mat for the first end and this is usually decided by the toss of a coin. |
| Match Captain | In a match across several rinks there will usually be a nominated match captain. The matchj captain will work with the oppisition match captain to agree the rinks to be used and to decide which teams will play on each rink. Each match captain will decide which of their teams to play on each rink without knowing the other match captains rink choices and then they will share the information with each other thereby creating a set of random matches across the rinks. |
| Rink | A rink is a single playing section on a green. It's dimensions are fixed and any bowls or jack that finish outside of the rink limits are removed from play. Players are also required to ensure that during play they do not stray onto another rink. |
| Second | A Second is a player in a triples or rinks (fours) match who plays their bowls after the lead has finished their bowls. The second is normally responsible for supporting the Lead through drawing more bowls close to the jack. A skip might often ask a second to draw to different points on the rink to build the head. Second has another meaning in context of the head. See Second Bowl below |
| Second Bowl | Second bowl is the bowl that is currently the next closest bowl to the jack than the shot wood. You might often hear a skip or marker say "We have 3 seconds" that means that your team the opposition has the closest bowl but your team have 3 bowls closer to the jack than the oppositions next closest bowl. |
| Short | A short bowl is one where it is closer to the mat than the jack when viewed across the rink as a result of a bowler not giving sufficient force to their bowl. |
| Shot | The word Shot is used in many contexts by bowlers. Here are a few meanings - Shots - the number of points scored by each player/team during an end and overall through the match. - Shot Wood - Indicates the specific bowl that is closest to the jack - Holding Shot - Indicates the player who has their bowl(s) closest to the jack. - Drawn the Shot - A player has bowled a bowl that has finished closer to the jack than all other bowls on the rink. |
| Skip | The skip is the captain of a team on a specific rink. Their role is to guide their teammates to deliver bowls to specific points or areas on the rink to build a head. They will then play their own bowls last to either support their teams achievements so far or attempt to change a losing situation into a winning one. Players in a team are expected to follow the instructions of the Skip, who is usually one of the most experienced players on the rink, however skips are also expected to discuss options with their team mates when making decisions especially aspects such as a players preference to play preferred hand on which they like to bowl (Forehand / Back Hand) or observations by their players on strengths or weaknesses in the opposition. |
| Third | The Third is the third player to play in a fours (rinks) game. The third is normally responsible, with his corresponding opponent, for deciding the result of an end, i.e. who is lying the shot and how many shots have been scored. The skips however have the final say in this in the event of any dispute. |
| Toucher | A Toucher is a bowl that during its original course touches the jack and finishes within the boundaries of the rink. A toucher remains live even if it finishes in the ditch.To indicate a toucher the bowl is marked with chalk. |
| Umpire | An umpire may be used during matches or competitions to adjudicate on matters related to the laws of bowls including the number of shots (measuring if required) where a decision on a rink cannot be agreed by the playing parties. If an umpire hasn't been niominated for a match the players can agree to call on any person to act as umpire for a given situation. If an umpire has been agreed and is requested to adjudicate during a match then their decision is final and players or teams cannot request further adjudication. |
| Weight | Weight is a term used in bowls to describe the force applied to a bowl during delivery and it's eventual outcome. You might often hear the phrases - "Good Weight" meaning your bowl has stopped near to the length of the intended target, - "You need a little more weight" - Your bowl has reached the distance to the intended target - "Take some weight off" - Your last bowl went past the intended target and you need to bowl with less force next time |
