Lawn Bowls - a short guide to buying bowls. : eBay Guides

BOWLS - A SHORT GUIDE TO BUYING BOWLS

I  PLAY INDOOR, SHORTMAT AND LAWN BOWLS, I ALSO COACH BOWLS, UMPIRE BOWLS AND SELL BOWLS, SO I THINK I KNOW A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE SUBJECT AND HOPE THE FOLLOWING ADVICE MAY HELP NEWCOMERS TO CHOOSE A SUITABLE SET OF BOWLS.

If you are just starting to play bowls I suggest you do not rush out and buy a brand new set of bowls costing around £120 without even trying them out. First throw a few ends with different makes and sizes of bowls borrowed from friends or club colleagues in order to find out what sort of bowl you are most comfortable with. In doing so the following paragraphs are worth noting. 

SIZE

You will need to decide the size of bowl that best suits your own hand. As a rough guide, the average size for men is 4, while for women size 2 or 3 is most common. A quick way of determining your "correct" size is to try spanning the running surface of a bowl with both hands. If with your thumbs touching, your middle fingers are just touching, the bowl is a correct fit. If there is a gap the bowl is probably too big and you need to try a smaller size. If your middle fingers overlap the bowl is too small and you are better using a larger size. Please bear in mind this procedure is only intended as a rough "rule of thumb" and the correct bowl is one which is comfortable for you to hold and deliver, without putting any undue strain on either your fingers or wrist. I generally advocate using the claw grip, which requires you to hold the bowl with your fingers, rather than the cradle grip where you hold the bowl in your palm. If you prefer cradle grip you could probably use one size bigger than if you use claw grip. However it is for each individual to determine what grip suits him/her best and what size bowl feels comfortable in the hand.

GRIP

 I generally advise the use of a gripped bowl on grass surfaces, as this aids delivery in cold or wet conditions.  Various types of dimpled grips exist, according to the manufacturer and make of bowl, so try out a few to find what is most comfortable. Some examples of different grips are deep dimples, shallow dimples, dimples with pimples, vertical grooves and crescent grooves. Remember the grip is neither aesthetic or cosmetic, it is intended to improve your grip on the bowl, so it is a matter of trying them out to find your personal favourite.  The type of grip really is just a matter of personal preference and indeed some players prefer to use a plain bowl, especially on indoor carpets.  

WEIGHT

The next consideration is weight (ie medium, medium heavy, heavy or extra heavy). If you look at seria number on bowl it will begin with M or H, indicating if it is medium or heavy. I generally recommend medium weight for grass and heavy weight for indoors, but again this is an individual choice, not a tablet of stone! However, if you need to use a very small bowl (eg size 0 or 1) it is probably advisable to choose a heavy bowl in that size, as it will tend to hold its line on the green better than a lighter medium bowl. When it comes to indoor bowls I do think it is a little easier to make the necessary small adjustments to your delivery length on the much faster indoor carpets if you use a heavy weight bowl. Remember the extra weight involved is quite small and it is much easier to deliver a heavy weight bowl on carpet than on grass. Again the final decision is yours but in my experience the vast majority of players choose a heavy weight bowl for indoor bowling and a medium weight bowl for outdoor bowling. 

COLOUR

Black is still by far the most predominant colour, followed by brown, and of course most importantly they are also the cheapest. Coloured bowls (eg blue, red, green, speckled, etc) are becoming more popular nowadays but new price is usually about £35 more expensive and they will perform no better, so unless you like your bowls to stand out from the crowd, my advice is to start off with a standard black (or brown) bowl. Many more players now use coloured bowls indoors, rather fewer use them outdoors on grass, as they do tend to show up scratches from use on grass surfaces which will usually contain small particles of grit, sand and fertilizer.

COST

Your first purchase should normally be a used bowl, which is still in pretty good condition, with only some minor scratches but no serious scrapes or gouges and still reasonably new, by that I mean not more than 15 years old. This bowl will perform just as well as a brand new bowl, but will cost you much less, perhaps half the price of a new one, and should you subsequently decide to change a year or two later, it will only have lost a fraction of its cost.    Do remember that a nearly new set of bowls will easily last you 10 years, so it is much better to buy wisely than to buy economically. Indeed penny wise & pound foolish is a good maxim when buying a set of bowls. They will give you much pleasure over a long time and are an excellent investment, bearing in mind that a used bowl costing £75 will still be worth around £50 some 5 years later so it is really only costing you about £5 per annum!

AGE

You can determine the age of a bowl by examining the oval / rectangular stamp on the side of the bowl. This is a 10 year maufacturers guarantee stamp, so if the year shown on the bowl is for example 09 it was actually manufactured in 1999. However, do remember that it may not have been used for some years after that, as it may have been lying in a store or shop for some time before its sale. My advice is don't buy a bowl with a stamp older than 00, unless of course it has not seen much use and is in much better condition than its age would suggest. A World Bowls (WBB )stamp is slightly more preferable than a British Isles (BIBC) stamp, as some major competitions will insist on this particular stamp. However, as a newcomer to the sport, this is of much less significance than the general condition of the bowl itself because it is only relevant if you reach the heights and compete in national competitions..

MAKE

The actual make of bowl is not that important, as all manufacturers  (ie Henselite, Taylor, Almark, Drakes Pride, Greenmaster and Cotswold) produce good quality bowls, which must conform to the standards laid down in World Bowls Regulations. New Henselite bowls tends to be a bit more expensive than the others, but this price difference is much less marked when buying older second hand bowls. Pay more regard to the actual brand name / title of the bowl.                                                   The following list indicates in descending order the width of draw for the main manufacturers. ie Henselite - Classic, Tiger, TigerII, ClassicII, Dreamline;   Taylor - Lignoid, Legacy, International, Ace, Vector, Lazer; Almark - Sterling Gold, Sterling Slimline, Sterling King, CrusaderII;  Drakes Pride - Professional Plus, Jazz, Professional, Advantage.    I have listed the brand names shown above in order to give some indication of the type of drawing line that particular bowl will take (ie wide, medium, narrow) and whether it is intended for use on indoor stadium or shortmat carpets or outdoors on grass.  Bowls, with only a very few exceptions, are generally designed either for indoor or outdoor use. An indoor bowl is designed to have a much narrower bias than an outdoor bowl. An outdoor bowl has usually much too wide a swing for use indoors and is too difficult to control consistently if you really want to be competitive, so unless you are a masochist use a set of bowls made for the purpose. When I say indoor bowls I am referring to stadium bowls, not shortmat bowls. There are few bowls manufactured specifically for shortmat bowls, although Stevens (previously associated with crown green bowls) have recently entered this market with an attractive range of coloured bowls. Generally speaking most outdoor bowls are also suitable for use on shortmat carpets, but the wider swinging bowls are especially favoured. The first two named bowls in each list of manufacturers bowls would therefore be intended for outdoor use and latter two named for indoor use. If you require advice on the actual draw line of any particular bowl please ask and I will be only too pleased to help. If the bowl has a logo in the centre it is generally worth more than a bowl with a plain centre. Nowadays all new bowls have to bear a logo.

SUMMARY

         
There are now well over 30 different bowls available in UK, in 8 sizes (00 - 6), in 4 weights ( medium, medium heavy, heavy, extra heavy), and at least 6 different types of grips, or plain. A buyer certainly has a wide range to select from and such a choice can often be rather confusing to a beginner or novice. However bowlers are generally a friendly bunch and only too ready to help newcomers to the club choose a satisfactory set of bowls, so please don't be shy of asking for their advice. As a beginner you would be best advised to start with a narrow to medium drawing bowl, as you will probably be asked to play at the front end of a rink, where your primary task is to place your bowl as close to the jack as possible. A wide drawing bowl is usually only an advantage for back end players, who often have to draw around a pile of short bowls to get to the jack.
 If you require further independent advice on any bowls matter please ask. It is all part of the service which I offer free of charge and of course you are under no obligation to buy from me. I usually have about 60 sets of bowls in my store but obviously they are not all listed on ebay. Do not hesitate to ask any seller for additional information if it is not clear from the description or pictures or if you are in any doubt. The seller should include the make, model, year, size, weight and condition of the bowls in the item description / photo. In my experience the vast majority of ebay sellers are honest, helpful and value their reputation, so you should have no concerns about buying bowls on ebay. My eBay shop EX- SPORT UK is just one of the many choices available to you but it is certainly worth a look. Thank you for your attention and I do hope you have found this guide helpful. Good luck with your purchase and regardless of your level of ability, enjoy your bowls. When you get your bowls do try to polish them at least weekly with a proprietory bowls product (eg Multigrip, Grippo, Crackajack, etc) as it will certainly improve your grip on the bowl and also help to preserve the running surface of your bowl in the longer term, thus increasing their resale or trade in value should you ever decide to change to a different or newer model.  Finally, do take the time to read my Sportsmans Prayer, it's what I think playing sport is all about.

                                                                    Morris (EX-SPORT UK)