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Lawn Bowling - Curling on Grass, But Without the Sweeping
- By Robin Schiele -
If you're in Kelowna this summer, take a stroll down Abbott Street from Harvey Avenue (Hwy 97) towards the sails (the famous city landmark). Through the trees on your left, you will see a large square of velvet green grass, backed by a clubhouse prominently labeled "Kelowna Lawn Bowling Club."
Through the summer months (April to October, weather permitting) a keen group of players of all ages and types gathers there to play one of the oldest sports still actively played.
Like many sports, it is easy to learn but difficult to perfect. It follows principles very similar to curling - but without the sweeping, of course. The game may be played between two individuals (singles), or between teams of two (pairs), three (triples), or four.
The patch of grass, the "green," is actually 40 yards square, which is room enough for up to ten games at once. The green is surrounded on all sides by a ditch with levelled sand in it.
To play the game, first a small white ball, called a jack, is thrown down towards the far end of the green. It becomes the target for the players. The object of the game is to throw your bowls closer to the jack than your opponents. Where, in curling, the button is always in the same place in the center of the house, in lawn bowling the jack may be hit by a bowl and so move to a different part of the green.
A bowl, which looks spherical but is not, will curl to the left or right, depending on how you hold it as you throw it. The green should be perfectly smooth and level, but in spite of the rolling the green receives from the greens-keeper, and the Kelowna climate being what it is, Mother Nature usually dictates otherwise. That's part of the challenge of the game.
The measuring and scoring is just like curling. For each end, the team (or the player, if singles) with the closest bowl to the jack scores a point for every bowl closer than the opposition's closest bowl. A pre-agreed number of ends will comprise a complete game, most commonly 12 or 14 ends. One end may take about 10 minutes, so a complete game may be an hour and a half.
If you're new to the game, the club offers free training sessions for beginners, including the use of the equipment. You only have to bring a pair of soft, flat-soled shoes with no heel. Like the greens on a golf course, we try to take the greatest care of the lawn bowling green.
During the season, club members have tournaments among themselves and the club plays matches against other clubs in the Okanagan. Membership in the club gives you access not only to other clubs throughout the province, but through the country and even internationally.
Membership, at $150 a season ($100 for first time members) is modest indeed compared with, say, a golf club. For those curious to test the activity, beginner's classes start as soon as the green is ready for play - usually sometime in April. For inquiries, please call Mike Smith at 250-764-7170
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