Beginners Guide to Bowls

Bowls truly is the sport for all - all ages, all sexes and all abilities.

It is a game that takes just seconds to learn - and the rest of your bowling career to master.

With more than 2,500 clubs across England, there's bound to be one near to you.

And bowls is a relatively cheap game compared to other sports, whether you choose to join a club or 'pay and play' at your local park.

You will find below a basic introduction to the sport, but for more information contact your nearest club.

Bowls basics

Like many games, the object of bowls is essentially simple. It can be played by anyone, but to play consistently well demands determination, concentration and practice.

The game is played on a square of closely cut grass called 'the green', which is divided into playing areas called rinks.

The green is surrounded by a small ditch to catch bowls which leave the green, and a bank upon which markers indicate the corners and centrelines of each rink.

Players take turns to deliver their bowls from a mat at one end of the rink towards a small white ball called the jack at the other end. The bowls are shaped so that they take a curved path towards the jack. To be successful the bowl must be delivered with the correct weight, along the correct line.

The object is to get one or more of your bowls closer to the jack than those of your opponents on each end - one point is scored for each counting bowl.

There are many different formats to the game, but the most common in England are singles or in teams of pairs, triples or fours. In singles, the winner is the first to score 21 points. In the other three formats, the winner is the team that scores the most points over a set number of ends.