Wednesday 10 August 2016

Bowls Woods Trending Smaller.

Playing Bowls is one of the best activities you can be involved with.
It's relaxing but exciting, it is a social activity where you play with lots of old friends and new friends alike. It keeps you fit! Some may smile but after twenty one ends of bowls, your muscles know it.
You have your kit, you play reasonably well, you are in a league and you even play inter club friendlies. And those that enter into more competitive games, travelling the country and beyond.

Everyone chooses their woods in different ways. Black, coloured, design and make all go to making that decision of which wood to purchase. Then it comes to size, mmm what size is best for me everyone asks. And there is plenty of advice from all directions.

This is one method of testing what size wood is the best size.
Hold a wood in one hand, then with the other hand, touch your two thumbs together and your first finger which creates a circle around the wood. When you comfortably just touch fingers and thumbs, then that is your size of wood.

Another way of testing the size, is to hold up your wood in your bowling hand, hold it with a good grip all around the wood, then turn your hand upside down. If the wood drops, then the wood is too big for you. Repeat this exercise until the wood remains comfortably in your hand.

And then, you can just do what i do, which is to hold the wood in your bowling hand and weigh it up, turn it around, how does the wood feel to you? Does it feel too heavy, too big or does something not feel right to you?
Try as many woods as you can until one of them just feels good, weight seems ok, size is comfortable. Then off to the green or rink you go. Try them and give it some time to see how you bowl with them. You might change them for the last set you tried. Decide and go for it, enjoy.

I have only been playing for four years so i am quite new to the game, but i like it.
I buy and sell bowls for a hobby to keep me busy and give me an interest.
(see www.bowlsforsale.com)  Whilst doing this it seems to me that a lot of players are "downsizing" their woods.
Some of these players are getting older and their grip is not as strong, some players have tried a smaller wood and like the feel of them. Others are finding some other reason to change their woods and are choosing the smaller wood. This to me comes under a new "trend". It will be interesting how sizes change over the next few years.

There have been a few changes to the game of bowls over the last few years, including ladies mixed games, dress code, coloured woods and a few rules. The book of bowls says that you should bowl with the heaviest wood you can comfortably hold and bowl with. But will this new trend continue and change the future game of bowls?

Time will tell!

No comments:

Post a Comment