Paul – Page 5 – Bowls Academy

You may have just started playing, or even seen some bowls on TV, and you have heard people talking about "draw the shot", but you are not sure precisely what that means. Let's me explain. The draw shot is the most basic shot in bowls, the bread and butter of all play. Quite simply, the draw shot is where you roll your bowl in an arc to end up as close as possible to the jack, ideally with perfect weight to finish adjacent to the jack. With the aim of the game is to finish as close to the jack as possible, a player who can draw well, with good weight on each bowl, is a much sought after player. A good draw bowler will often play lead, and set up the heads well for the remaining players in his or her team. I have heard of backhand and forehand draw. What is the difference? Imagine standing on the mat, looking straight ahead. A backhand draw would be one where you bowl across your body - for a right-handed player this would be with the bowl aiming to the left; for a left-handed player the bowl would be aiming to the right. A forehand draw is the opposite - it is bowling away from your body. So a right-handed player playing a forehand draw would be aiming to the right, and a left-handed player would be aiming to the left. Most players favour one or the other and will default to that side. However it is important to try and get as good as possible on both sides. You'll often hear people say don't become a one handed player. This is because you want to be able to swap to the other hand with confidence if your favoured side that you play is blocked with short bowls. Aren't all bowls shots draw shots? No, not all shots are draw shots. Sometimes it is necessary to play a very heavily weighted bowl to disturb the head. This is usually done when the head is packed with opposition bowls and you are several shots down. This is known as firing or driving and is a necessary part of the game. Drawing elsewhere on the rink - playing the positional bowl Quite often you will find that the skip asks the number two or three (in a rinks game) to put a positional bowl in. That is usually where you hold shots and the head is in your favour, so he would like a bowl (usually) behind the head in case the opposition team attack the head in an effort to knock the jack backwards. You may find that you are drawing to some opposition back bowls so that if the jack goes that way you don't lose too many shots. Alternatively you may be drawing to a particular position on the green that he feels the jack will go to if the head is hit. This is obviously a bit harder to play as there is no target other than where the skip is pointing or standing - try to find out how far behind the head he would like your positional bowl, especially if you have already drawn into the head. Positional bowls can be very important and win games for teams, so don't take these shots lightly - make sure you concentrate as much on these as if you were drawing to the jack. Can you get short positional bowls Yes, you can be asked by your skip to play a positional bowl that is short of the head, although that is rarer. The skip will ask you to do this if you are holding shots and they feel the opposition will play a certain way. If you can draw into their line it will make their shot very hard or even impossible. You may also be asked to put in a short bowl as near to the centre of the rink as possible (a blocker). This will negate a firing shot straight down the middle. Even a short wood that is ever so slightly off centre may force the opposition onto their weaker side. Do threes and skips have to draw? So with all this talk about attacking the head, the natural question is do the back end players, the three and skip, have to be able to play the draw shot? Quite simply, yes, this is still the most important shot that they can play, but they also need to be confident to play weighted woods too. A three or skip can also draw when shots down to try and limit the number of shots against, or even draw the shot. There's nothing so heartbreaking to be holding four, five or more shots and the opposition skip draw the shot with the last bowl. Alternatively you may be holding several shots and the skip draws to add another. You may be way behind but one big end can help propel you back into the game and start that recovery to put yourself into a potentially winning position. And again, the three and skip will often play a drawing bowl into a positional position. What is a reaching draw? A reaching draw is where the bowl is played with a normal arc, but with enough weight to disturb the head a little. If asked to play this shot then try to imagine a position a couple of yards through the head but to one side, where the arc of the bowl with travel through the head. If you are learning this shot it may be beneficial for the skip to stand with his foot in that spot as if you ere drawing through the head, as a visual aid.