There’s nothing better than rolling your bowl down the rink smoothly, time after time. But sometimes they wobble a little, sometimes they bounce. It happens to us all, but most of all you want to avoid bowling a pineapple.
What is a pineapple in lawn bowls? A pineapple is when you roll your bowl down the green and not only does it wobble but it jumps and skips up the green end over end. How does this happen? A pinepple occurs in bowls when the bowl is not placed down on the running surface smoothly and travels up the green on the wrong part of the bowl.
The problem is that there is no contyrol as to where the bowl will head. In fact pineapples usually end up going off the side of the rink half-way up the green once they finally get to the running surface. And unfortunately they stand out, with everybody seemingly noticing them go up the green.
Want to avoid that embarrassment?
Table of Contents
How can you avoid bowling a pineapple?
Nobody wants other players looking at them and shaking their heads, and whilst no-one bowls a pineapple on purpose, it’s not a great feeling. So what can you do to avoid that scenario?
- When you pick up the bowl before delivering, check the bias – this should be second nature.
- Then make sure you place the bowl in your hand correctly. Ideally your middle finger should line up straight up the middle of the running surface. If your middle fingle is at an angle then you will not put it down on it’s running surface correctly.
- As you advance to the mat to take up your stance, make sure that you haven’t moved the bowl in your hand.
- Stand up on the mat ready to bowl, but before you do, make sure that you are comfortable with the position of your feet, and that your hand is holding the bowl so that it can be released on the running surface.
- As you deliver the bowl, ensure you don’t brush your leg as you swing your arm forward – this may well cause you to release the bowl at a funny angle.
Adopting this approach on each and every bowl should at least make sure that the bowl is released smoothly, even if it wobbles a little upon release.
If you find yourself bowling pineapples more than once in a blue moon, you may want to check that the size of the bowl you are using is not too big. This may be a cause, and so try playing with a size smaller for a couple of games will help you decide if that helps.
What happens after you bowl a pineapple?
If one of your bowls goes down and hops and skips and wobbles up the green, the main thing is to not let it affect your next delivery. Or the one after, or the one after that. In other words, try your best to put it out of your mind quickly, and relax. If you worry about it, then there’s a good chance that it will affect your play for the remainder of the game.
Ensure you slow down and double check each bowl before delivery to ensure it’s sitting right in your hand, and then go through your pre-delivery routine.
Conclusion – what is a pineapple?
As we’ve seen a pineapple is a bowl that bounces ands jumps as it is released. It’s not something ever done on purpose, so if one of your team puts one up go easy on them, it may be playing on their mind. The main thing is that you don’t allow another one to be bowled, and that you re;lax into the remainder f your game.