Lawn bowls words · Beginner
The words you will hear in your first match, grouped the way you meet them.
B · Beginner · 31 words · Step 1 of 2Basic setup terms
Green
The playing area, rectangular or square, 31 to 40 m long in the direction of play, with a level surface of vegetation or a synthetic surface approved by a Member National Authority. It is surrounded by a ditch and a bank and divided into rinks.
Rink
The section of the green on which a game is played, one game at a time. A rink is 4.3 to 5.8 m wide outdoors and 4.6 to 5.8 m indoors. Rinks are numbered, with the centre of each marked on the bank at both ends and the four corners marked by boundary pegs.
See also: Green
Bowl
The ball that is delivered. It is made of an approved material (plastic resin or wood) with one more rounded, biased side, weighs up to 1.59 kg and is 112 to 131 mm across if resin or rubber (112 to 134 mm if wood). It carries a World Bowls Stamp. Four bowls of the same make, size, weight, colour, bias and serial number make a set.
See also: World Bowls Stamp, Bias
Jack
The small white or yellow solid sphere that is the target. On outdoor non-synthetic greens it is 63 to 64 mm across and weighs 225 to 285 g; on synthetic and indoor greens it is 63 to 67 mm across and weighs 382 to 453 g.
End
Delivery of the jack, delivery of all the bowls that all the opponents must play in the same direction on a rink, and deciding the number of shots scored. Ends are played in turn from opposite directions. A tied end counts as completed; a dead end does not.
Front ditch and rear ditch
The front ditch is the end ditch directly in front of a player standing on the mat; the rear ditch is the one directly behind. Distances such as 2 m and 25 m are measured from these.
See also: Ditch
Scoring terms
Shot
A shot is a bowl that is nearer to the jack than the nearest bowl of the opposing team or player. Each such bowl scores one shot, so only one side scores in an end. Measuring is from the nearest points of the jack and the bowl.
Also called: point
See also: Jack
Shot bowl
A bowl that is nearer to the jack than any bowl of the opposition. The shot bowls are agreed after the last bowl of the end has come to rest, and are counted as shots. The marker may signal them with shot indicators when the Controlling Body allows.
Toucher
A bowl that touches the jack while in its original course. It is a live bowl even if it comes to rest in the ditch within the rink's boundaries, and it is marked with chalk, or in the ditch with an indicator. A bowl that does not touch the jack in its original course is a non-toucher. A bowl at rest that falls and touches the jack before the next bowl is delivered also becomes a toucher.
Playing terms
Delivery
Deliberately releasing the jack or a bowl from the hand, or from an artificial device, using an underarm movement. If it slips accidentally the player may pick it up and start again.
Bias
The curved path a bowl travels from delivery to rest. The shape of the bowl gives it its bias, and the more rounded side, marked with small grooved rings around the centre, is the bias side. Every bowl must have a bias no less than that of a Working Reference Bowl.
See also: Bowl
Draw shot
A delivery with just enough weight to bring the bowl to rest near the jack, following its bias. The Laws do not define it.
Drive
A fast, forceful delivery meant to knock the jack or a bowl out of the head. The Laws do not define it.
Yard on
A delivery with a little more weight than a draw, enough to carry the bowl roughly a yard past the jack if nothing is in the way, or to move bowls gently. The Laws do not define it.
See also: Jack
Ditch
The trench around the green, 200 to 380 mm wide and 50 to 200 mm deep, with a holding surface that will not damage the jack or bowls, and a bank against its outer edge. A toucher in the ditch is still live; a non-toucher that comes to rest there is dead. A jack moved by a bowl into the front ditch within the rink's side boundaries is live.
Rules of play
Foot-fault
A delivery where the player does not keep all or part of one foot on the mat before delivery and on or above it at the moment of delivery. A wheelchair bowler needs one wheel on the mat before delivery, and on or above it at the moment of delivery. The umpire warns the first time; after that the bowl is stopped and declared dead.
Dead and live balls
Dead bowl
A bowl taken out of play and removed from the rink. It is dead if it is not a toucher and rests in the ditch or rebounds off the bank face; if it rests less than 14 m from the mat line; if it leaves the rink after being moved by play; or if in its original course it comes to rest outside a side boundary.
See also: Rink, Bowl, Bank, Side boundary, Mat line
Dead jack
A jack moved by a bowl in play is dead if it passes completely outside the rink, rests in a hollow in the bank face, or comes to rest less than 20 m from the mat line. The end is then a dead end, unless the Controlling Body chooses to re-spot the jack and play on.
Non-toucher
A bowl that did not touch the jack in its original course. If it comes to rest in the ditch it is dead.
See also: Bowl, Jack, Ditch, Original course
Match formats
Singles
A game between two opposing players, each playing two, three or four bowls in turn as the Controlling Body decides. At WB world events and international events Singles is played to 21 shots with four bowls each, or as sets play.
See also: Sets play, Controlling Body
Pairs
A game between two teams of two players, in the positions lead and skip. Each player plays two, three or four bowls in turn as the Controlling Body decides. At WB world events and international events it is played over 18 ends, or as sets play.
See also: Skip, Lead, Sets play, Controlling Body
Skip
The player in charge of the team, who plays last in the order of play. The skip has sole charge of the team, decides disputed points with the opposing skip, keeps the score card, and may delegate powers and most duties to teammates if the opposing skip is told.
See also: Order of play, Score card
Triples
A game between two teams of three players: lead, second and skip. Each plays two or three bowls. At WB world and international events it is 18 ends with two bowls each, 15 ends with three bowls each, or sets play.
Fours
A game between two teams of four players: lead, second, third and skip. Each plays two bowls. At WB world and international events it is 18 ends, or sets play.
Lead
The first player of a team in the order of play. The lead of the team playing first in an end places the mat and delivers the jack, centring it before the first bowl.
See also: Bowl, Jack, Order of play
Second
The player between lead and skip in a Triples team, and between lead and third in a Fours team.
Officials and administration
Marker
The official on a rink without an umpire who sets and checks the jack, marks touchers, answers questions about the head, measures disputed shots when asked and records the score. If the players dispute the marker's decision, the marker calls an umpire.
Umpire
The official appointed by or for the Controlling Body. The umpire checks bowls and the rink before play, measures disputed shots, decides whether the mat line, jack or a bowl is in line with the Laws or in play, and has the final say except on the meaning of a law, which can be appealed.
See also: Rink, Bowl, Jack, Mat line, Controlling Body