From the outside, lawn bowls can look like a simple game. All you have to do is roll the bowl in a straight line towards the jack, at the right pace. Right?
Well, not exactly. Unlike a ten-pin bowling ball, a lawn bowl doesn't travel in a straight line, and that's entirely by design. It's built to curve. Here's what's actually going on, and how to use it.
What bias means in lawn bowls
Bias is the built-in tendency of a bowl to curve to one side as it travels down the green. It isn't a fault or a quirk of the surface. It's engineered in, it's regulated, and it's the reason bowls is a game of angles rather than a game of straight lines.
Why bowls curve: it's not hidden weight
Here's the bit most people get wrong, including plenty who have played for years.
One side of the bowl is shaped with a slightly different curve to the other, so its running surface isn't symmetrical. That offsets the bowl's centre of gravity from its geometric centre. While the bowl is moving quickly, momentum keeps it running fairly true. As it slows, that asymmetry takes over, the bowl leans, and it curves towards the biased side.
There is no weight inside. Centuries ago, bowls genuinely were weighted on one side, but that's long been banned. Every modern bowl gets its bias purely from how it's shaped.
This also explains why the curve looks sudden. The bowl is curving at least slightly the whole way down the green. It's just too subtle to see until the pace drops off in the final stretch.
What changes how much a bowl curves?
The bias itself is fixed. Under the same conditions, the same bowl will do the same thing every time. What varies is everything around it.
- Delivery weight. Bowls run straighter when they're moving quickly and curve harder as they slow, which is why most of the visible turn happens at the end of the shot.
- Green speed. A slow, heavy outdoor green and a quick indoor rink will take the same bowl on noticeably different lines. Green speed is measured in seconds, and it changes with the weather, the cut, and the time of year.
- Length of the shot. A longer jack gives the bias more time to work, so the bowl swings wider. Short ends run straighter.
- The bowl itself. Bias strength varies from model to model, not just from brand to brand.
Forehand or backhand: the choice bias gives you
Because the bias sits on one side, every bowl can be delivered two ways. Turn it one way, and it swings in from the left; turn it the other, and it swings in from the right. Same bowl, same head, two completely different lines.
That's the practical payoff of understanding bias. If the forehand is blocked, the backhand is often wide open. Being genuinely comfortable on both hands is one of the clearest dividing lines between a decent club player and a good one.
How much bias does your bowl have?
Bias isn't left to the manufacturer's discretion. Every bowl is tested against a master bowl and must carry a stamp showing it meets the standard set by World Bowls.
Above that minimum, manufacturers design models to run wider or narrower. That's a real difference you can feel, and it's why the same player can find one set easy to control on their home green, and another set a handful.
If you're playing mostly on a quick surface, a narrower bowl gives you more margin. On a slow outdoor green, a wider bias can help you find the line. Henselite bowls run across a range of biases, as do Taylor and Drakes Pride. It's worth matching the model to the greens you actually play on, rather than to the badge on the side.
Four ways to get better at reading the bias
Learn which side the bias is on
Each bowl carries a disc on both sides, and one of them marks the bias. Get in the habit of checking before every delivery. Playing a bowl the wrong way round happens to everyone once, and only once.
Practise line and weight
Everything else follows from these two. Set a jack at a fixed length, deliver a dozen bowls on the forehand, then a dozen on the backhand, and watch where the line actually takes them rather than where you assumed it would.
Play the same set consistently
A lot of lawn bowls comes down to feel, and feel is just repetition you've stopped noticing. Play the same set on the same green for a season before you change anything. Most players who think they need different bowls need fifty more ends with the ones they've got.
Match the bias to your green
The bowls alone won't make you a great player. But the wrong bias for your green will make a good player work twice as hard, and there's no medal for that.
Not sure which bias suits your green?
Bring your current set in and tell us where you play. We'll talk you through what's likely to suit you, and you can handle a few different models before you decide.
Give us a call on 01245 443666, or drop in to our shop in Chelmsford or Eye, Suffolk.
