Lawn Bowling @ The Wanderers Club

Yesterday was Memorial Day in the USA, the unofficial start of summer.

I'm confused. Are you sure it's not the start of summer in Africa too? The weather sure makes it feel like it. And today we learned how to play what is considered a very "summer game" in the Northern Hemisphere - Lawn Bowling.

10th Avenue Freeze-Out team @ the Asbury Park Bocce Tournament

I am not a total lawn bowling or boules game rookie. I've played Bocce on the gravel in Cinque Terre, Italy and competed in the cut-throat Asbury Park Bocce Tournament in NJ. And I've played Petanque on the hard sand of the Camargue in Provence, France.

But Lawn Bowling, as I was about to find out, is an entirely different animal.





 


South Africa has a long standing Lawn Bowling tradition. A kissing cousin to (Italian) Bocce and (French) Petanque, the game we played today was (English) Lawn Bowling. It began in the 13th century in Scotland, making The Wanderers Club in Illovo a perfect setting to indulge in this very English sport in Africa. The Wanderers Club is an institution in Johannesburg.

According to its website, "The Wanderers Club began in Johannesburg in 1888 and its fortunes rose and fell with those of the Golden City. The story of the sportsmen who created and preserved it through many misfortunes is a story of wars and revolutions, strikes and fires, bullets and explosions. The men who found their recreation on its fields and broke sporting records were often played in a wider drama, much of which actually took place on the famous grounds.

The history of the Wanderers Club is bound up with the history of the Transvaal and has for decades been a beacon in the international sporting world. Its story is a human drama of great personalities who were as much pioneers of South Africa as enthusiastic sportsmen." Wow!

Wimbledon wear

Dress code was "festive. White/beige/tan and sun hats." And our hostess made sure there was bubbly on hand making it very festive indeed!

ready to play!

After a little introduction to the history of the game, we started off with instructions on how to play. Each team gets four balls. We had two players per team so we each played two balls per round. A round of play is called an "end" in Lawn Bowling.

the proper way to hold the ball

The balls in Lawn Bowling are weighted off-center which means you can bowl forehand or backhand depending on which way you want the ball to break.

What does that mean exactly? Well, if you are right-handed as I am and you face the small circle side of the ball towards your body, it is considered a forehand and as it rolls, the ball will break to the left at the end.

If you face the large circle side of the ball in towards your body, it plays like a backhand and will break to the right as it rolls. This is very different from Bocce and Petanque which is played with unweighted balls. No breaking unless you give the ball some spin yourself.

We then had a little lesson on scoring which at least is similar to Bocce and Petanque. To start an end, one team member throws out a small white unweighted ball called the jack. Once the jack comes to rest, it is moved to the center of the playing rink. Next the same team member throws out one of her lawn balls trying to place it as close to the jack as she can. The teams alternate until all the balls have been thrown.

Whichever team gets a ball closest to the jack wins that end and is given one point for every ball that is closer to the jack than the opposing team's closest ball. There is a possible 21 ends that can be played in a game but you can also play to 21 points.

bowling green and gutter

Another difference between Lawn Bowling and Bocce is the rink. Bocce is played on pea gravel in a rectangular rink with hard sides which contains the balls during play (and can be used to ricochet off of like pool.) We bowled on an open lawn which meant our balls could roll "out." (Petanque can be played on either an open or a closed field.)

There was also a gutter around the entire bowling green at The Wanderers and if your jack goes into the gutter, the end is over. Dead end as it were.

The bowling green is maintained like a thick short pile carpet and it is very important to wear proper shoes that will not cause holes or divots.

Or you can do what I did and play barefoot! Any sport in which you can play barefoot is my kind of game.

You pitch off of a mat and you have to keep your left foot (if you are right-handed) on the mat until after you release the ball.

I admit that I never really got the hang of it. The whole weighted ball thing really threw me off. This was my best shot where my ball actually "kissed" the jack and landed alongside it winning our team one lonely point. It was an aberration though.


 



We learned a little strategy too. Just like Bocce and Petanque, there is something called the "missile move" where you use your ball as a projectile in order to blast the jack and the opposing team's closest balls out of the way and remove their advantage. Our team never attempted that advanced move. We were playing a much more friendly game.

Put her here!

You are allowed to stand in the end zone and prompt your team mate from across the field with strategies or even to act as a bigger aiming target if the jack is hidden in a crowd of thrown balls.

photo by Marguerite Slavik

Lawn Bowling is fun and I can see how it can become addictive, especially after you master the whole weighted ball aspect. In any event, it was a truly pleasant way to spend a summer's - or even a winter's - day in South Africa.