Lawn Bowls Delivery: Stance, Swing and Common Faults

Is there a right and wrong way to deliver a bowl? Absolutely not – there are as many fine lawn bowls delivery styles as there are good bowlers. But there are some helpful pointers which can help any bowler, novice or experienced, develop a delivery that produces good results consistently.

Stance: stand and deliver, or step forward and roll?

There is no ‘golden rule’ about what stance a new bowler should adopt. Stability is key, and your coach will be able to advise on your stance. The feet may be side by side as you stand and deliver, or in the ‘shooter’ or stepped position, and the bowler may (or may not) take a step forwards as the delivery arm begins the rearward pendulum swing. The essential check to make is that there is balance throughout the delivery action.

The four stages of a lawn bowls delivery

After considering the shot options available and/or taking note of what the skip is suggesting, some bowlers use a static stance: they position themselves on the mat and then wait. Others use a fluid motion with four linked stages:

Walking onto the mat, down the delivery line
The pendulum backswing
The pendulum forward swing
The follow-through, with one or more steps off the mat and down the green

Follow-through

Follow-through is an essential part of delivery in all ball sports. It doesn’t matter if you are a cricketer, tennis player, golfer, footballer or bowler (tenpin or lawn!): completing the action through the line of travel of the ball or bowl will help achieve accuracy.

A smooth release: the perfect landing

Smooth transfer of the bowl from hand to green is a good thing, giving maximum control over direction and bias balance.

Think of an aircraft’s wheels at the moment of touchdown. A less than perfect landing results in clouds of rubber smoke as the tyres slide and bounce on the tarmac. The perfect landing is smoke-free, and that’s the ideal visualisation for a bowls delivery as the bowl makes contact with the grass or carpet. Flexing the knees to lower the body and get the delivery hand closer to the ground is good practice.

How high should you release the bowl?

On outdoor greens, dropping the bowl from waist-high onto the green is frowned on because of the damage (divots) it causes to the lawn. Indoors, although a high release is not regarded as good practice, many older bowlers with back and knee injuries successfully deliver their bowls from knee height or even higher, with surprising accuracy onto the jack.

If bending is difficult, a bowling arm or other approved bowling aid can help you keep playing.

A lawn bowls delivery in pictures: 5 good points and 3 faults

The pictures above illustrate some good, and bad, pointers to achieving a successful delivery.

What’s good

1. The body position is low. As a result the bowl will not ‘bounce’.
2. The stride is long, so there is ample forward momentum producing energy. But see ‘What’s wrong’ below.
3. The trailing foot is ‘on or over the mat’, so the delivery is legal.
4. The left hand is anchored on the left knee. As a result the delivery platform has stability.
5. The left shoulder, hips, eyes and delivery hand are aligned to the delivery line, increasing the likelihood of the bowl starting out on the right path.

What’s wrong

1. The fingers of the delivery hand are splayed sideways; they should be pointing directly downwards. As 2. a result the bowl will start its trajectory at a cant, defeating the natural kick-in point of the bias.
3. The stride may be too long if it’s longer than the natural walking step of the bowler, and especially if its purpose is to achieve length on a longer jack. The sole technique needed to adjust delivery length is the speed of the ‘grandfather clock’ arm pendulum. Faster = longer length, slower = shorter length.
4. The leading foot is pointing in a completely different direction to the delivery line, so the body is fighting with itself about which line the delivery should take. It should be aligned to the aiming point.
5. The body is attempting to move in at least five different directions at once (see the red lines), so once again the energy that could be focused along the delivery line is being undermined.

When does a delivery start?

When should a skip tell a bowler what shot to attempt? Logically, that’s when the bowler is ready to start their delivery… but when exactly is that?

A bowler who uses a static stance will position themselves on the mat and then wait for instructions. But for the bowler whose delivery is one fluid motion, the skip needs to give instructions BEFORE the bowler begins the delivery, which means before they step onto the mat.

Why? Well, the main reason is to allow you to walk onto the mat *along the line you will bowl*. These extra precious seconds increase the time your brain has to set up the physical actions required to achieve that line, including recalling muscel memory from previous deliveries and accounting for the learned behaviour of that particular rink in that particular light on that particular day in those particular weather conditions.

Practise with a purpose

Finally, whether novice bowler or national champion, a bowler cannot do better than remember golfer Gary Player’s comment: “The more I practice, the luckier I get!” For a practice routine that makes you change length on every bowl, try our Double Bubble bowls practice drill. And if you’d like a qualified coach to look at your lawn bowls delivery, or to check your bowls are the right size for your grip, call us on 020 8362 1780 or visit our Enfield shop.

This post was first published on 27 November 2017. Last updated 1 October 2026.