The first new bowls gadget for 100 years?
A strange and wonderful new sentence has appeared in the yet-to-be-published Fourth Edition of the ‘The Laws of World Bowls’, law 23.3.
In case you haven’t got the Third Edition about your person as you read this (and if not, why not?), law 23.3 bans measuring in the head before the last bowl of an end has come to rest
But the Fourth Edition will clarify that using ‘devices comprising concentric circles within a transparent frame which are held approximately waist high’ during an end will not be deemed to be in breach of Law 23.3
This update is surely most odd. So what could have persuaded World Bowls to introduce this most closely described of exceptions the laws?
Well, it’s not What, but Who? Australian bowler Dave Goode has invented a device which exactly matches the Fourth Edition description. Called the Bowls Eye, it is a piece of clear perspex engraved with concentric circles, and when held above the jack at approximately waist height allows someone at the head to more easily distinguish which bowls are closer to the jack. It looks like this:
and here’s a video of it being used.
I can think of one particular circumstance in which this could be very useful. At a recent singles match a bowler with one bowl left to bowl asked the marker ‘What’s the situation?’
The marker, of course, is not allowed to measure. He had several choices, including, but not exhaustively – “It’s a measure” or “You’re holding”, or “You’re one down.”
“You’re holding”, he shouted back down the green. The bowler indicated that he would not bowl has last bowl. But on arriving at the head, his opponent asked for a measure, and won the match.
If the marker had had a Bowls Eye in his pocket, perhaps the outcome would have been different. But there is another Law, 42.2.7, which the Fourth Edition does not clarify. The marker, when asked, must “tell or show the player in possession of the rink which bowl or bowls the marker considers to be shot.”
But can a marker use a Bowls Eye? That is the question!
If you want to try Bowls Eye for yourself, please email sales@bushhillbowls.co.uk to place a back order. The ‘No measuring’ regulation imposed by Bowls England during the COVID-19 pandemic means we are sold out and waiting for the next shipment.
Jerry
Jack high or Waist high?
Product NewsThe first new bowls gadget for 100 years?
A strange and wonderful new sentence has appeared in the yet-to-be-published Fourth Edition of the ‘The Laws of World Bowls’, law 23.3.
In case you haven’t got the Third Edition about your person as you read this (and if not, why not?), law 23.3 bans measuring in the head before the last bowl of an end has come to rest
But the Fourth Edition will clarify that using ‘devices comprising concentric circles within a transparent frame which are held approximately waist high’ during an end will not be deemed to be in breach of Law 23.3
This update is surely most odd. So what could have persuaded World Bowls to introduce this most closely described of exceptions the laws?
Well, it’s not What, but Who? Australian bowler Dave Goode has invented a device which exactly matches the Fourth Edition description. Called the Bowls Eye, it is a piece of clear perspex engraved with concentric circles, and when held above the jack at approximately waist height allows someone at the head to more easily distinguish which bowls are closer to the jack. It looks like this:
and here’s a video of it being used.
I can think of one particular circumstance in which this could be very useful. At a recent singles match a bowler with one bowl left to bowl asked the marker ‘What’s the situation?’
The marker, of course, is not allowed to measure. He had several choices, including, but not exhaustively – “It’s a measure” or “You’re holding”, or “You’re one down.”
“You’re holding”, he shouted back down the green. The bowler indicated that he would not bowl has last bowl. But on arriving at the head, his opponent asked for a measure, and won the match.
If the marker had had a Bowls Eye in his pocket, perhaps the outcome would have been different. But there is another Law, 42.2.7, which the Fourth Edition does not clarify. The marker, when asked, must “tell or show the player in possession of the rink which bowl or bowls the marker considers to be shot.”
But can a marker use a Bowls Eye? That is the question!
If you want to try Bowls Eye for yourself, please email sales@bushhillbowls.co.uk to place a back order. The ‘No measuring’ regulation imposed by Bowls England during the COVID-19 pandemic means we are sold out and waiting for the next shipment.
Jerry
You’re eight shots ahead, your opponent is clearly demoralised. Yet within four ends they’ve caught up, are 17-16 ahead and get a four on the next end to win.
What happened?
What happened was that you empathised so much with their feelings of demoralisation that you eased up and let your empathy for their despair offer them the human gift of comfort.
In other words, you didn’t want to see them suffer.
Well, not all of you. The bowler in you still wanted to win the match. But the human being couldn’t bear the guilt of deliberately inflicting suffering on another human being.
Now imagine this: as the owner of an online bowls store, you see a competitor going out of business and running a closing down sale. He’s offering 20% off everything in his web store until all his stock is sold.
Yet you know that even after applying the 20%, customers would get a better deal if they bought the same gear from your web shop – which isn’t closing down! So do you go out there and press home Bush Hill Bowls’ advantage, flooding social media and your mailing lists with the facts of the matter?
Or does your humanity get the better of your business instinct, and you end up making your point in an obscure blog somewhere where no-one will read it?
If Turner had painted bowls …
Trade SecretsIs this the sky he might have painted?
A doting father was watching his daughter in a County match. She was bowling beautifully, her concentration was full-on and she was putting bowl after bowl on the jack.
One of the spectators asked the father: “She’s amazing: what size bowls does she bowl with – I thought she used bigger ones?”
“They’re a size 2 now”, said Dad “though at the start of the season, before all her competition rounds, they were a size 7!”
(This is a true eavesdropping. If you’ve got one to share from rinkside or bar, let us know: there’s a £10 shop voucher for every one we publish.)
Boost club funds
Trade SecretsNeed a new idea to boost club funds?
Why not add chalk sprays, measures and grip to your bar stock?
Although the bowls majors (Taylor, Aero, Henselite etc) won’t supply you directly if you don’t have a shop, they don’t mind if you buy from us and sell from behind your club bar.
We will supply you with what you need, and you’ll be able to add the profits to your club funds. Call Jerry on 07973 890368 for more details.
Drakes Pride CARPET FRIENDLY Spray Chalk
NB - Please note that this product CANNOT BE SHIPPED to customers outside the UK due to airline restrictions on the transport of pressurised aerosols.
Drakes Pride CARPET FRIENDLY Spray Chalk
NB - Please note that this product CANNOT BE SHIPPED to customers outside the UK due to airline restrictions on the transport of pressurised aerosols.
Drakes Pride CARPET FRIENDLY Spray Chalk
Henselite Grippo Tube 40gm
The most popular bowls cream for pre-game tuning of your bowls. Best applied after washing and drying the bowls.
We have had customers who come and say they don't want Grippo because they don't want to polish their bowls and the tube says 'Bowls polish'.
We at the shop sympathise - after all, when you polish something you might expect it to become all shiny and slippery. Well, so much for expectations! As well as looking shiny, bowls which receive an application of Grippo, buffed and rubbed conscientiously, acquire a rubbery friction, as if a monkey from a latex tree had licked the bowl's circumference and set it to dry in the tropical sunshine. In short - it does what it says on the tube.
Henselite Grippo Tube 40gm
The most popular bowls cream for pre-game tuning of your bowls. Best applied after washing and drying the bowls.
We have had customers who come and say they don't want Grippo because they don't want to polish their bowls and the tube says 'Bowls polish'.
We at the shop sympathise - after all, when you polish something you might expect it to become all shiny and slippery. Well, so much for expectations! As well as looking shiny, bowls which receive an application of Grippo, buffed and rubbed conscientiously, acquire a rubbery friction, as if a monkey from a latex tree had licked the bowl's circumference and set it to dry in the tropical sunshine. In short - it does what it says on the tube.
Henselite Grippo Tube 40gm
Henselite ClubHawke Gold Measure
Henselite ClubHawke Gold Measure
Henselite ClubHawke Gold Measure
Bush Hill Bowls is Born!
Trade SecretsSo here we are! Maybe it was March madness, but this software services company happens to have two directors who bowl, so we decided we ought to have a bowlswear shop!