Lawn Bowling Terminology
RINK: Is the bowling area on the Lawn for your game. It measures 120 feet from the front of one ditch to the other ditch and is 20 feet wide.
DITCH: A DITCH marks the ends of the RINK. The DITCH forms the 120 foot boundary on all four sides of the Lawn.
HOG LINE: The small white markers on the edge of the RINK. They are 76 feet from each DITICH. The Jack must go beyond the HOG LINE to be in play.
MAT: The MAT measures 14 inches by 24 inches. You must stand on the MAT when delivering the JACK & BOWLS. The MAT is placed with the front edge at least 2 meters from the DITCH.
JACK: The small white or yellow ball. The JACK is rolled to the center of the RINK past the second HOG LINE and at least 6 feet from the DITCH by the team winning the coin toss and then by the team winning the END.
BOWL: Diameter from 4.57 inches to 5.16 inches. Weight is not to exceed 3.51 pounds. The size and weight of Bowls should be sized to your hand. The BOWL IS NOT WEIGHTED! The BOWL has a bias in its design. Different BOWLS have different bias. The bias is what causes the BOWL to curve or arch. One side of the Bowl has a LARGE CIRCLE. One side of the Bowl has a SMALL CIRCLE. THE BOWL WILL ARCH OR CURVE IN THE DIRECTION OF THE SMALL CIRCLE.
END: Each time you bowl a direction on the rink it is called an END. So down and back is called TWO ENDS. It is one way of determining length of game or match. Example: Bowl 8 ENDS.
SCORING: Only one team scores per end. Their BOWLS count one each for the nearest to the JACK with out an opponents Bowl interfering.
Here is two brief scoring examples:
JACK, then the closest is YOUR BOWL, then next closest is YOUR BOWL, then the OPPONENT BOWL, then YOUR BOWL: YOU WILL SCORE TWO POINTS.
JACK, then the closest is YOUR BOWL, then next closest is the OPPONENT BOWL, Then YOUR BOWL – YOU WILL SCORE ONE POINT.
