Lawn Bowling
supplementary information for the
Balboa Park: The El Prado Area walking tour
 |
Notice how the bowls curve as they roll. This is because they are not round, and one side is heavier than the other. The player knows which side is heavier, and therefore can control which way the bowl will curve by the way he holds it. After all the bowls have been rolled, the "end" is scored by a system similar to horseshoes: the team with the bowl closest to the jack gets one point for that bowl, plus another point for each other bowl it has that is closer to the jack than any of the opponent's bowls. The team with the highest score after eighteen ends, wins.
The history of lawn bowling can be traced to ancient Egypt. By 1100 it had reached England. If you will remember your history, Sir Francis Drake is said to have been engaged in a game of lawn bowling when he was told that the Spanish Armada was approaching the English coast. Unperturbed, he finished his game before going out to lead the English fleet against it.
The game crossed the Atlantic to the English colonies about 1690, and flourished there until the American War of Independence. Today it is especially popular in Australia, followed by New Zealand, South Africa, and the British Isles.
