For most club bowlers, singles matches are something of a rarity. However, they can be great fun to play, although they require a different approach from that of the standard fours game played as “friendly” weekend matches.
What is Singles Bowling?
It’s what it says – just you against one other opponent. It is a format usually found in competitive play, as in internal club competitions or certain types of inter-club competition where a variety of formats, including singles, are played alongside each other.
Two variants are possible – two-wood and four-wood singles, referring to how many bowls are used by each player. The two-wood game is the fastest game known to lawn bowls, and is not much more than target practice, given that so few bowls are available for the players to work with. The four-wood game is the one that concerns us here.
Playing a Singles Game
It is normal practice to involve a third person when playing singles. This is the “marker” who has the job of setting the jack, carrying out any measuring that may be required, and keeping the score. He/she is also available to give opinions as to which bowl is holding shot, for example, should the players so request. As in all other forms of lawn bowls, no measuring can be done until after the last wood has been sent, so this will have to be an opinion based on what the marker sees, and it could, of course, be wrong! If he/she is uncertain, the correct thing to say is: “It’s a measure”.
The players toss for who has the first jack, and the game begins, possibly with a couple of trial ends (two woods each) for the players to assess how the green is running.
Singles matches are usually played on the basis of who reaches a certain number of shots first, as opposed to playing a fixed number of ends. 21 is the usual number chosen. This means that, with the minimum score on each end being one and the maximum four, a singles match could take as many as 41 ends to complete, or as few as 6! (assuming that there are no tied ends or dead ends to be replayed).
The players send their four woods alternately, as is normal in lawn bowls, the only difference being that players may ask to visit the head to see how the land lies. This is normally allowed only after the first two woods (each) have been sent, but sometimes the restriction applies to just before the final woods are sent.
Tactics When Playing Singles
In the singles game, the players take the roles of all four players in a fours game, from lead through to skip, and they should therefore regard each of their woods in that way.
Getting the first wood on the jack is a good idea, but if that fails, then the second wood should be used for that purpose. If the first wood is good, then the second should provide insurance by going behind the jack.
The third wood can either attempt to add to the score or be sent with controlled weight, either to knock out an opponent’s bowl or promote one’s own short bowl towards the jack. There may also be woods on the green that one can use to “wick” off or rest on.
The final bowl can be used to block the path to the jack if one is holding shot and one’s opponent has the final wood. Alternatively, one might want to try to move the jack back to one’s own “best back” wood. Or it might be necessary to use weight in a last-ditch attempt to disrupt the head, even if it means killing the end.
The worst thing that can happen in a singles game is to lose by four shots. It is therefore important to consider whether reducing the number of shots one loses by is a better bet than trying to win the end at all costs. A draw shot that cuts the deficit from four to two, for example, is better than a firing shot that misses everything and leaves the other player with a full house.
In short, the way to succeed at singles is to treat every wood differently. It is sometimes said that singles is a game at which lead players (i.e. who would normally play at lead in a triples or fours match) should do well. However, this is only true up to a point, because leads are normally required to do only one thing, namely draw to the jack. As outlined above, a good singles player has to master all the “trades” of bowling. This is why singles can be such a challenge to play, and success feels that much sweeter when the effort is all down to oneself and no-one else!
John Welford - I was a full-time professional librarian for more than 25 years before redundancy made me take a fresh direction. I now work as a ...
