BALL DIMENSION QUESTION .....
Heres a terribly inane question - My friend and I-[who never have played the sport...yet] have a disagreement over the shape of a typical lawn bowling ball[not jack]; He says perfectly spherical, only weighted on one side and I say round-yes, only slightly flattened on opposing sides like the earth. I've done enough net searches that leads me to believe we both may be right...but
nothing definite. Could someone please help me by emailing me at greystoke144@shaw.ca
Thanx,Rick P. from Kimberley,B.C. Canada
Response Number 1 :Posted by Bob Jones Sunday, January 07, 2007 at 00:41:11 (EST):
You are correct nowadays. The bowl is shaved on the one side give it a bias. the bowl will turn in that direction. In the beginning bowls were weighted and an insert could be removed and different weights added to change the bend. Bowls could have different weights ie 1 bowl weighted to bend a lot, another bowl weighted to bend less. 4 bowls were used and each weighted differently. Nowadays, bowls are shaved and must all bend the same amount. There is a minimum and maximum bias that a bowl may have. A set of bowls (4) must all have the same bias and are tested by the manufacturer before sale.