About

(About the author)

I joined my first bowling club in 1985 – Mount Florida Bowling Club on the south side of Glasgow.
There were waiting lists for clubs in those days and it was all very much white shirts, club ties and as many badges as you could pin on those navy blue blazers.

Before I joined I used to play on Sunday afternoons after morning shifts at work. A couple of pints in The Doublet or Fotheringay first and then bowls on the public greens at Kelvingrove or Queens Park.
So I knew how to play – just not how to play well.

Mount Florida Bowling Club had many good players then and my singles ties in the first couple of seasons usually ended in fairly comprehensive defeats.
But you stick at it.
You learn.
You practise.
You get better.

A few years after I joined I inherited a set of Size 5 Henselite Super-Grips. The old woods went in the bin.
My game improved.
The Henselites were getting closer to the jack with each game.

I didn’t win anything for sixteen years.
Something clicked in 2001 and I won my first major prize – the Club Championship.
I also won the Vice-President’s Prize, the Under 45 Singles and the Nomination Pairs that year.

I’m not the greatest bowler and I never will be, but you stick with it and sometimes you get these little rewards along the way.

I love the game of bowls and I hope the tips and advice I pass on will help you with your game.