Why do skips tell you how wide the bowl is?

[Dave Smith]

This may sound trivial but it is driving me nuts. Every time I bowl my skip (whoever he/she is) will make a gesture to tell me if the bowl is wide or narrow. Why is this? Most of them are inteligent adults. Is it because they think that I am too stupid to notice?

I have my own ideas, which I woudl like to discus in the forum.

I have been bowling for a couple of years now but am thinking of looking for a club locally where they don't do this. Am I on my own?

[wrong bias]

your not on your own mate,it used to irritate the hell out of me,it also put me off my game,till i told them i dont need the obvious flung in my face ,every time your bowl goes a wee bit astray,
my mate was playing a rinks game once and he was getting on the skips nerves cos he was short a lot of times and the skip was shaking his head and talking about my mate to the others,and the skip shouted dont be bloody short this time,so my pal done a full blooded drive and smashed the head to bits,he was,nt short, the skip shut his gob after that:cool::)

[Silver]

Know just what you mean about the skip giving you too many instructions, if you get one near the jack, and you are down on the mat ready to bowl, he shouts up same as before, my next wood goes wild wonder what he thinks I am trying to do,:confused:

[Crabie]

We have a Skip they call the wing commander, he waves his arms about so much you would think he was landing a plane, people hate playing with him, we dont win many games.:(:(

[Speedy]

Welcome Dave, a great thread.

Have always found the weakest Skips are the most VOCAL, especially pointing out the wrong green.

The beat reply I have heard from a friend at my club, was to SHOUT BACK,
'Is the small circle on my wood suppose to be on the inside'!!!!!

Did the trick FOR A FEW ENDS!!!

Best of luck or find a better Skip!!:cool::cool:

[wrong bias]

it is a good and relevant thread and i also agree that the skips that do the most yapping are the ones that should,nt be skips in the first place,unfortunately most clubs have them:(

[Bigbear]

Have to agree with you Wrongbias, the skips who do the most shouting, are not the best players, they panic in case they have to play the shots themselves, don’t know the answer as how to keep them quiet. :rolleyes:

[Blondie]

Hi Dave I have a skip, who keeps putting her foot beside the jack, and shouting at you to put the wood there, i feel like firing at her, all i can see is her legs which are rather large, she came up the rink one game and told the number three, to stop putting her foot beside the jack as it was putting her off, talk about calling the kettle black.:roll::roll:

[Surfer]

Some Skips, think they are so much better bowlers than everyone else, if you loose a game it’s the front ends fault, if we win it’s the skip who has won the game.:(

[Dave Smith]

Thanks for the messages (I'm new to this sort of stuff).

We have a couple of bowlers who won't bowl unless they are skip. You can tell that they were probably good bowlers a few years ago but not now. If football was run the same way as bowls Stanley Mathews would be captain of England.

They are nearly always retired. I think some of them are making up for for careers - showing how they can bark instructions at lesser mortals - even though what they are barking is blindingly obvious.

The new season is imminent and I'm afraid that the only way to stop this getting to me is to wear a baseball cap so that I can't see them, be rude or watch other clubs' skips to see which is the best and move.

Am I getting old and grumpy. Perhaps not. Think I've been old and grumpy for some time. Love the game though.

[wrong bias]

i think i would join another club

[Surfer]

Have every sympathy with you Dave been there got the tee shirt, spend most of summer pulling my hair out, the older they get the better they think they are, its called memory loss living in the past, Bowls is such a brilliant sport, only advice I can give is practice, revenge is sweet, beat them in the club singles. Let us know if you survive the summer without firing a few woods at your skip, tempting thought. :p:p

[Blondie]

Hi Dave, you have just got to stand up for yourself, its like being back at school, just take your Skip to one side, and tell him the more instructions he gives you the worse you bowl, a good skip will listen a bad one will ignore you, I have a Skip and if I am picked to play with her I just put not available, I want to enjoy my game not dreading who I am playing with, Bowls is such a great game it’s the people who play it can cause the problems, let us know how you get on, good luck/ :wink::wink:

[Bigbear]

I think there is nothing more anoying than a skip who keeps shouting at you,puts you right off your game, think you should have a word with your skip, good luck.:(

[Dave Smith]

Thanks for all that. I shall try asking 'do you propose telling every bowl?'. If that doesn't work I'll try the basball cap so that I can't see them. At the same time I will be looking at oposition skips (of the clubs that I like) to see if they do the same.
Dave

[Flyfire]

Sounds like a good idea Dave, let us know how you get on this seasion, nice to share a problem with a fellow bowler, good luck.;);)

[kiwi bowler]

just mention to your skip that you don't need to know how wide or short you are, that you can make your own corrections. But some bowlers do like to know approx how short they are. I'm one of them, some times it's very handy to know if your last bowls is a metre short or what. It's hard to actually see from the mat.:wink: