How to Recover After a Bad Bowl: Reset, Refocus and Play the Next Shot

Every lawn bowler delivers a bad bowl. It might be badly short, sail through the head, take the wrong line or turn a promising position into a difficult one.

The bowl itself is rarely the biggest problem. The real damage begins when you carry it onto the mat for your next delivery.

You replay the mistake, become tense and try to correct everything at once. One poor bowl becomes two, then affects the entire end. By the time you settle again, the match may have shifted.

Learning how to recover after a bad bowl is an important part of the lawn bowls mental game. You do not need to pretend the mistake did not happen. You need a reliable way to take the useful information from it, release the frustration and give the next bowl your full attention.

Why One Bad Bowl Often Leads to Another

After a poor result, many players immediately start analysing their technique.

Was my line wrong? Did I rush? Was my arm tight? Did I release early? Should I change my stance?

Those may be sensible questions during practice or after the match. On the green, however, too much technical thinking can make your next delivery less natural. Instead of trusting a familiar action, you begin steering the bowl or forcing the correction.

Your body may also show the frustration before you recognise it. The shoulders tighten, the grip becomes firmer and the normal rhythm disappears. If tension is affecting your setup, revisiting the foundations of a relaxed lawn bowls stance can help—but during competition, the immediate goal is simply to return to your usual routine.

The lesson is not that you should ignore mistakes. It is that competition is the wrong time to rebuild your delivery after every imperfect bowl.

Separate the Decision From the Delivery

Before reacting, decide what actually went wrong.

There are two different possibilities:

• The shot choice was reasonable, but the bowl was poorly executed.

• The bowl followed your intention, but the chosen shot was wrong.

That distinction matters. If the decision was sound, you may not need to change anything except line or weight. If the delivery was acceptable but the tactical choice was poor, changing your mechanics will not solve the problem.

This is where a clear lawn bowls game plan helps. It gives you a reason for each shot and makes it easier to judge the decision separately from the result.

Sometimes a well-chosen bowl receives an unlucky wick. Sometimes a slightly poor delivery finishes in a useful position. Do not let the outcome alone decide whether the process was good.

Use a Simple Five-Step Reset

A mental reset needs to be short enough to use during a match. Try this five-step process.

1. Acknowledge the result

Give yourself one honest sentence:

That bowl was two metres heavy.

Keep it factual. Avoid labels such as “terrible”, “hopeless” or “I always do this”. Those words add emotion without giving you useful information.

2. Take one deliberate breath

Breathe in normally, then use a slightly longer exhale. The purpose is not to become completely relaxed. It is to interrupt the rush of frustration and release unnecessary tension before the next decision.

3. Keep one useful adjustment

Choose one clear correction:

• Same line, less weight.

• A little more grass.

• Complete the follow-through.

• Slow the feet.

• Trust the draw.

Do not create a list of five faults. One adjustment is enough.

4. Let the previous bowl finish

Once you have taken the useful information, stop rehearsing the mistake. The bowl has left your hand and cannot be changed.

A simple cue such as “next bowl” can mark the end of the review. Some players prefer to step away from the mat, wipe the bowl or look briefly towards the boundary before returning their attention to the head.

5. Commit to the next target

When it is your turn again, decide exactly what the next bowl needs to do. Choose the line, weight and preferred finishing area, then return to your normal pre-shot routine.

The reset is complete when your attention moves from the previous result to the current task.

Do Not Chase the Perfect Correction

A common reaction to a short bowl is to send the next one far too long. After missing narrow, the player adds excessive grass. This is not a controlled adjustment; it is an emotional overcorrection.

Think in small changes. If your bowl was close to the intended line but slightly heavy, keep the same process and make a modest weight adjustment. If it was badly off line, first check that you used the intended aiming point before changing the delivery itself.

A consistent lawn bowls delivery is built through repeatable fundamentals. Constantly changing your stance, grip, backswing and release during a match makes consistency harder, not easier.

Trust the delivery you brought to the green. Make the smallest correction the evidence supports.

Reset Your Body as Well as Your Thoughts

The mental and physical parts of a delivery are connected. Frustration often appears as:

• A tighter grip.

• Raised or rigid shoulders.

• Hurried footwork.

• A shortened backswing.

• Holding the breath.

• Trying to guide the bowl after release.

Before your next bowl, check three things: soft grip, relaxed shoulders and steady feet.

That is usually enough to restore feel without filling your mind with technical instructions.

If the same fault keeps appearing across several matches, it deserves attention away from competition. Purposeful lawn bowls practice drills allow you to work on line, weight and pressure situations without trying to repair everything in the middle of an important end.

Stay Useful to Your Team

In team bowls, your reaction affects more than your own performance.

Throwing your hands up, complaining about the green or apologising repeatedly can make the whole rink feel tense. It may also distract the next player, who now feels they must rescue the end.

You do not need to laugh off every mistake. Acknowledge it, provide any useful information about the pace or line, then support the next bowl.

If a teammate delivers poorly, give them the same space you would want. A calm “next one” is usually more helpful than immediate technical advice. Unless there is an urgent tactical point, coaching can wait until the end is complete.

Skips have an extra responsibility here. Clear body language and a useful next instruction can stop one mistake becoming a team-wide problem.

Use the Scoreboard Properly

Players sometimes give one poor bowl far more importance than it deserves.

Ask yourself:

• How many bowls remain in this end?

• Is the position actually as bad as it feels?

• Are we still holding shot?

• Can we reduce the count rather than recover everything immediately?

• What does the match require now?

A bad bowl may still become a blocker, a receiving bowl or a useful piece of cover. Even when it has no tactical value, there may be several opportunities left to improve the end.

The scoreboard can also prevent unnecessary panic. Losing one shot early in a match does not require a desperate attacking response. Stay with the percentage option and keep the match in perspective.

Practise the Reset Before You Need It

Mental routines become reliable through repetition, just like delivery technique.

During practice, create a consequence that adds mild pressure. For example, require three bowls inside a target area before moving to the next drill. When you miss, use the same five-step reset you intend to use in competition.

You can also keep a short note after matches:

• What triggered the frustration?

• What physical change followed?

• Which reset cue worked?

• Did I return to the next task quickly?

The aim is not to eliminate emotion. It is to shorten the time between disappointment and useful action.

Video can help as well. Players often notice rushed preparation, negative body language or changing rhythm that they did not feel during the match. My article on remote lawn bowls coaching explains how video analysis can identify patterns that are difficult to recognise while you are playing.

When a Bad Bowl Is Part of a Bigger Pattern

One poor delivery needs a reset. The same miss appearing repeatedly needs investigation.

If bowls are consistently short, narrow or unstable, record the pattern rather than attempting a new solution after every shot. Review it later under calmer conditions and look for the underlying cause.

That might involve technique, alignment, footwork, confidence or poor shot selection.

The important point is to separate match management from long-term improvement.

During the game: observe, make one small adjustment and compete.

After the game: review the evidence, practise deliberately and seek feedback if the

cause remains unclear.

Final Thoughts

Strong lawn bowls is not mistake-free lawn bowls. It is the ability to respond well when the inevitable mistake arrives.

After a bad bowl, acknowledge the result without attacking yourself. Separate the decision from the execution, keep one useful adjustment and return to your normal routine. Support your teammates and make the next bowl serve the match situation in front of you.

You cannot control a bowl that has already stopped. You can control the attention, body language and commitment you bring to the next one.

That next bowl is where the match continues.

Build a More Reliable Game

If the same technical or mental pattern keeps returning, personalised feedback can help you identify the cause and build a clearer improvement plan. Explore my online lawn bowls coaching options for practical guidance tailored to your game.