Singles eh? You either love it or hate. Personally I enjoy it. It's all down to the individual and you cannot come off the green blaming, or congratulating anyone but yourself. It's also excellent practice for leads as it is basically a game of draw.

On Saturday July 29th there was some serious bowling and competition as the club hosted the District 14 singles playdowns, the qualifier for the Ontario singles championships. The number of entrants was down this year because of clashes with other major events but it did not diminish the competition or the quality of the bowling. From our club were Bob Bates, Carl Ferguson and Bill Arthur and they were joined by Stan Zuly from the Oshawa club in a round robin to determine the winner.

In singles play the winner is the first player to reach 21 points. With each player having four bowls per end the game can in theory be over quite quickly but with well matched players the opposite can happen. And it did on Saturday with each game lasting 2 hours or more so on a hot day there was little respite for the bowlers. I lost track of how many ends I played but I think it was about 70!

In the first round Carl Ferguson (a third year bowler making his debut in this event) put up a good performance against Stan Zuly. Carl took an early lead and looked to be on course for a win but things can change very quickly and Stan got on to short jacks and made a comeback to win 21-14.

In the first all Cobourg game I played Bob Bates and a similar pattern emerged as I fought back from 6-17 to tie the game at 18-18 but Bob recovered to win 21-18.

In the second round Carl had the biggest win of the day defeating Bob 21-5 whereas Stan and I provided the spectators with drama (I wish we hadn't) as, having established a big early lead, I was gradually hauled back by Stan and after nearly three hours of play we were tied at 19-19 before I finally clinched the game.

After two rounds each player had one win and one loss which meant that any of the four players could win. Bob lost his final game to Stan by 21-9 and Carl beat me by the same score which meant that Stan and Carl were tied with two wins. Unfortunately for Carl and the Cobourg club the tie breaker was based on their head to head result and Stan was declared the winner. 

Thanks to those who came as markers (Carol, Louisa, Mary and Donna); to umpire Dave Shirley and to convenor Nan Hendren; also to Gerry Childs and Dianne Hawryszko. Thanks also to those of you who came along to watch. It's always great to have some spectators and improves the atmosphere for the players.

​The club singles will be coming up soon. Why not give singles a go if you haven't done it before. You might be heavily beaten (I lost a District game 21-0 a couple of years ago) but it will be good experience and improve your bowling in the long term.

Good luck to our two ladies senior triples teams in the Ontario championships this week. Also to Ben and Baylee van Steijn as they compete in the Canadian juniors.  Some of the games will be screened live and there is a link below. There is nothing there yet but it should go live on Tuesday

http://sportscanada.tv/bowlscanada/

Have  a great week

​Bill Arthur

There was a football (soccer) pundit in England whose favourite saying was “It’s a funny old game” and I think that can equally be applied to lawn bowling. You can start a game well and then suddenly go off and vice versa. You can play brilliantly one game and then terrible the next one. It is so frustrating when that happens. Of course there is always the excuse that it was a terrible green!
 
I had personal experience of this in the last couple of days. I played a tournament on Friday and could not find the line or the weight on any of the greens I played and finished with three losses. The next day I played at a different club and couldn’t do anything wrong. Leading for Bob Bates and Pat Bylok in a mixed triples at Whitby I hardly put a foot wrong. Why can’t I capture that magic every time I play?
 
Still it’s those good times that make you feel so much better about your game and make you forget those bad days. Thanks for inviting me to play with you Pat and Bob – it was one of the good times. 
​
 
After a hectic schedule in the last few weeks it has been a relatively quiet week but it will start to get busier again next weekend with the District 14 singles playdowns which we will host. Bob Bates, Carl Ferguson and I will be playing in that but since entries have not yet closed it is not known who the other competitors will be. Also next weekend Ben and Baylee van Steijn will be heading to Dartmouth NS to compete in the Canadian junior championships and we wish them well
 
I called in at the club to watch some of the juniors on Wednesday and there are some pictures of them on the photos page. I’m always impressed by the seriousness with which they take their game and their good conduct whist still having fun. And talking of juniors I won this week’s Bowls Canada photo award for the picture below of Matthew. Bowls Canada said “Bill has captured the seriousness of a junior taking measurement. Congratulations!”2017 Photos
 
Not a bad week then, I’ve already forgotten Friday’s bad performance!
 
Good Bowling

It’s a funny old game.
 
Bill Arthur

Wow- what a week that was, District seniors playdowns; Milligan Memorial triples; Chex TV filming; anniversary tournament and anniversary dinner. Where to start?

Well first of all I would like to refute all allegations that I did not turn up at the anniversary dinner to avoid buying drinks for throwing not one, but two, wrong bias bowls during the tournament! After having gone all season without one I've had three this week.

Seriously though Louisa and I were very disappointed to miss the dinner but after her fall at the end of the tournament it was in our best interests to keep her home. Thank you to all those who have enquired about her. She is much better although rather sore.

Anniversaries are always a time to look back and we can only speculate on what the founders of the Cobourg lawn bowling club saw as the future of the club and the sport when they formed the club in 1907. They probably hoped that the sport would thrive and the club would have a long life. But would they have foreseen the club remaining in Victoria Park for 110 years and that the club house, which was built in 1925, would remain more or less unchanged except for a 1930s addition?  They would not have foreseen the changes in technology which have led to bowls being made of a hard plastic composite material when originally they were made of lignum vitae, a dense wood which led to bowls being referred to as “woods’ – a term still used in the north of England. Neither would they have seen the creation of coloured bowls which are now prevalent in the game. Another change, which in some ways has gone full circle, is dress code. Photos from the 1920s and 1930s show players in what may be described as every day wear. But then later the dress code moved to all white. Now almost anything goes for general club play and coloured shirts are practically the norm in tournament play.
 
Another change which they would not have foreseen is the use of a stick or launcher to deliver the bowls. This is a relatively new innovation that allows less mobile players to deliver their bowls from an upright position using a launcher in much the same way as a stick is used in curling. Gerry Wilson is a first year bowler and he uses a launcher. He has quickly got used to it and is proof that you can bowl successfully with it from an upright position. When we held the anniversary tournament yesterday Gerry became the first person in the club to win a tournament using the launcher. Playing as lead with skip Dianne Lauder and vice Norma Stoffers they won three games to win the tournament which was sponsored by HTM Insurance. No wonder Gerry looks so happy in this photo - he got the money and the girls!

 
Sixteen teams competed and it was a great performance from Dianne's team who won their three games very easily with outstanding scores of 15-4, 13-3 and 15-4. The full result is on the results page. 
 
Earlier in the week two Cobourg men’s teams and two ladies’ teams competed in the District 14 senior playdowns in Lindsay. It was an all Cobourg affair in the ladies competition with Dianne Hawryszko, Kathleen Shirley and Nan Hendren beating Carol Dewey, Louisa Arthur and Mary Thibault. Dianne's team qualified automatically for the Provincial seniors in Almonte on August 1st and 2nd but Carol's team will also be there because some Districts did not have entries and Carol's team was invited to fill one of the spare places.
 
In the men’s event there were five teams competing including John Hawryszko’s team and Bob Bates’s team. This was a tough competition with some excellent bowling and John's team was unfortunate in losing four tight games. Bob, bowling with Ralph Stoffers and me had better luck winning three of our four games. However we lost the vital game to the eventual winners from Oshawa. Despite being 2-16 down after eight ends we fought our way back and were down by only one point going into the final end but it was too little too late and we lost that match and finished second.
 
The club also hosted an open triples on Wednesday July 12th. This was sponsored by Sharyl Ann and Dan Milligan in memory of their parents Ron and Trudy Milligan. Fourteen teams from Pickering, Oshawa, Peterborough and Campbellford as well as the host club competed in a tournament of three twelve end games. Regular readers  ill recognise the name of the Steffen brothers from Oshawa who are amongst the best bowlers in Ontario. And it was no surprise that they were in the prize money. On this occasion David Steffen was playing with Al Handlechner and ex USA international, Steve Nelson and they came out on top with 3 wins and 42 points. Brothers Rob and Alan Steffen were playing with their mother Marilyn and they were also in the prizes, placing fourth with 2 wins and 40 points. In second place was the team from Pickering of Lorne Schiele, Jackie Dunkerly and Frank Mayal. The top Cobourg team was that of David Brister, Steve Haslam and Carl Ferguson. They came third with 2 wins and 43 points. It's always nice to have a Cobourg team picking up prize money. You can find the full results and photos on the respective pages.

If you missed the Chex TV report there is an on line video and there is a link to it on our home page. Thanks in particular to Nancy Fargo and Braden Saunders who I coerced into appearing on camera. You did a great job. Nan Hendren had no choice - as President she had to appear! There are some photos below from the filming.

I'd just like to mention that in addition to all the results, photos and news on here Gerry Childs has recently taken over from me as our Facebook Administrator/editor. That is also a great source of information and I'd like to thank Gerry for the way he is developing that page. If you are on Facebook and have not yet liked/followed our page I would encourage you to do so and to invite your friends to do so. I know not many of you are on Twitter but if you are please follow our Twitter feed for information as well. All the news in 140 characters.

Whatever you are doing have a great week.

Bill Arthur

​PS - I wonder how many of you know the significance of this blog title?

If there was an award for the Cobourg lawn bowler of the week it would undoubtedly go to Bob Bates. On Thursday last week he finished second in a men’s pairs tournament in Pickering; on Friday he came fourth in a triples in Bobcaygeon (with Pat Bylok and Carl Ferguson; I should mention that Martin Foxhall won it with some of his 'professional' buddies) and on Saturday July 8th he won the Cobourg club’s annual ‘cut throat’ tournament.

All in all it has been another action packed week with Sarah and Baylee van Steijn and Emmalee Smith competing in the Provincial ladies triples championship in Hanover; the aforementioned cut throat tournament and two days earlier the club hosted the Wicks open ladies triples.
 
In the Provincial Championships the team  got off to a strong start with a 17-11 win but could not maintain that and lost their remaining round robin games by 12-15 and 12-20 so did not qualify for the quarter final round. A good performance though from, with the exception of Baylee, a very inexperienced team.
 
The in club tournament was the annual “Cut Throat” tournament sponsored by OnSite Computer Services & Sales. This is a singles tournament and in this version of the game there are 10 points available as each end is played. The four bowls nearest to the jack all score. The player with the bowl nearest the jack scores 4 points, the next scores 3 points, the next 2 and the fourth 1 point. The player with the highest cumulative score after 3 rounds wins the tournament. To ensure that no player gets an unfair advantage the leading scorers are placed into the same pool as the day progresses, hence the cut throat element as the leaders are matched against one another and others are dropped into a lower pool.
 
Bob Bates was consistent from the start and in the earlier rounds his main challengers were Ralph Stoffers and Ben van Steijn. However, Bob came out on top in the second round against those two challengers and went on to win his final round match to finish with 144 points, ten points ahead of Carl Ferguson who scored 56 points in his final match - the biggest score of the day. 

The open ladies triples tournament for the Wicks trophy is the longest standing tournament that the club runs. On Thursday July 6th the tournament, sponsored by Mrs Catharine Wicks and her family was held for the 29th time. This is also an excellent social occasion with lunch being provided by the  club for the players and the club’s men running the kitchen.
 
Ten teams competed including visiting teams from Pickering, Oshawa, Peterborough and Belleville. The format for the tournament was two games of fourteen ends and the accumulated points would determine the standings. The Oshawa team of Sharron, Sheila and Donna Morrison returned to defend the trophy they won in 2016 and in their first game, which was very close, they defeated the Cobourg team led by Pat Bylok by 13-11. Dianne Hawryszko’s Cobourg team were also first round winners by 13-11 and that meant they would play the Morrison team in the second and final round. Dianne's team got off to a flying start and was never in any trouble running out 20-9 winners and with a points total of 33 they were the tournament winners.

Looking ahead the District 14 seniors playdowns will be held in Lindsay on July 11 and 12th. The ladies event will be an all Cobourg affair between Carol Dewey’s team and Dianne Hawryszko’s. In the men’s event Cobourg will be represented by David Shirley’s team and Bill Arthur’s in a five team round robin. And on Saturday July 15th the club will hold one of the main events of the year, a club tournament to celebrate 110 years of bowling in Victoria Park followed by an anniversary dinner. If you haven't already signed up for that tournament I would encourage you to do. so. And in between those two events is the Milligan memorial tournament (an open triples) on Wednesday July 12th. It's going to be another busy week?

Wherever you are playing  this week "Good Bowling'

​Bill Arthur

What are you trying to do? What's the purpose of the white bowl? What happens if the white bowl gets moved? How do you score? Why do the bowls curve? What's the purpose of those green bowls?
 
Those were just a few of the questions I was asked during our Canada Day tournament. It's always good to have people hanging over the fence, asking questions and taking photos of our “obscure” sport. They may not want to take up the sport now but the interest they show may bear fruit at some point in the future and it's great that they enjoy watching us and show an interest. As a minority sport our position in the park gives us great exposure  and we are a part of the park's attraction.
 
The most surprising question was about the green bowls but it gave me an opportunity to explain about the popularity of coloured bowls and how it does make it easier to identify bowls in the head. It helps also to dispel some of the stereotypes about lawn bowling, especially since those green bowls were Emmalee Smith’s.
 
It also helps me when trying to publicize our sport to be able to sing the praises of our junior members. This past weekend Ben and Baylee van Steijn and Braden Saunders were in Tilbury to play in the Ontario Under 18 youth championships and Ben and Baylee came home with gold and bronze respectively. Braden didn't have the best of weekends but he is to be commended for his efforts in what was only his second championship. It's a pity that the competitors had to make the four hour journey to Tilbury when the majority of them were from Cobourg, Oshawa, Lindsay and Peterborough. A strange decision by the OLBA to hold it there.
 
This is Ben’s final year in this age category and he will represent Ontario at the Canadian championships in Dartmouth NS in August. Let's hope he goes out in a blaze of glory. On a personal note I've seen Ben develop at close hand in the eight years I’ve  been in the club and I've had the pleasure of playing with him and against him. He has developed into a very fine bowler and I wish him every future success.
 
Anyway, back to us oldies! Bob Bates and Pat Bylok warmed up for the District 14 mixed pairs playdowns in Cannington last weekend with second place in a tournament at Peterborough a few days before. There were only three teams competing in the playdowns and after winning their first game they played the deciding game against Andy Caldwell (Peterborough) and Nicky Chamois (Oshawa). It must have seemed like groundhog day for Bob as Andy beat him and me in doubles playdowns and again in triples. After a slow start they were down 3-16 after 10 ends but rallied and fought back but it was not quite enough and they lost 15-17.
 
Our in club Canada Day tournament was a huge success and I hope everyone enjoyed it. Sixteen club triples teams competed for the Canada Day trophy which was sponsored once again by Thomas Buick GMC of University Avenue West.
 
In this wet spring and early summer the weather forecast was a prime concern ahead of a tournament and the Canada Day forecast was a cause for worry. However the sporting gods smiled on the club and the day turned out to be perfect for bowling. As previously mentioned with many of the visitors to Victoria Park stopping to watch and ask questions about the game and the players dressed in red and white there truly was a festival spirit on the greens which added to the spectacle in Cobourg on Canada’s 150th birthday.
 
After the first two rounds four of the teams had perfect records – the teams skipped by Steve Haslam, Ralph Stoffers, Dave Shirley and John Hawryszko so the winner would be one of those teams. Dave beat Ralph 10-7 and John beat Steve 14-3. This seems to have been a season of close finishes and yet again there were two teams (Dave’s and John’s) tied with 3 wins and 31 points. John's team won by virtue of having fewer points against.
 
If you haven't already seen the photos and checked the full result go over to the respective pages and take a look. 
 
We have another busy few days ahead of us with the Wicks ladies triples on Thursday and the cut throat 4321 in club tournament on Saturday July 8th. And a week later is the anniversary tournament. I would urge all members to sign up for that so that we celebrate our 110th anniversary in style.
 
Finally, I'd like to ask you to let me have details of your participation at open tournaments at other clubs so that I can provide details in this blog and in the reports I do for Northumberland Today. Just a brief note of where, when, the number of teams competing and your result is sufficient. I will ensure that the details are also passed on to Gerry Childs who has taken on responsibility for our Facebook page. If you follow the club on Facebook you will see that Gerry is doing a great job in developing our page to provide lots of information and I'm personally grateful for his help in that respect. If you haven't liked our Facebook page yet I would urge you to do so and keep up with events via that page as well as via our website and our Twitter feed.
 
Have a good week and ‘Good bowling’.
 
Bill Arthur