A number of our seasoned bowlers decided this summer to accept an introduction to a different bowls format – short mat bowls.
This proved most successful – so successful that this may well become yet another “activity” offered at Probus ’83.
Our fellow club members Mike Jordan and Holger Marsen play short mat at Ripley and Ripley kindly hosted this first short mat experience on September 19th 2019.
We offered the opportunity to learn short mat bowls to Guildford Probus too. They joined us for some enjoyable coaching by the Ripley players, then accepted our challenge to a proper match. Somewhat surprisingly, Probus ’83 managed to beat Guildford Probus by 10 shots A trophy was presented to Ian Mackrell, Probus ’83 captain, by Guildford Probus President, Brian Taylor.
A return match has already been agreed for next summer. We are looking to see if other fixtures can now be scheduled.
Mike Jordan demonstrates how to deliver the bowl.
Two short mat “rinks” – indoors on a rather expensive, specialist carpet.
Look how tricky it is to get close to the “jack”(small yellow ball).