West Point Grey Lawn Bowling Club

For review 300 I am coming clean. I love to lawn bowl. And no, I am not even close to being a senior citizen.
Why do I love it? I spend as much time playing a challenging outdoor sport as I would, for example, by playing golf, but for a minute fraction of the price. It is a game which can be played at an elite competitive level from childhood until you are much later in life. If you prefer to just go have fun in the sun in a recreational way with a bunch of your friends, you can do that too. You do not have to wear white, that is only for competition. The only requirement is that you wear a flat-​soled shoe with no big treads that can chew up the finely manicured grass.
For those familiar with bocce/​boules/​petanque, lawn bowling is quite similar, you have a moveable target (a jack) and depending on if you are playing singles/​pairs/​triples/​fours, up to four –3 pound bowls to roll to it. The twist is in lawn bowling that the bowls have a bias so they do not run straight. Your task is to roll the bowl while predicting the curvature line of the bowl and with the correct weight, to have it rest closest to the jack which is at least 21m down the rink. It employs a lot of the same strategy and tactics that you might see in the sport of curling.
West Point Grey LBC is adjacent to Trimble Park in one of the most lovely settings in Vancouver. It is a friendly and inclusive club which boasts members that range in age from the 20’s to the 80’s. The lawn bowling season begins in May and runs through the end of September. The club also offers instruction and loans bowls to those interested in learning how to play.
Outside of North America, particularly in Australia and the UK, lawn bowling is viewed as a sport for all ages and they have clubs that boast thousands of members. It is a pity that there is the stigma in Canada of lawn bowling as being only a senior citizen’s sport because it really is a lot of fun and could be enjoyed by a lot more people.