Lawn Bowls: Determining the size of the bowls

Conventional wisdom says that if you are interested in taking up bowls, you should first try it out at your local club. Clubs normally have sets of older bowls, donated by past members. By trying out various sets of bowls, you can firstly see if you do enjoy the game, and secondly, find out the size of bowl which suits you. However, these older bowls sometimes don't have the sizes marked on them or sometimes the markings are so worn as to be illegible.

I did a fairly comprehensive Web search to try and find the dimensions of the various bowls sizes, and the closest I could come to what I was looking for was this page on ComfitPro. I have taken their data given for the diameter of the bowl for each of the sizes and used to to determine the diameter in mm and the circumference (of the rolling surface) in mm. For the sake of completeness I have also included ComfitPro's weights for the various sizes.

Size	00	0	1	2	3	4	5
Diameter (inches)	49/16	45/8	43/4	413/16	47/8	415/16	5
Diameter (mm)	115.9	117.5	120.6	122.2	123.8	125.4	127.0
Circumference (mm)	364	369	379	384	389	394	399
Heavy (g)	1215	1260	1355	1410	1460	1520	1570
Extra Heavy (g)	n/a	1330	1390	1450	1510	1560	n/a

To use this information, I suggest getting hold of a dressmaker's tape. Wrap the tape around the rolling surface of the bowl and measure the circumference. From the circumference, you can use the table to determine what is the size of the bowls which you find most to your liking.

(The tape can also be used for measuring winning distances during a game!)