By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Members of the Honolulu Lawn Bowls Club take to
the green in the sport's traditional white garb.

The Honolulu Lawn Bowls Club
has new leadership, new members
and a new attitude

By Pat Gee
Special to the Star-Bulletin

It's like golf. You have to read the wind and the amount of dew on the grass can make a difference.

It's like tennis with the white clothes and rules of etiquette.

It's like pitching a softball with a built-in curve.

It's lawn bowling.

And it's not nearly as easy as it looks: rolling balls from one end of the lawn to another without even having to knock down any pins. What makes it complicated is that the ball, called a "bowl," is not perfectly round and it can veer off three or four feet before it curves back toward the target.

The sport doesn't require much strength or physical endurance, and it rarely results in injury, but good hand-eye coordination, finesse and strategy are needed to play the game well.

The Honolulu Lawn Bowls Club, which is centered around a square, manicured green bordered by a stone wall near the tennis courts at Ala Moana beach park, is the center of lawn bowling in the state. It's easy to spot because 15 flags, representing the different nationalities of its members, flutter vibrantly in the salty breeze.

But when Sharon Hunt, club president, came to Hawaii with her husband 11 years ago, the bowling pavilion was hardly noticeable. That was the main reason she thought of displaying the flags and planting hot-pink bougainvillaea around the perimeter. She and husband Don, club vice-president, started lawn bowling about three years ago and have been hooked on the sport ever since.

They are hardly stereotypical lawn bowlers, which is to say they aren't old. And Hunt has worked hard to dispel the idea that lawn bowling is only for the wealthy, geriatric set.

In the last eight months, 10 have joined the club, bringing the number to 35 members. But the hundreds of others who join them in competition are from all over the world, thanks to Hunt's ideas to rejuvenate the club. She persuaded members to re-join the American Lawn Bowls Association after several years of not belonging, and her quarterly column in Bowls Magazine puts them on the international map.

Last month, the club hosted Hawaii's first world championship tournament, attended by Great Britain's three-time world champion David Bryant, who brought several teams with him from the United Kingdom. But attracting visitors to Hawaii is not as important to Hunt as promoting the sport to island residents.

By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Marie Parks, 91, bowls at Ala Moana Beach Park.

Hunt wants to allay the misconception that the sport is only for the sedate and snooty. When a round of cheers went up instead of the usual polite applause, Hunt nodded in smiling approval.

"Our club is more relaxed than others. We want to lighten it up and have a good time. Don't have to come down here with a stone face and be dead serious."

Although trash talking is not the norm, Hunt and club treasurer Warren Wong, nicknamed "W," often venture into that territory. When the organized play is over, he and Hunt play "Super Bowl" against each other and the games really begin, with all the taunting, yelling of directions at the ball and use of body language. Wong said it's so much fun others have asked to join in, including proper Canadian visitors, who make up the largest group of out-of-town guests.

Most lawn bowlers from other countries are formal in their dress as well as their manner--"it's a lady's and gentleman's game," Hunt said.

During last month's tournament, they wore long skirts or trousers and neckties, some with long-sleeved shirts. Hawaii club members wear shorts and hats because of the heat, but stick to the traditional all-white look.

Some of the members, like Hunt, Jane Tanida and Tom Mullenniex, were dedicated alley bowlers before they switched to the lawn version, and say the game is a lot more difficult.

Another member, Jim Diamond, still participates in both types and agreed lawn bowling is "a lot harder to learn. With this you have to use your head to make up for the bias on the bowl ... . It's a couple of years before you really know what you're doing."

It took Hunt more than two years before winning her first tournament.

"This is totally different; it was hard for me to adjust to" going from a 14-pound ball to something that weighs about 3-1/2 pounds. "I had to unlearn throwing a big hook," because the bowl has a built-in hook or curve -- "this thing will not go straight," she said, laughing.

You also have to factor in the natural conditions. "It's hard to believe that wind can affect something this heavy," she said. And within a two-hour period, the grass can go from dew-drenched to dry, making it faster. "You have to slow down your bowl as the green dries out," she said.

Mullenniex, who has been a club member since 1983 and is its voluntary historian, said "women have been equal to or better than the men. The club trophies have been won by women more often than not. It's not strength, it's finesse--the ability of adjust to the conditions."

Tanida, 77, was the first woman to join the all-male club when she was 45 years old. She was sitting on the wall, knitting and watching the men bowl. They motioned her over to try it and "I joined that day. They welcomed me and told me to bring my friends."

Lawn bowling is also a lot cheaper than at the alleys, which charge a daily fee. Although members pay $130 a year to join, most of which goes to keeping the grass mowed three times a week, the public can bowl and take lessons for free, Hunt said. And compared to the smoke-filled bowling alleys, the setting of the club is "truly a paradise. We're outdoors in the sun in a beautiful location in the fresh air."

According to a passage in an American Lawn Bowls Association handbook, "Bowls is a science, the study of a lifetime. It is a contest calling for courage, skill, strategy and self-control. It is a test of temper, a trial of honor, and a revealer of character. It affords the chance to play the man and act like a gentleman."

It's also a lot of fun, says Hunt, who urges everyone to "Come on down!"

Rules of the game

Object: To get the "bowl" as close to the "jack," a white ball, as possible; a point is earned for each of a player's four bowls that get closer to the jack than his opponents'. Basic strategy includes bumping an opponent's bowl farther away from the jack, or bumping the jack itself farther away from an opponent's bowl.

Playing area: A "rink" (or lane) about 15-by-120 feet; eight rinks make up a bowling green, whose surface is "Tifgreen", a Bermuda hybrid, mowed three times a week. The players go back and forth, starting from one end of the rink, about 16 times in a game.

Equipment: Four bowls per player that vary slightly in size according to one's hand size, weighing about 3-1/2 pounds. Each bowl, about the size of a softball, is asymmetrical and weighted more heavily on one side (the bias).

• A jack, about the size of a billiard cue ball, is the target.
• Smooth-bottomed shoes to avoid tearing up the turf.
• A measuring tape to see who's ball is closest to the jack.

Teams: One, two, three or four people on each team; each game has two teams playing against each other. Each team has a "skip" or director who decides the strategy of its members in building the "head" or placement of the balls closest to the jack.

When: The Honolulu Lawn Bowls Club plays Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 9:30-11:30 a.m. at Ala Moana Park. Official members can play anytime; non-members can make arrangements to play or take lessons for no charge with Sharon or Don Hunt at 941-2291. Regular players own their own bowls, but the club has some to lend to visitors.

Who: Anyone over 18. The club can't risk allowing children to tear up the turf.

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