Eye-Line Focus: Where Should You Be Looking When Delivering Your Bowl?

THE ROLL UP - INTRO

When bowlers talk about improving their delivery, the conversation usually centres on grip, stance, footwork, or swing path.  Rarely does anyone mention the eyes, yet eye-line focus is one of the most influential and least understood elements of a consistent lawn bowls delivery.

Where you look directly affects how your body moves.  Your head follows your eyes, your shoulders follow your head, and your arm follows your shoulders.  A small, almost unnoticed change in eye-line can be enough to shift balance, alter swing direction, or change the release point of the bowl.

At The Bowls Academy, we regularly see bowlers chasing mechanical fixes when the real issue starts much higher - at eye level.  This article explores where you should be looking during your delivery, why it matters, the most common eye-line mistakes and how better visual discipline can quietly transform your consistency.

Eyes on the Prize? Why Eye-Line Focus Matters in Lawn Bowls

Why Eye-Line Focus Matters

Human movement is naturally vision-led.  The brain uses visual input to organise balance, coordination, and timing.  In bowls, where precision and repeatability are everything, this connection becomes critical.

When a bowler’s eye-line is stable, the head stays still.  When the head stays still, the body remains balanced.  A balanced body allows the arm to swing freely and repeatably, producing a smoother release and a more predictable bowl path.

When the eyes move too early or too often, the opposite happens.  The head lifts or turns, the shoulders rotate, balance shifts, and the delivery loses its integrity.  The bowler may not feel anything different but the bowl tells the truth.

This is why eye-line issues often present as inconsistent line or weight, even when everything else “feels fine”.

Understanding Eye-Line Through the Delivery

To make sense of eye-line focus, it helps to break the delivery into three visual phases: before the delivery, during the delivery, and after release.

Before the Delivery: Creating the Picture

Before stepping onto the mat, your eyes should already be engaged in the task.  This is the moment where you gather information and create a mental picture of the shot.

Most bowlers instinctively look at the jack, and that’s fine but the goal isn’t to stare at it.  The goal is to understand the pathway the bowl needs to take.  Experienced bowlers often scan the green, noting subtle reference points such as rink markings, patches of wear, or changes in colour.  These visual cues help form an internal image of the shot before the body moves.

At this stage, your eyes are helping your brain plan, not execute.  Once the picture is set, the job of the eyes changes.

During the Delivery: The Critical Focus Point

This is where most eye-line errors occur.

A very common habit is to look at the jack while delivering the bowl, or to begin tracking the bowl almost immediately after release.  While this feels natural, it usually causes the head to lift or rotate too early. Even a small head movement can pull the shoulders off line, disrupting balance and altering the swing path.

Instead, the most effective place to look during the delivery is a spot on the green approximately two to five metres in front of the mat, directly on your intended line.  This focal point acts as an anchor. It keeps the head still, stabilises posture, and encourages a straight, relaxed arm swing.

Elite bowlers don’t watch the bowl travel down the green.  They trust the delivery they’ve built.  Their eyes stay quiet and focused until the bowl has fully left the hand.

A useful mental cue many coaches use is: “Eyes down until the fingers finish.”

After Release: When to Look Up

Only once the bowl has completely left your hand should your eyes move down the rink.  By then, the delivery is done, looking up earlier won’t change the outcome, but it can negatively affect the release.

If you watch top-level bowlers closely, you’ll often see them hold their finish momentarily, eyes still down, body balanced.  This isn’t a stylistic quirk; it’s a sign of control.  That brief pause reinforces good habits and prevents unnecessary movement creeping into the delivery.

Common Eye-Line Problems in Bowlers

One of the most frequent issues we see is bowlers fixating on the jack for too long.  While the jack is the target, focusing on it during the delivery often leads to early head lift and shoulder rotation.  This typically results in bowls finishing narrow or wide, depending on the direction of movement.

Another common habit is watching the bowl immediately after release. This is often driven by a lack of trust in the delivery.  Bowlers who feel the need to watch every bowl closely are usually still relying on visual feedback rather than feel and repetition.  Unfortunately, this habit almost always compromises balance.

We also see bowlers whose eyes subtly drift during the swing, perhaps glancing left or right without realising it.  These micro-movements are enough to influence arm path and release timing, especially under pressure.

In each case, the fix is not mechanical but visual: choose a single focal point and commit to it through the release.

Training Better Eye-Line Discipline

Improving eye-line focus doesn’t require complex drills.  It requires awareness and repetition.

Practising with a deliberate focal point a few metres in front of the mat helps retrain visual discipline. Holding your posture for a second or two after release reinforces stillness and balance. Short roll-ups exaggerate the feeling of staying down through the delivery, helping build trust in the motion.

Video feedback is particularly valuable here.  From a side-on angle, even slight head movement becomes obvious. Comparing deliveries where the eyes stay quiet versus those where they lift early can be eye-opening - literally.

How Eye-Line Connects to the Bigger Picture

Eye-line focus is not an isolated skill.  It underpins many other aspects of performance.

A stable eye-line supports better balance.  Better balance supports a smoother swing.  A smoother swing leads to a cleaner release.  And a cleaner release leads to more consistent bowls, particularly under pressure.

This is why eye-line control is often one of the first things elite coaches address.  It simplifies the delivery without adding complexity and supports mental calmness in high-pressure moments.