Short Mat Bowling

Our core values are:

To create a supportive and friendly community
To encourage individuals to fully develop their own and others' potential as sports people and as members of the community

During the winter, after the outdoor bowls season has finished, we play Short Mat bowls in our beautiful 1930's clubhouse. This runs all through the winter from September until the start of April and is open to everyone, regardless of if you bowl outdoors or not. We have members of the Short Mat section who play outdoors, don't play outdoors and many who used to play outdoors but find they haven't the strength to play the green anymore. Short Mat is a fun and very social game and many find it a welcome distraction from the wind and rain of the long winter days.

What is Short Mat Bowls?

Short mat bowls is similar to outdoor bowls in some ways but also a very different game in many other ways. Like outdoor bowls the aim of the game is still the same, get as close to the jack as possible with as many shots as you can. Instead of playing on a green, it is played indoors on a mat roughly 40 feet in length with a wooden block in the centre of the mat at the halfway mark. You must bowl around the central block to get to the jack, which is trickier than it sounds as you cannot bowl off the edge of the mat or touch the block. The weighted jack is not bowled, but placed at varying lengths decided by the skip, on a centre line at the other end of the mat. The position you bowl from is fixed and your feet must be kept inside a specified area in front of the mat. Like outdoor bowls, there is a ditch area at the end of the mat that woods must stay out of unless they are a touching wood or the jack. Games can be played at singles, pairs, triples and fours.

Short mat is a very social game, arguably more social than outdoors given that it is played in a close and intimate environment. It is a great way to keep your hand in over the winter months and for some people is their main bowling game. Either way, a lot of fun is had and everyone is always welcome.

Beginners

We offer three special introductory sessions that can be arranged with the Short Mat Captain, Maurice O'Brien.

Social Bowling

We have two-hour sessions with a break halfway for a drink, a biscuit and chance to have a friendly chat with the other participating members.
Details of session times can be found here

Session Times

We also run an increasing number of social events from quizzes to bingo. Which are great opportunities to meet other members and their families and build new friendships.

Competitive Bowling - We offer opportunities for a range of abilities:

Our Internal League – played on a Thursday afternoon from November until March. Open to all members. Those who sign up and are organised into balanced squads that play a very popular round robin competition. The winners are awarded the Jean Carter Trophy.

Dorset Evening League – home games played on a Friday evening from October to April. Last season we played in the first division for the first time in our club’s history against some of the best short mat players in the country. There is also a lower division for teams still coming up through the ranks.

Dorset Afternoon League – we currently have two teams, who play their home games on either Tuesday or Wednesday afternoons from October to April. Broadstone Buzzards have won this League for the last four years, but this year were very nearly pipped at the post by Broadstone Hawks!

We are hoping to create a third team, the Broadstone Ospreys to compete in next season’s league so there is lots of scope for players to hone their skills against players from a wide range of clubs.

Coaching – we have coaching sessions for our league teams on Wednesdays and Friday evenings. More specialist coaching can be arranged with our club coach.

Why not come along and have a go – you will be made most welcome.

Contact the Short Mat Captain - Maurice O'Brien – 01202 693893 - for further details.