The Malvern
Bowling Club

Bowls vs Golf

Bowls vs Golf

Many golfers take up lawn bowls and wish they’d made the switch ten years earlier! Speaking as ex-golfers and committed bowlers, here some differences between Bowls vs Golf:

  • You can generally walk to the local bowling club and ‘have a roll’ in minutes, compared to a frustrating drive through traffic to the nearest golf course.
  • If you’re a bowls club member, you don’t have to book a ‘tee off’ time. Just turn up, grab your bowls out of your locker, and start bowling! And nine times out of ten there’ll be one of your fellow club members having a roll on an adjacent rink, if you’re looking for some conversation or company.
  • Bowls is a wonderfully mindful sport and a proven way to de-stress. Just breathe … aim … release … walk … repeat … ahhhh…
  • Cost – Leaving aside the difference in membership fees between golf clubs and lawn bowling clubs, the cost of equipment is significantly cheaper. And most bowls clubs have sets of club bowls that they’ll happily loan you when you’re starting out. Not to mention a bit of free coaching. What golf club offers that?!
  • When you’re ready to buy your own bowls, a brand-new set of lawn bowls will cost you around $600 and last for at least ten years (they’re actually date stamped!). That’s $60 per year over 10 years for your bowls equipment. And they’re almost unbreakable. Compare that to constantly upgrading golf clubs and replacing lost golf balls and tees!
  • Bowls is much more social than golf. Hit a bad slice and you’re on your own in the trees – avoiding breaking your ankle in rabbit holes, angry snakes, swooping magpies and errant flying balls from the impatient yobbos in the group behind you – while searching for it. With bowls, you’re constantly able to lightheartedly sledge your mates and solve the world’s problems, while sipping cold refreshments from the nearby club bar between deliveries and enjoying periodic, 40 metre walks to the other end of the green.
  • A recent study showed golf and bowls are approximately of equal exercise value per hour.
  • Frankly, lawn bowls is much more time efficient, given today’s busy lifestyle. ‘Jack Attack’ bowls = 1.5 hours. Nine holes of golf = approximately 4 hours. Eighteen holes? There goes the day!
 

Don’t just take our word for the benefits of lawn bowls. Read what the Victorian Government’s Better Health Channel thinks!

From social, to barefoot, to Pennant, to beginners’ classes – there are a number of different ways to bowl at Malvern Bowling Club. Follow this link to learn more.