Thank you

As the 2022-2023 season draws to a close, on behalf of Bowls Auckland and our Board, a huge thank you to all club volunteers and staff, players, officials, supporters, and partners!

The game would not exist without you - you are all vital to delivering our great game. By working together, we can provide the foundation for awesome experiences and relationships formed on the green, which is what it is all about. 

On a personal note, thank you to everyone for making me feel so welcome being new to the sport. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know everyone I have so far and can now back up what I was told before jumping on board - which is the bowling community is special and has an exciting future! 

We hope you have some special memories from this season, and if not, you can still have the upcoming WinterClub series to be a part of!

 -- Dean Bartlett, CEO Bowls Auckland

Trans-Tasman Battle heading back across ‘the ditch’ 

Wellington’s Naenae Bowling Club will host the 2024 Trans-Tasman, as we see the return of this event to New Zealand shores after a seven-year absence.  

Bowls New Zealand CEO, Mark Cameron is excited at the prospect of New Zealand hosting, saying ‘We haven’t hosted a Trans-Tasman during my time at the helm and it’s great to have this opportunity to showcase our world-class team, at a world-class facility, taking on a world-class bowling nation.’ 

The Calendar of Events is integral to our season - it's a vital resource for clubs and players to chart out who's doing what and when.

It is a big undertaking to deliver the right balance for everyone. So, we have been busy consulting with and working alongside the various groups in our bowling community to develop the new season's programme.

ABC's 1-5 Champ of Champs Singles

Saturday saw Auckland Bowling Club host a Junior Champ of Champs Singles event, which drew a good field on a perfect day for bowling.

The format was the same as for a Centre event – a player had to have won at their own club – with a cap of 16 players due to the fact only one green was available. That said, it still meant four rounds in one day for the finalists; in a Bowls Auckland event they would only have to play five rounds over two days, so it wasn’t far off the real thing.

Epsom Gold Cup 2023

A full field of 28 teams came together over two days during King's Birthday Weekend to play the Epsom Gold Cup. 

Two teams came to the forefront after six games over the two days. The event was won by the combination of David Weir, Steve Campbell and Darryl Mackie with six games won out of six (top image), and second place was filled by Roger Johnstone, Nick Krajancic, and Ian Dee (bottom image).

Congratulations to both teams and thank you to all the teams, some of who came from the North Shore.

-- Roger Sutton

Royal Oak host PBA

It was great to see the Club humming over King's Birthday Weekend for the PBA tournament that we hosted.

Shanghai Singles
It was great to see a good Royal Oak Bowls representation in the Shanghai Singles last Saturday. Sean Mulholland won this event which means he now gets a trip to Invercargill to play the Finals, to win a trip to the Gold Coast. It was a great final with all players capable of winning it on the last end. Gary Cotter was holding two good draw shots. Sean was attacking but missed. Neil Fisher with his last bowl drove the jack into the ditch but it was one of Sean's back bowls that held shot at the finish.

Scottish Singles
There were 30 entrants in the PBA Scottish Singles. Trish Croot playing her first weekend in the PBA nearly won against David Motu. It went down to a tiebreaker to decide the contest. David won the first end and Trish played a great shot to hold shot in the second, when David drove the jack into the ditch and won a terrific game.

-- Alastair McKenzie

As winter arrives, the Winter Coaching programme is just around the corner. 

Winter Coaching is available to all 1-5 Year players, and they can choose to attend any of the six zones' coaching sessions.