Jersey bowls star Davis heads for Australia

Most PGA Professionals consider it a lifetime achievement to play golf to a very high standard. However, some people develop a similar talent for something else, and Jersey born Ross Davis has done just that.

The 24-year-old works as a PGA Assistant at the Longueville Driving Range at St. Clements Golf & Sports Centre, Jersey.

But this week golf will take a back seat, because Davis will be representing Jersey at lawn bowling in the Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Davis started playing lawn bowling at around the same time as golf, and apart from a break while studying for his degree in Applied Golf Management Studies at the University of Birmingham; he has honed this particular talent to a very fine degree.

Match sharp at club level, at 13 Davis competed in the Jersey Championships and two years ago he was part of the winning four-man team in the British Fours Lawn Bowls Championship, beating Guernsey in the national final.

Davis has already competed in Australia at the World Youth Championships in both 2016 and 2017, and he will be back again this month representing Jersey with the action getting under way on Thursday.

“My lower back issues have impeded rotational movement which affects my golf, whereas bowls doesn’t involve the back in the same way, so it’s all systems go for the Commonwealth Games in April. Wish me luck!”

Asked what are the similarities between golf and lawn bowling, Davis added: “If you think of putting, both involve feel to a great extent as you’re trying to move a ball and a bowl along a specific line to a specific distance. Then on top of that there’s the bias in the bowl, but handling this soon becomes second nature.”