The Donald Hazell MBE Indoor Bowls Centre holds a full-sized 8-rink indoor bowling green, providing an all-weather arena day and night year-round. It has good natural lighting blended with efficient LED indoor lighting to create a comfortable ambient environment and ample space to accommodate players and spectators. The green has a premium synthetic surface with indoor play unaffected by rain, wind or sun. The mezzanine lounge and bar facilities allow the Indoor Bowls Centre (IBC) to offer a bowling experience like no other in Southern Tasmania, and our ambition is for this magnificent facility to be used year-round to full capacity.
We host various bowling activities, from school and disability groups and organised social bowls to highly competitive pennants and championships. Accomplished players attend training to hone their skills. Those starting out can arrange coaching in which we provide bowls (and you need only Flat-soled shoes) or participate in our barefoot evenings over the summer season. Bowls is a low impact but competitive sport that is not gender or age specific, so anyone can play and being indoor with us, the competition is not weather dependent. When played socially, it is highly enjoyable for non-sporting individuals and allows for meaningful social interactions among participants.
WINTER SOCIAL BOWLS: Our winter bowls program attracts continuing interest from bowlers in Southern Tasmania. We run a number of organized team competitions (with 10-16-week rosters) and organised social bowls. Contact the club or watch our Facebook page at the end of summer for details about entering a team for these. Rosters operate on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and Wednesday evenings for these organized team competitions.
SOCIAL BOWLS (RANDOM DRAW and SINGLE ENTRY): Organised social bowls operate on Monday and Saturday afternoons, and any individual can enter and play. Saturdays have a higher standard, with regular pennant bowlers typically playing. The single entry and random draw characteristic has us organise the teams each day, and hence you can get a game on these days if you arrive about half an hour before the 1 pm start time, put your name down and select your randomly drawn team on the way to your designated rink. The advantage is there is no obligation to organise your team, and it's just a commitment for a single afternoon. Our Monday social bowls are a great entry point for new bowlers, and the camaraderie of our social and bowling members sees this event operate almost every Monday year-round.
PENNANT AND COMPETITION BOWLS: Our Indoor Bowls Centre showcases our top divisions in the traditional summer pennant season (a longstanding inter-club teams competition), hosting Men's Midweek Pennant on Wednesdays, Ladies Pennant on Thursday and the Open Gender Pennant on Saturdays. Occasionally, pennant games are rescheduled for a Friday night, and this provides a great spectator opportunity for our members and guests. Our pennant bowlers will practice their craft during the summer season on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, ad-hoc practice is available 6 days a week outside the times of our competition commitments.
CASUAL USE: The Indoor Bowls Centre is availble for casual play and practice when the centre is open at all other times. Bowls are available to use if you need them, and flat-sole shoes must be worn. For our Bowling and Social Members, the cost is $5 per player per session (up to 2 hours). You do not need to be a member of a bowling club to use our Indoor Bowls Centre; however, Non-Members are charged $10 per player for casual use.
Note: Reciprocal Training & Coaching—Green fees are waived for visiting club bowlers acclimatising to the synthetic green for upcoming events. Participants in paid events also have a period of free roll-up time before the official starting time.
COACHING: For those with a strong interest in getting involved in bowls, our Club has volunteer coaches available to introduce you to the game and teach you the basics of delivering a bowl, scoring, and game play.
PRIVATE BOOKINGS AND BUSINESS/CORPORATE EVENTS: Corporate Bowls competitions enable teams from the workplace to enjoy a social activity outside their work environment and set challenges between individuals and team members. We will set the bowls up for you, provide initial coaching, and set the groundwork for you to have a competitive team event if required.
The Indoor Bowls Centre and the club function room are also available for private corporate functions as an adjunct to staff development and training programs or conferences. Contact Russell Dale, our IBC Coordinator, at 6258 3756 or by email at indoors@kingboroughbowlsclub.com.au for inquiries and bookings or to discuss any proposals you may have.
To read more about the development of the Indoor Bowls Centre and the grand opening, click on the links below for additional information.
