The Mount Dora Lawn Bowling Club is primarily a "pill bowling" club. Pill Bowling is an informal arrangement for playing the game where the team members are selected at random. This in turn makes for a very social game and allows for members to get to know other members quickly. In keeping with the spirit of pill bowling, dress is casual. While pill bowling is a competitive sport, it is an easy way to get to meet people in a casual environment.

Pill bowling takes place twice a day, six days a week, all year long. In the winter, from October first until May first, there is bowling in the morning starting at 9 AM. The afternoon bowling starts at 1:30 PM. The games are fourteen end games that take two to two and a half hours to play. During the summer, May to October, the morning games start a half hour earlier and there are no afternoon games. Instead there are evening games that start at 6:30 PM. Summer games are twelve end games. If you wish to join us, be sure to sign in at least 15 minutes before the scheduled start time.

Generally teams are made up of three players, a skip, a vice skip and a lead. The skip is the team's captain, bowls last and is responsible for developing the team's strategy. The vice-skip assists the skip at the "head" end of the rink while the skip is bowling and is responsible for determining the number of points scored. The vice skip bowls second. The lead is the first member of the team to bowl and is responsible for collecting the bowls after the "end" is completed. The teams members alternate bowling; the leads start followed by the vice-skips then the skips.

There are several terms used in lawn bowling that require explaining. The ball that is used is referred to as a bowl and is bowled or delivered. The bowl is not a perfect sphere but is slightly elliptically shaped with one side slightly flatter than the other. When delivered, this causes the bowl to curve and is referred to as the bowl's bias. The small white ball that the bowls try to get close to is the "jack". The area on which the game is played is called a rink. The "head" is the collection of bowls, hopefully near the jack, that have been delivered. An "end" is completed when all the members of both teams have delivered their bowls in one direction on the rink. Points are scored by determining the number of bowls for a team that are closer to the jack than the competitor's closest bowl.

If you are a member of another lawn bowling club, you are welcome to join in our pill bowling. There is a small greens fee that will be collected at the time you sign up. To sign up just be present at least fifteen minutes prior to the start of the games and sign in in the daily ledger. The persons responsible for the games will determine the skips for the games and assign the rinks to be played on. After that you will be invited to draw a "pill", a small bead with a number on it, from the pouch. The number on the pill will identify the rink on which you will be playing. Go to that rink and write your name on the blackboard. The skips will create the teams and then flip a coin to decide the team they are captaining.