Lawn bowls in Nusa Dua Bali

Bruce Emond, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali

Belinda and John Same expected to be watching the grass grow in a lazy retirement.

They are doing that, sort of, as the directors of the Bali International Lawn Bowls Club in Nusa Dua. The Australians tend to the only public grass-court in Bali, and one of the very few in the country, every day of the week.

The club, which opened in July 2001, only offered lawn bowls at the beginning. But a lack of awareness of that sport, and the impact from the first Bali bombings only three months after they opened, led to the apportioning of some of the land for the tennis court.

The court — there are actually two, with one in use at a time, and the other “rested” to recover from use — attract expatriates, some locals and the curious from all over the world wishing to play on a surface that has all but disappeared in tennis’ shift to synthetic hard courts in the past 30 years.

Until the mid-1970s, the Australian and U.S. Opens were still played on grass, as well as a host of tournaments in Australia and Europe. But the difficulties of maintenance led to the widespread introduction of other surfaces in the 1970s. Today, apart from Wimbledon, there are only a handful of tournaments in England, the Netherlands, Germany and the U.S. played on the surface.

Way back when there was even a national grass-court championship in Indonesia, played on courts in Surabaya (the only other public grass courts in the country are in the East Java capital).

“It was like playing in a cow pasture, the ball would land and shoot out in another direction or not bounce at all,” Lita Liem Sugiarto, who won the national event in the early 1960s and went on to play at Wimbledon, told The Jakarta Post last year.

Belinda acknowledges that it’s tough to keep the turf in top shape, especially in a tropical climate. The center of the baseline, and patches around the service box, need particular attention due to wear and tear.

“It’s a seven day a week job, the mowing, fertilizing and watering. It’s high maintenance,” said the lifelong player.

The higher cost of maintenance compared to all-weather surfaces translates into a Rp 70,000 (US$7.70) fee per person to use the court, although there are reduced rates for club members.

Club coach Wayan Widiana, who has also played on synthetic grass, said natural grass courts were an excellent surface for beginners to develop the fundamentals of the game.

“You have to learn to bend your knees to pick up the ball, and also move to the ball, because it doesn’t come to you like on a hard court.”

It’s also an all-forgiving surface, especially easy on the knees and ankles of older or overweight players. And hacks wishing to do their version of the Boris Becker diving volley can do so with abandon.

The club’s focus is still on lawn bowls, which despite the prevailing stereotype, is not a genteel pastime for creaky-boned geriatrics.

“In Australia, we have children as young as 10 playing lawn bowls,” Belinda said, adding that many members of the 15-person club workforce were accomplished players.

“You really feel it in the knees when you have played 21-ends lawn bowls. It’s an easy game to pick up, a hard one to master.”

The Sames plan to stay in Bali, a place they fell in love with when they first stepped off a plane for a holiday 20 years ago.