Petanque Secret!

Lighten Up!

When you first decide to buy a set of competition boules it is sometimes hard to know which is best. If you can get your hands on any of the publications they generally say that pointers use heavier boules and shooters use lighter boules. So since we almost all start as pointers, we buy heavier boules for our first set. But is that really a good thing to do? And will that set serve us as we move into shooter positions and high lob pointing?

One indication of a good weight for a competition boule might be found in what the French Masters use. If you study their interviews, virtually all of them use boules weighing between 680 and 700 gm. And that is not just the shooters - even the pointers are using what many of us woud consider lighter boules.

It makes sense. Look at their style of play - high lobs for pointing, on-iron carreau shooting, long ends. For that sort of play, definitely lighter is better!

So the next time you are looking for a set of competition boules, remember to lighten up!