New Bowls Dunedin chairman Geoff Simons is stirring the pot.
He wants change and believes positive action is needed to stop a decline in membership.
Simons is concerned playing numbers have declined by 316 members, almost 15%, in the past four years.
"If things continue to be done the same, then the same outcomes will occur and the decline will continue," he said.
Because of changes in work practices, people had less spare time and were not prepared to devote a whole weekend, a whole day or even half a day to bowls.
The Bowls New Zealand initiative of "Mates in Bowls" and social bowls had proved popular, he said.
"There have been lifestyle changes and people are prepared to give two hours to bowls," Simons said.
"But they are not joining clubs.
"Bowls must give the public a product to attract them into the sport."
Simons said bowls should offer a product that was the equivalent of nine-hole golf and twenty/20 cricket.
It was ironic that bowls should be in decline throughout the country now because the Baby Boomer generation was now turning 60 and had more leisure time.
Simons told the yearly meeting of club delegates to look at the problems and asked them to think of the wide range of possibilities.
"Some other centres run totally different interclub events than we do," he said. "There are some competitions that could be advantageous for Dunedin clubs to adopt."
Delegates have been asked to consult their clubs on 12 remits.
The results of the postal ballot will be known at the annual meeting of Bowls Dunedin on June 16.
Simons said the most important remit concerned women's bowls.
"We need more opportunities for women to play in competitions on Saturday afternoons," Simons said.
The other key remit concerned the time registered bowlers needed to devote to the game.
"We need a shorter version of the game for those that want to play for less than half a day," he said.
Simons also said he could save Bowls Dunedin $4000 annually by changing the yearly handbook to an A4 format.
"It would give advertisers a greater presence by inte-grating their advertisements into the draws and taking advantage of distributing that information over the Bowls Dunedin website," he said.
"We hope to have no increase in subscriptions, other than for GST, from members.
"That would be exceptional with so many things increasing in price over the last 12 months.
"Most people agree change is needed but there is little agreement about what that change should be."
