Curling StrategyYork Curling Club

November 14, 2010

Jack Inouye

Credit to John Falkingham for providing the starting PowerPoint slides.

** Click your mouse to move through the slides **

Outline

• Basic Concepts• Getting Started• Playing the End• Other Factors to Consider• Strengths and Weaknesses• It’s a Team Game – A role for everybody• Missing on the “pro-side”• Strategies for Beating the Clock

Definitions

• Free Guard Zone– Area from which you cannot remove an

opposition rock from play prior to your team’s 3rd rock of the end

• Hammer– Last rock of the end

• Steal– Win the end without the hammer

• Force– Force the opponent to take one point

Basic Concepts

• With the hammer, Objective to score two points

Anything more is a bonus

Without the hammer, Try to steal one point

At least force your opponent to only one point

Be patient Don’t get greedy

Big ends happen by themselves

Basic Concepts

• With the hammer, Play to the wings Play in the rings

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Hammer

Leave Yourself A Shot AtThe 4 Foot With Last Rock

Basic Concepts

With the hammer, Play to the wings Play in the rings

Without the hammer, Play to the centre Control the front of the house

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Hammer

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If you control the front of the house,how does the opposition get to the

4 foot with last rock?

Getting Started

• Lead stones determine how the rest of the end will play out

• Without the hammer:– 1st stone should be in front of the house

straddling the centre line

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Center Guard

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3 Hammer

Rock is HeavyEnds Up In the House

Could Change StrategyFor Play This End

Getting Started

• Lead stones determine how the rest of the end will play out

• Without the hammer:– 1st stone should be in front of the house

straddling the centre line

• With the hammer:– If you get the chance, corner guard

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8 7 6 5 4 3 Hammer

Corner Guard

Opposition Now Has ToExecute A More Difficult Shot

Getting Started

• Lead stones determine how the rest of the end will play out

• Without the hammer:– 1st stone should be in front of the house

straddling the centre line

• With the hammer:– If you get the chance, corner guard– Another option is to go top of the 4 foot

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3 Hammer

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Offensive Play

Playing the End

• After the first two stones, the possibilities are limitless

• Remember your basic strategy With the hammer, Play to the wings, Play in the rings

Without the hammer, Play to the centre, Control the front

• … but don’t be a slave to it• Take advantages of your opponent’s miscues• Know when to switch gears!

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Corner Guard InsteadOf Center Guard

Come AroundThe Corner Guard

Or Throw Up AnotherCorner Guard

Playing the End

• With the hammer– Get rid of the centre guards as soon as you

can• those are the stones that will permit your opponent

to steal the end

• Without the hammer– Keep putting up centre guards

• Control the front• Don’t go for the house too early

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3 Hammer

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3 Hammer

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Hammer

Playing the End

• Opponents rocks behind the T-line are your friends– Don’t be too eager to take them out –

especially if you don’t have the hammer– Use the “freeze” to make it more difficult to

remove your rock from play

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Other Factors To Consider

• What End is being played?• What is the Score?

– Play the score board!

• Ice Conditions• How good are you?• How good are they?

What End Is Being Played

• Early ends - play more conservative, defensive.– Fewer rocks in play– Team gets acclimatized to ice conditions– Low risk of giving up big end early in game– Without hammer, play into top 4 foot– Hammer – play hit– Change broom location and turn so you can

get a read on different parts of the ice.

What End Is Being Played

• Middle and late ends - play more aggressive, offensive.– More rocks in play– Good shot execution required– Improves chances of scoring multiple points– Without hammer, play center guard, freezes– Hammer – come around or corner guard

• There are other factors to consider on how you call your end.

Score–Play the score board!

• Down by considerable margin late in game– Aggressive or Offensive– Corner guards with hammer– Center guards without hammer, multiple guards

desired– Get lot of rocks in play– Opposition rocks are your friends

• don’t take them out• Lose by 1 or lose by 10

– Freeze or bump them back behind the T-Line• They become “catchers”

Score–Play the score board!

• Sizable lead late in game– Conservative or Defensive– On rings to the wings or through with hammer– Top 4 foot without hammer, keep play in the

house in front of T-Line– Minimize number of rocks in play

• Clear guards as soon as possible• Remove any opposition stones on the rings• Don’t always have to go for shot rock• Be aware of angles when clearing guards

Ice Conditions

• Skip must get a read on the ice– Learn from every rock – even if broom is

missed– Watch how the rock is released– Watch opposition stones as well

• Straight Ice– Come around – difficult to execute– Play tight guards and tap-up

Strengths and Weaknesses

• Know your team – play to their strengths• If you don’t know your team, draws are

generally better than take-outs – Takeouts require skip and shooter to be in

sync – there are many ways to miss• If a take-out misses, that’s all there is

– Draws require shooter to find the right weight and skip to find the right broom – but separately

• A missed draw can often still be useful

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Draw provides more options

Ideal Result

Heavy

Light

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Missed hit is a lost shot

Strengths and Weaknesses

• If you are going to play a draw game, commit to it– Don’t go after the FLOB

• Last 3 words of the acronym “Little Outside Biter”• Use your imagination for the first word.

– It takes nerves and patience – and occasionally you’ll lose a big end and a big game

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FLOB

It’s A Team Game

• Lead is key position on the team– Positioning of lead rocks will dictate the

strategy for the end.– Lead should have a strong draw game

• Second and third need to be able to throw takeouts and make finesse draw shots.

• All three should be strong sweepers

It’s A Team Game

• The Skip needs to:– be able manage the skills on his team and

adopts the strategy that best suits the team– be able to make the last shot, draw, tap or hit,

under pressure– be able to read ice, releases and adjust

strategy and shot selection to suit.

• Skips do not need to know how to sweep!

Pro-Side Misses

• Nobody’s perfect– Missing on the “pro” side means erring in a way

that does the least damage– Depending on the situation:

• Light is better than heavy• Through is better than behind the T-Line

• Always be aware of plan B and C shots– If shooter is inside, outside, light or heavy– Everyone on the team should be aware and

communicating weight and watching release

Strategies For Beating the Clock

• Plan ahead, knowing some basics of strategy– Plan your next shot based on anticipating

what your opposition will call– Assume that your opponents will make the

shot you anticipate– This will reduce the time taken thinking about

what shot to call

Strategies For Beating the Clock

• Bank time early in the game– Takeouts take less time than draws– You may want to consider playing a couple of ends

up and down (in the house and lot of takeouts) – Fewer rocks in play, less to consider

• Team must be in position and ready to shoot when the skip puts the broom down

• At the end of the end, leads grab #1 rock and go to the hack, let others clear rocks

Summary

• With Hammer – Play to wings– Score 2 points– Make sure skip has a shot to the 4 foot with

last rock

• Without Hammer – Play to the middle– Steal or Force 1– Make it difficult for opposition skip to get to

the 4 foot with his last rock

Summary

• These are some basics, however, Curling Strategy is not cut and dry!

• Use what works for you!

References

• GOOGLE – “Basic Curling Strategy”– CurlTech – a number of articles– Curling Strategy:

• An unsanctioned, unofficial, un-censored collection of half-baked concepts by a confirmed curling amateur

• John Falkingham

• GOOGLE – “Curling Strategy With Numbers”