in curling what does the hammer mean

In curling, “the hammer” means having the last shot in an end, which is a big strategic advantage because you get to react after everyone else has thrown.

What the hammer means

• The hammer is simply the right to throw the final stone of that end.

• The team with the hammer always delivers second, so they see the whole scoring situation before deciding their last play.

• Because of that, the hammer is considered a strong advantage and teams with hammer aim to score multiple points, not just one.

How a team gets the hammer

• At the start of a game, the first hammer is usually decided by a pre‑game “Last Stone Draw,” where each team throws stones toward the button and whoever is closest gets hammer in the first end.

• After that, the team that does not score in an end gets the hammer in the next end.

• If neither team scores (a blank end), the same team keeps the hammer into the next end.

Why teams sometimes “give up” a point or blank

• Elite teams often prefer to keep the hammer for a chance at scoring two or more points later, instead of taking just a single point now.

• That’s why you’ll sometimes see a team with hammer deliberately blank an end: they’d rather keep that last-shot advantage than cash in for only one.

Quick forum-style take

In forum discussions, fans often say the hammer lets you “hammer home” the end: you set it up so your last rock either wins you multiple points or erases your opponent’s plans.

TL;DR: In curling, the hammer is the last shot of the end, a key advantage that teams fight to get and carefully manage throughout the game.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.