The game is said to have been played on Newsome Bowling Green near Huddersfield for more than 100 years.
Campaigners are determined to keep the club going, but the leaseholder wants to build houses on the land.
Stewart Smith welded the gates shut and said the bowlers had no right to be there.
He said they were trespassing: "The green has been repossessed - it's no longer theirs," he said. "They have no right to be here and they will be removed."
But Newsome Community Sports and Bowls Club said it had a right to play on the green because although who owns the land is under dispute, a covenant on the lease says it must be used as a bowling green.
Jacqui Sullivan said: "Bowls is good exercise and a really good social event too, we do all sorts on here, when we're allowed to.
"Fingers crossed bowls will carry on [here] forever."
Mr Smith agreed that the covenant prevented him from building houses on the land "at this moment in time".
The dispute will continue until it is decided who has the right to the land, and campaigners said it may go to court.
Crown green bowlers in West Yorkshire have broken into their own club after being locked out by the leaseholder.