What is Your Natural Length of Jack?

Rather often the skip at lawn bowls will tell the lead bowler to send the jack to the lead’s ‘natural length’. Well, what is your ‘natural length’? How is the term defined? Your ‘natural length’ is the length to which you can most dependably, smoothly and effortlessly send a bowl. On the  outdoor synthetic green at James Gardens in Toronto, Canada, for example, my preferred length happens to be the longest jack possible: two meters from the forward ditch when the mat is set two meters from the rear ditch. By good fortune, my natural pendulum swing delivers my bowls that distance.

When on another green, however, I can only discover my natural jack length by grassing a bowl with the same step and swing that I would use at James Gardens and then measuring how far the bowl goes down this new rink. This becomes my  natural length on that rink under those weather conditions.  Sadly, on the slow grass rinks in Ontario, Canada this can be just past the hog line! Whatever it may be, your natural length needs to be determined at the place you are going to play before the start of any competition there. Even if there are no practice ends (as in Ontario Canada), this can be done by rolling a few bowls at right angles to the direction in which the tournament games are going to be played, when warming up before play begins. Grass your natural weight and measure the distance it travels from the front of the mat. Then see how much weight is needed to deliver a jack to that length. Now you are better prepared to compete. Let your skip know your preferred length.