Short Bowls: The Number 1 Problem of Social Lawn Bowlers

The picture above shows a not-atypical head from a club triples game.  Because bowlers focus on the jack when assessing their proper weight more than 50% of shots don’t make it up to the jack. This is a waste because if the jack is touched by a bowl it essentially always moves back and away from whichever bowls have been left short. Another disadvantage of bowling short is that when such a bowl falls, it falls away from the jack. On the other hand, a bowl delivered behind the jack normally falls back towards the jack bringing it closer.

Skips can easily repair this deficiency simply by putting down their foot as the target one meter behind the jack. Imagine how different the above picture of a head would look if all the bowls were a meter further up the green. There would be many more bowls snuggling around the jack with a few good ‘catcher’ bowls behind it.