Lawn Bowls Tactics with Short Jacks

When you are losing a lawn bowls competition some change is required. That change may be resorting to short jack lengths.

Situation 1

If your side is trying to roll short jacks, the moment the jack stops rolling your skip should move the jack towards the center line with his foot.  If the center line is marked, centering can be done without the help of the lead which means that the lead can speedily be ready to bowl. If the opposition skip calls for a measure, of course, you should immediately agree. The club will have an appropriate tape measure available. However, if a different player from the opposing team calls for a measure from the mat you should hold up your lead briefly to give the opposition skip a chance to speak out. It is their skip who must question the length. A member of the other team may call out the distance the mat is up the rink. If nothing is said, signal your lead to proceed to bowl. Once the first bowl has been put down the jack length can no longer be questioned.

Situation 2

If you are playing under the condition of no dead ends with re-spotting at the 2 meter mark and you are both (i) ahead in the game and (ii) have the mat, you should bowl your lead’s preferred length with the mat placed so that the jack will end up about 2 meters from the front ditch. This way there is little chance to drive the jack out of bounds, but there is plenty of opportunity to drive opposing non-touchers into the ditch or out of bounds.

Situation 3

When your side is trying for short jacks, the best chance to get a playable jack at a short length is to move the mat up until it is two meters short of the hog line. Then you will have two meters in front of the T line and two meters behind it to receive your jack delivery while still being at least the minimum distance.

Situation 4

 If it is the last end and you have the mat but are behind in the score, deliver a short jack from a mat position such that the re-spot position is three meters behind the jack. This will give you the best chance for a big end. Trailing the jack, putting the jack in the ditch or driving the jack out of bounds for a re-spot all offer different results.

Besides tactical changes on the green, you can change the pace of the game. You can even cause a break in a game by requesting a measure to see whether a short jack is the required 23 meters from the front edge of the mat (21 meters in Canada). Your side may even have delivered this where you request a measure. This is legal. It can cause the other team to lose its concentration. They may subsequently choose longer jacks to avoid your requests. In a timed game it can shorten the number of ends played against a stronger team.