A Smooth Delivery and the Subconscious Control of Weight

I have found that after a lawn bowler has played for something like six seasons or more, his/her subconscious can be unleashed to consistently deliver the correct weight to reach any jack between the minimum and maximum distances so long as it is left to the subconscious instincts— that is- being ‘in the zone.’ This is in fact what is claimed in the teaching literature and that indeed is what I have found to be true.

The undeclared caveat, however, is that one’s delivery must be reproducibly executed and smooth. That means no dumping, no wobbling, and no loss of balance. Your subconscious,  according to its secret algorithm, is assuming that your delivery will be executed exactly according to form.

I have further found that the delivery technique wherein I draw my bowl back carefully along the extension of my aim line while counting “a thousand and one” followed by a smooth reproducible forward step with a slight flexing of my forward stepping knee so that my whole foot grounds itself on the count of “a thousand and two” followed unhurriedly by a smooth forward swing of my delivery arm that settles the bowl onto the green as I count “a thousand and three” gives me the best chance to deliver over and over according to the same form.

Now- in the setup for the delivery, it is important not to get away from visualizing the desired arc of your bowl on its path from mat to jack, because this is the data that your subconscious will mysteriously plug into its algorithm for producing the correct weight.

Notice that I intend you to be fully conscious about taking your bowl slowly and steadily back during the count of  “a thousand and one” but from there you should have a blank mind and just focus with tunnel vision intently on your stare point out on your aim line.

If you are anything like me, until you have played bowls for at least six years, you will consider this subconscious control idea to be some form of voodoo. It can’t possibly work, or so I thought. 

Well, it does work but your delivery action has to be smooth.