Knowing How to Drive is Crucial to Avoid Being Defeated by Long Jacks

The most popular strategy in lawn bowls is to consistently play long ends. The smallest deficiency in a person’s bowling delivery is exaggerated when the shot that must be played is a heavy one. Moreover, many bowlers just don’t have the physical strength to bowl one long end after another.

The best defense is to get very good at rolling the jack very short and getting very good at drawing to very short jacks, to keep possession of the mat so you can make most ends short. But there is another element to this strategy that is too frequently ignored.

No matter how skilled your side may be sometimes your opponents will get the closest bowls. On these occasions, you must be able to dependably deliver a weighted shot to break up that head.

This is how to get it right!

First, delivering a weighted shot that disrupts a head does not demand great strength. When they try to break up a head, even a head only 21-23 meters beyond the mat, as the ones we are talking about will be, most players swing too hard. The bowl then misses and finishes in the forward ditch. You should deliver the bowl that will disrupt a short end with the weight required to travel somewhere between 27- 32 meters, whatever is comfortable for you, BUT that weight, whatever you choose, must be precise and consistent.

Second, you must study, before you need the information, by what fraction you must narrow your normal draw angle so it crosses the center line at a distance of 21-23 beyond the mat. depending on the surface this will be between 1/3 and 1/4 of your normal draw angle.

And Third, least appreciated and the cause of most failures, you must walk off the mat following your bowl. This is important because it forces you to keep your body weight moving smoothly forward along your aim line and eliminates any jerkiness that would throw off your line as you release the bowl. 

 Even with normal draw shots, I try to remember to walk off the mat but it is the most frequent element of my delivery that I forget. When delivering a weighted shot to a short jack it is crucial to not forget.