Both Being Polite and Getting Useful Practice Playing ‘Social’ Bowls

Successful lawn bowling clubs have regular roll ups where, because the teams are drawn randomly, players who only dabble at bowls can play with and against dedicated bowlers who most often compete in tournaments.

Some of these social-only bowlers may not be able to deliver a bowl with any kind of accuracy the full length of the rink. Indeed, it is only on the shortest jacks that they can usefully participate. Therefore more skilled bowlers who are also thoughtful and polite try to keep the jack length short; however, this means that this time, which could be practice time, is not well spent.

An answer for this situation is at hand but in my experience few avail it. Bring the mat up the rink to 2 meters short of the nearest hog line and deliver jacks to within 4 meters of the forward ditch. This will give jack lengths of between 23 and 25 meters. Furthermore, it will provide practice playing on a part of the rink and at a length that is used infrequently. Furthermore, the skilled player who practices for tournaments should play lead and thereby getting practice delivering the jack consistently over this shorter distance.

A useful skill is practiced while showing consideration for all the bowlers.