Natural distance Bowls & the Wind

"Natural distance" on Lawn Bowls refers to the distance the bowl travels when we do everything the same for the four bowls and find the distance they roll is the same.

This blog will show how with knowing your "Natural Delivery Distance" you can measure variables of the Lawn Bowls Environment such as the effect of Wind on your Delivery or the change
as the Morning Dew lifts off the green and the green speeds up with heat from the early morning sun.

Stats less than 5 hrs later

As we have for several years perform the same delivery movements; we now find our body has a "Muscle Memory of how to delivery a bowl. Now to not change anything on our developed style of delivery;  If we can just relax and  just roll our bowl with our "Natural" movement, we will find that we have the same "Bowl roll distance: Of course, every game you, the bowler,  will need to make some adjustments for those new conditions of play such as the green speed or  the environment like wind, rain, dew.

The greatest bowlers were in the Australian Open this week and some heads looked like the Bowls had been dropped from a passing airplane.  the wind was unbelievable.  But still great bowls was had.

The stats of the blog readership is interesting as the visitors at this time of the year are USA , Canada and United Kingdom as their season starts and Australia where their season is finishing. When I posted the blog to twitter I was not surprise to see almost immediately readers from these regions. This weeks stats  showed a concern for the conditions of play and especially Rain (damage to the greens) and wind; I felt the need to do a blog on Wind and how we can measure its effect on our Delivery..  We often forget how much the environment affect and makes a difference to our bowls whether affecting us the bowler in our delivery or the actual conditions of play.

 Called :Muscle Memory" because after several months of rolling  bowl your body and mind knows the coordination of muscles and the bowl is now delivered to a  "Natural delivery distance", After many years of Bowls,  I have developed three  different natural distances which are  the difference of  bowl roll distance created by the removal of an element of body movement in the often taught Athletic Style of Delivery.

. When as a new bowler and the coach has instructed all the aspects of a proper delivery; you have learn  that  the distance of bowl rolls depends upon the arm swing movement (pendulum) and the Body movement as you do a  step forward into the line of delivery.

 Today, when  I am doing a delivery without any body movement  my bowls goes to 22 or 23 meters (in Canada the minimum distance is 21 meters) and  with the natural "Step into the line of Delivery" my bowl goes to 25 or 26 meters. The third delivery "Natural Distance" is my rather heavy Pendulum swing delivery which is always near  the maximum distance and about 28 to 29 meters.

 Coming to the mat, I evaluate the jack distance and depending upon that distance I use my first bowl  at the closest "Natural Distance", I than add or remove the necessary weight to the bowl as needed for the adjustment to the jack ..

No Wind

When building a house you must build a good foundation and then construct on top of it. Lawn bowls is similar and  the foundation of Lawn Bowls is the natural distance. With the natural distance you can then develop the ability to add on a little weight or take off a little weight, depending upon the jack distance.

Your Natural Delivery can also be use to evaluate the playing conditions of your rink. At the beginning of the game we are given one or two Trial ends where we can roll a few bowls and see how our natural distance has changed with the condition of the green or the effect of some of the natural conditions such as dew on green, wind, or even the direction of the cut of the green)

In a later blog I will discuss how important the jack roll is to a player who knows their "National Distance". But also important is being able to evaluate all the elements of a bowl delivery which are affected by changing environment such as weather conditions.

 We can use  the "National Distance as a measure tape of consistence movement in our delivery and  what we expect as a result and Delivery distance; if conditions are the same. Here I will use an example of how the Natural Delivery Distance can be use to evaluate how a windy day will affect your bowl delivery.

  NO, the wind will not push your bowl the distance you see in the photo at the end of this Blog.  Yes your delivery distance will change the amount and you will say "Unbelievable" but by having a method of measure  " a constant Delivery distance" we can evaluate the reality.

 Each time you go out to the club green to practice you can now check and feel comfortable with the results even if you simply want to know if the Green speed has changed this morning  as the morning dew lifts off the green. A few hours later you can check if again and see that the green now is more dry because of a warm sun and note how your distance will change.. Go out in the rain and learn.

In the photo (above right) we see the bowl cleaning towel being used to check the wind. With the absence of any wind the cloth hang straight down and if dropped, the bowl towel would arrive at the foot of the player beside the mat.

Normal delivery and
changing wind.

. As the wind increases and especially in this exercise, where it is coming from behind the player we will see that as it had become a strong wind (photo 2)  if  the towel is dropped would probably be  blown a few feet in front of the player. Myself,  I use this distance of the towel movement as dropped as an indication of how much the bowls will arrive at the new distance. (2 feet is about 2 meters )

Setting up my study or testing distance.--- Because I know my  Maximum Distance "Natural" delivery is 27 meters; I therefore arranged two mat with a distance of 27 meters between them.. I decided that I would bowl from mat to mat with the wind behind me and  then in my face as I returned up the green.

 We will see in the photos  below that the result of the bowls rolling. when there was no wind or a occasional little wind  (photo  left) was with very little or a  small effect of the wind on the bowls  This is more what to expect under a  normal delivery.

  Noted that there is some distance of that bowl in front and closest to the camera because of the wind force had changed to a stronger wind at the time of that bowl  was being rolled.  However, with the other three bowls we find that the small partial difference is a normal wind changing conditions difference in the bowls.

 In Day 2 and 3 of this years Australian Open Bowls we find the best bowlers in the world still having bowls 2 or 3 mat length from the jack as their bowl and bowl delivery is affected by the rather strong wind..

Earlier, I wrote. "NO the wind will not affect the bowl that much" because there is more to a wind blowing during your delivery than its effect on the rolling bowl. Have you been out walking in a strong wind and remember how very hard it was to walk and force yourself forward  into the wind.  Or the wind behind you seem to push you along the minute you lift your foot to walk.  If you are a bicycle enthusiast you will know the effect of the wind when you are on the highway. With the wind behind you no effort is needed  to advance and then again with the wind in front of you it is like going up a hill and your probably will use a gear change to help you.

You as a bowler have a body movement which is mainly your step forward and some body movement because of your delivery swing. In the three photos below, we see the wind was strong and in the face of the player/ (photo 2)

Now it is important to describe the clubhouse as to the green because in one direction (into the wind) the clubhouse blocks the changing direction of the wind and so it only blows down the green toward the bowler. Here we discover how the bowls fall short when the player bowls into the wind. WHY ?? We are stepping into the line of delivery and the wind is stopping our forward movement as we force to step into the wind.  Therefore the bowl is effected as it rolls but more important; our natural delivery movement has been decreased as we stepped out and the final result is the shorter bowls.

A frontal wind
Photo 2

Depending upon the strength of the wind and the type of bowls that we are using; there is a different effect on our delivery and where the bowl will finally arrive.  However by using the "Natural Distance" as a constant  delivery distance, we can now see how much  the wind has an effect on our bowls and our delivery movements.

We will than know how to adjust for the wind and roll up to the jack.  Same with rain and a wet green.  Use your Natural Distance measure and get out there on the green and do some tests to understand a wet green or light rain effect on your bowl delivery..

In the photo 2a) and 2b) of the three photos  below; we see that  the wind is coming from behind the bowler and pushed the delivery body movement of our step forward to a faster pace as we hurry to catch our balance and thereby giving a increase bowl roll.

In Photo 2b? we see one bowl quite far off to the side of the other bowls.  WHY ??

The wind is not blocked by the clubhouse at that end of the green when I was on the mat. (our clubhouse is shorter than the 33 meters long   bowling greens and being  shorter and to the right of the green there is always a cross wind at that end of the green)  The cross wind or sudden change in direction at the time of my delivery has cause that bowl to roll  extremely to the left.  No, a side wind does not effect the bowl that much but the wind does affect my delivery.

But why so much?  Well this is the difference between a young bowler and a senior bowler.. I am 74 and my balance is less ridged and therefore feeling the wind I lost my balance as I step forward and made quite a bad delivery of the bowl.
 The photo shows how  I delivered the bowl way of line by the lost of my balance and my quick step to prevent myself from falling as I stepped forward. If I had felt the change in wind direction I would not have been surprise and probably made an adjustment before my bowl was almost ready to be released.

Effect of Wind behind and in Front of  the lawn Bowler

So the wind's affect is more than just its influence on the bowl as it rolls.  It affect your balance as you step into your intended "line of delivery" and even your mental concentration. Who of us would  be doing a delivery and not think of the sound we just heard behind  as we are doing the delivery.  Here, in the photo,

 I was trying to do a Natural Delivery and when I felt the wind; I thought "Oh that is strong" and  wonder how  it would affect my bowl delivery to the jack.  But it did more than I thought because I did not consider that my age made me lose my balance and a delivery very much off line.

New Technology today allows an iPhone camera to capture  the strength of the wind and the  effect it has on the distance of the rolling  bowl,  Ask some one to video you as your roll and study your movement is a good use of today's technology. We can see and understand more than just the  effect of  the wind  on the bowl if we take the time to understand our sport and its requirement of us.

Thinking of this new information (how the wind affect our Bowl Delivery) we can make conclusions which will help our game. Like remove the body movement from a long Jack delivery.  When playing a game in a rather strong wind, Is a short Jack or Long Jack easier to play?  Well we see from the above information that to do a long jack Bowl Delivery we will use a lot of forward body movement; so a long jack will be harder to play as the wind varies and the bowls delivery is affected by the wind.