Under development but because of the many youtube videos reference posting now.. will probably finish by end of first week of February 2026.
Have tagged this as Advance athletic (AMem), it is the second part of two blogs because for the athletic with a developed "Muscle Memory"; this blog will assume you know and have a "Muscle Memory" delivery.
After the first few paragraphs suggesting method of knowing the "Jack Distance" the blog will suggest how to take this distance from a Pre-mat Calculation to the mat and still do an instinctive delivery. Or continue to develop their delivery toward a Muscle memory performance.
To those with a developed "Muscle Memory" they feel and know the "Void" or "Zen Moment", but for the new bowler wanting to know the Jack Distance it is necessary to just have confidence that during your delivery your calculation will apply without your thinking of it.
We teaches that the bowl delivery weight is influence by three forces. First your physical movement, then your "body Movement Speed" and "Conditions of Play", all which may change in delivery or result of delivery. In another blog on "Changing Green Speed" which explains how my club's green delivery speed changed three times in a few ends. That blog uses a Curling trick to read green speed as because of the club's location near a large body of water in June caused dew onto the green as the sun set. The third part of Bowl delivery which we have no influence over but necessary to know.
The photo (right) shows a Blind Bowler's Distance marker because the individual centering the jack indicate the distance the rolled jack is from the mat. However, that distance is 21 meter when the mat is at the "Mat Line" and the Jack is at the "Hog Line". If the mat is brought forward 5 meters the center jack will be announced as 26 meters even if the jack is just legal at 21 meters. (often, in blind bowls games, the mat remains at the mat line for the entire game)
A legal jack can be between 21 meters and 31 meters with the "Respot mark also at 2 meters from the back ditch. In the photo it is showing "29 meters because the "Respot" or "T" mark is at 31 meters. As the mat is brought forward from the "Mat line" this maximin distance decreases from 31 meters to 21 meter when the mat is brought to the opposite direction Hogline.
So "Jack Distance" requires to be calculation, how far above the Mat Line the mat has been placed and how far up the green the jack has been rolled. Be substraction of the Mat Line distance from the "Up the Green Distance" you have the Jack distance for your delivery.
In developing our Delivery we often look at the "Jack Distance" and feel it as "Close", "Far", "Very Far" or somewhere between those distances. We guess and throw the bowl and watch to see how close we are. This "Guess Distance" of the jack is not the right way to instruct yourself of the "Jack Distance".
"Skip's Assistance" often is not seen in major competitions because it also instructs the opponent of the "Jack Distance" and although a good skip will develop his team and be using signals to indicate the "Jack Distance" to his lead. These quick signals only occur once after jack was centered and usually to help the lead's performance.
The most common Skip Assistance is his body movement after the placement of the jack on center line. Sometimes we see the skip walk to the "Hog Line" or the back ditch and then walk back to the jack. (the 2 steps to a meter is known by all). My first skip of a money competition would put fingers to his chest, which was for my one "Natural Distance" and showed how much more I needed. In another competition I saw him used that same signal for his players to know the points in the head.
Since that time, I have developed the use of the same signal for indicate the other distances of 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 distance. points in the head allowed it to be confused by opponents as Points and not Distance..especially at times when they have asked the lead to bring up the mat. There are several methods if the mat is at the "Mat Line"
. Sometimes the skip after placing the jack will step back to the "Hogline" to indicate a jack a few meters over. (2 steps are close to 1 meter).
The jack will always be between 21 meters (the "HogLine") and 31 meters (The back Ditch) unless the mat has been moved forward. Since this distance of 10 meters is the playing green between the Hogline and the Respot or "T" spot; a player can use other indication to know the jack distance. In those first walks up the green I often take a lot of notice of furniture or buildings at various surrounding of the green.
The front of that bench is 1/2 green, or that miss-colored sport on the green is 1/4 green. All of this sign as you go up the green and then back after the next round of play should be your distance markers. The benches at my club are 3 meters apart so I can say 23,26,29 and the same with the clubhouse where windows are same distance apart.
When you have the distance now is the time to use that information.Go to the mat after having done your pre-mat routine (verify bias, decide on method of weight increase, etc) and as you swing back your delivery arm in starting your delivery see that image and then allow your instinctive delivery to happen. At first I had a filler image which I used (like a cloud or flag flying) which was my thought as the delivery finished.
Remember, it will take practice and you will know you have inserted the distance by that image. (the bench, the car in parking) because you will feel that "Void" after your delivery. But practice because now you are interrupting the subconscious mind for that image; later you can think the image prior to delivery without interruption as you train you mind that it is part of your delivery. One problem, the distance image has to be always part of your Pre-Mat routine. See it and it will be there.
In an earlier blog I indicated you could put a few inches more on a delivery by thinking of feeling your foot (toe) on the green as you step forward (an indication of moving your body weight forward a bit).
Or take a few inches off by feeling your heel on the ground behind you. This is just a thought but the subconscious learns it is an instruction to do more body movement or less movement.
Each time you practice a Muscle Memory interruption it is the same. An image or thought during your start of delivery and quickly leave it.. At the beginning you will use your filler image to occupy your thoughts.
There is two things I will introduce here. Each is an split second interruption of the "Muscle Memory" or subconscious control of the delivery. The first is where players whom are beginning to see a "Muscle Memory" and feel that absence of thought; and is how to introduce a image or thought and allow the delivery to continue.
The second, which I am successful with at about 40 to 50 percent of the time. It is called "Projected Distance" and involves allowing the subconscious to use memories of previous deliveries to jack at other distances. In Archery, Projective Concentration happen when the shooter follows the expression of "Be the target, pull the arrow to you". If you are not aware of Visualization a blog of interest is "Seeing the Shot, Visualization; where a youtube video of Tiger Wood talks about "Being in the Zone". He said he does not see the ball between his back swing and when it is in flight in front of him. There is also a blog to help you discover this "Zone" and its feeling The Lawn Bowls blog of "Three subconscious mind exercise" of December 28 2012; was at first, an attempts to identify to the reader the presence of the Subconscious mind in the athletic's actual Lawn Bowls delivery.
Your memory of the past several years of delivery to a jack at a distance is like a DVD bank of Music. You have seen every distance being bowled to and watched your bowl go to the jack. If you were to remove a DVD from your bank and it was not the correct music; you would put it back and take another. The visualize of deliveries is remembering rolling a bowl to the jack. if like the DVD you memory is not the right one for that distance; you will feel the lack of reaching the distance and therefore retreive a memory of a longer distance. Yes do another visualizing and push the finish of the image to the jack. Eventually you will feel you have the distance. My self I now restrict my self to three visualization and I am often it is the distance. I believe that the great athletics do this and only need one. It is real, it happens and it is amazing to feel and achieve.
To the first "Interruption" of Muscle Memory. In an earlier blog in explaining how I was shown to put a few inches (8 or 10) onto a delivery I wrote. "
Of course. when the mat is being placed, as I skip I count the steps it is brought out as this information is needed to define a legal jack. As most skips identify the "Natural Distance" of the opponent it also helps them to see the strategy of the opponent. Every player, especially leads of competitive play, should develop their own method of reading the greens and surrounding for "Jack Distance".
Now, for the Advance athletic with a developed "Muscle Memory" who wants to develop or experience Projective Distance. Above I suggested a "Grass Speed Meter" which come from Curling where students are taught to count to measure the speed of the ice.
First take a look at the Petanque video of Mark Wildeboar Petanque Shooting and watch his left toe or shoe. He is visualizing his ball flying to the target and after three Visualization he does successful the shot. Maybe he has placed the target ball at his Natural Distance and so does a great shot. Myself in Petanque, I have found even the best "Canadian" Petanque players have a distance they have a low success percentage. Actually Mark could close his eyes after his visualization and still make the shot. That is how strong the Subconscious mind is when performing.
This Visualization of Distance is easy in Petanque because the jack (cochon) target is only a different distance of 4 meters between the closest and farthest distance legal.
As for Lawn Bowls, the 2024 blog of "Talking to the Subconscious mind 2/3" discuss this same visualization in detail and so this blog ends with reading that blog and watching the pairs' leads; Angela Bold (NZ) and Lora Daniel (WAL) in the 2016 World Bowls Final .
Both leads have body movement similar to the above petanque player as they visualize the "Jack Distance" and then perform a Muscle Memory delivery to the Jack. For bowls it is harder to achieve this level of Visualization because of the longer distance but with Practice and not accepting any interruption of the subconscious performance; you will develop this level of Distance Visualization measure of the Jack.
Myself I don't do competition much any more and this will be my 4th year working on this Visualization. My staying in the zone "Not interrupting the Muscle Memory" is about 50 percent and that is because my focus or concentration often does not push my vision to the jack.
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