Today we had a situation where the cochonnet was knocked relatively close to the circle. I know Article-9 provides for this:

Article 9 (FPUSA RULES)
...
3) When the jack is displaced to more than 20 meters or less than 3 meters from the playing circle.


But I was wondering if anyone has encountered a round where their cochonnet was knocked to the valid minimum(3 meter approx. 10 foot) distance.

For us, it was surprisingly difficult to throw/roll boules at this distance - our muscle memory was adapted for longer distances.

Jeff
-Detroit Petanque Club

While intuitively it seems unlikely that the jack can end up closer after being hit by a boule.

I have had the situation that the jack has been hit and it has bounced of a stationary boule nearby.

I would agree that often people find short ends challenging. (even 6 M)

Equally I have played ends of petanque that have been closer to 20 M and had all the remaining boules thrown out of bounds well behind the jack.

When you mention to people that petanque is played between 3 and 20 meters many people get confused with the rule that the jack is thrown between 6 and 10 meters.