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Author: John

Master Greenkeeper John Quinn is the author of Performance Bowling Greens, and several other titles on Greenkeeping, Club and Business Management.

Irrigation for Bowls Greens

Further to my previous post a lot of clubs have been in touch recently to ask for advice about irrigation systems; mainly about the cost of installing them.

Readers of my ebook Performance Bowling Greens a practical guide will know that I am not a big fan of the industry accepted standard for bowling green watering systems. They simply don’t work well enough.

Where standard irrigation systems are struggling to apply enough water to help with fending off LDP or indeed to apply sufficient water as part of Read more

Bowls Green Maintenance and Club Survival

The link between Bowling Green Maintenance and Bowling Club Survival has never been more obvious…has it?

Later this week we will be releasing our new publication Bowling Club Survival and in it the process of Green Maintenance is shown to be critical in several different ways.

The most obvious link between Bowling Green Maintenance and Bowling Club Survival is of course that the club with a better green should be able to attract more members and tournaments, thus giving that club a better chance of surviving.

Secondly of course there is another obvious link; and that is that if we reduce expenditure on green maintenance then we will save costs and therefore give our club a better chance of survival.

Between these two clear survival strategies lies a quandary that many clubs have found themselves in for decades now:

“if we spend more money on Bowling Green Maintenance the green will be better; so if a better green would give us a better chance at Club Survival, we shouldn’t be cutting expenditure on Green Maintenance”

In Bowling Club Survival we will discuss why the answer to this argument isn’t as obvious as it seems and leave you with a clear strategy to make progress on this issue fast; but that’s only the beginning because this new guide will tackle 7 distinct strategies that must be mastered in order to give clubs the best chance of surviving the current challenges in both the economy and the game of bowls itself.

Please complete the form below to register your interest and we will ensure that you are among the first to be alerted when the guide is launched.

End of Year Bowls Green Maintenance

It’s nearly time again to be thinking about what to do to the green after the last game has been played.

I still hear the phrases “closing the green down for winter” and “putting the green to bed for winter” all too often and that is a worry.

Of course these are for the most part just harmless terms for the end of the season, but in some cases they still mean literally ignoring the green from now until next March.

Autumn is the only time we can really tackle big issues like thatch reduction and compaction relief in a meaningful way.

We also have to ensure that all running repairs that require re-growth such as over-seeding of bare patches are carried out soon after the season ends to give the work the longest and best chance to succeed.

Moving beyond the autumn renovation plan it is vital that maintenance continues throughout the winter months, especially in terms of compaction relief as this is an ongoing effort and doesn’t stop in winter time. In fact winter is the best time to get on top of compaction by following a concerted monthly program of compaction relied measures.

I’ve updated our Winter Bowling Green Maintenance Guide. The guide is FREE and you can get a copy by dropping your details in the box at the top right of the page.

If you have already signed up to receive email updates from us you will have already received a link to download a new copy.

Good luck with the autumn renovation works and winter programs and remember, if you have any questions just drop me a line anytime.

John

Club Survival

The future of bowls at club level has probably never been less certain than it is today. With many clubs struggling to attract new members and meet the cost of basic bills, the effects of the recession on club revenues and the costs of maintaining and running a club going up rapidly, it is time to apply some lateral thinking to the future of the game in the UK.

Following the successful release of our ebook Performance Bowling Greens, a practical guide by John Quinn earlier this year we are currently putting the final touches to a new and complementary publication called Bowling Club Turnaround and Survival.

This book is targeted at individual clubs and will offer a cohesive strategy to help them assess and quantify their current situation, develop a strategy for turning their fortunes around and finally to implement that strategy effectively.

Bowling Club Turnaround and Survival lays down a step by step plan that clubs can follow to ensure that they are making the best of every opportunity presented to them.

This ground breaking new ebook will be available here from the end of August 2010.

You can register your interest using the form below. This will ensure that you are among the first to be alerted to the book’s release.