Many bowling green irrigation systems were installed to provide occasional supplementary watering rather than to replace tens of thousands of litres every week through an extended drought. Tank capacity, mains refill rate, pump output and sprinkler efficiency all become limiting factors. A typical perimeter system with one sprinkler position on each side of the green may require roughly two minutes of operation at each position to apply an average depth of 1mm. The precise figure should always be established using catch cans, because the quoted output of the sprinkler is less important than what actually reaches the surface.

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As greenkeepers we are familiar with a short list of fine turfgrasses that we use to create the best surfaces for bowling. However, our summers are beginning to behave very differently to the conditions favoured by these grasses. As temperatures rise and rainfall becomes less reliable, our cool season grasses are being pushed into conditions their photosynthetic system isn't adapted to. Growth stalls, roots recede and leaf colour fades, not necessarily because we've done anything wrong, but because the plant itself has reached a physiological limit.

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Who can forget 1976 when we all burned up through the summer holidays? And 1995 now seems like a stupid year for me to try to build a golf course in one of the driest regions of the country and it was tough work, but we didn't know what summer would be like from one year to the next. However, since the mid 90's, choosing your best summer has all become a bit of a Blur, sometimes with no Oasis in sight :-). I have now lost count of the summers like 76 and 95, because they have become all too regular and as we've seen more recently this is now starting to hit home hard for those of us trying to maintain greens.

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Heatwaves demand a change of priorities. Stop opening the surface, water deeply, hand-treat dry patches and let the clippings fly. Here’s how to keep your bowling green alive without making the underlying problems worse.

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Not every bowling green needs another soil analysis simply because twelve months have passed. Some clubs are still working through the programme produced from their previous report. Others may be happy with the progress they are making and want to continue along the same path for another season. Some greenkeepers simply feel that annual testing is more frequent than they need.

Until now, these clubs faced a fairly blunt choice: renew their Academy Membership and receive another soil analysis, or leave the Academy and lose access to the advice, courses, discounts and support that helped them put the programme into practice.

So, in response to a common enquiry, I've introduced Academy Lite.

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