Category: Greenkeeping

August 7, 2026

Climate Change Challenges for Greenkeepers 4. The Circle of Decline

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.

August 6, 2026

Climate Change Challenges for Greenkeepers – Part 3: Keeping Bowling Greens Alive During a Heatwave

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.

August 1, 2026

Introducing Academy Lite

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.

July 18, 2026

Greens are baking; we have to act now to avoid Autumn Renovation failures

Across the UK this summer, bowling greens are being baked in the intense summer heat. Weeks of hot, dry weather have left surfaces bare, cracked, and rock-hard. For many clubs, the underlying soil has crossed into a more serious condition — hydrophobicity — where the soil physically repels water, a phenomenon known as Localised Dry Patch.

If that’s where your green is today, you’ve got a problem.

You can simply can't wait until your usual mid-September renovation

July 18, 2026

Breaking into the Circle of Decline this Autumn

Yes, I'm thinking about Autumn already. Why?, It's all to do with the devastating effect of Localised Dry Patch on many greens this year. I've ever had so many people get in touch. It looks like the more regular occurrence of extreme heat and long dry spells is demonstrating the problem of excessively sandy rootzones, much better than I could ever hope to explain...