Bowling Green Maintenance: 38b. Minimal Resources and Low Club Membership

What is needed to be purchased as a minimum? This will depend on existing equipment, and also the current condition of the green.

Let us assume the green is at the lower end of quality, which would mean the main issues will most likely be a thatchy surface, dominated by annual meadow grass and with relatively shallow rooting. We’ll also assume that the available equipment might not be the newest, but it works well and doesn’t break down often.

When thatch is wet it acts as a sponge, producing very slow and tiring play. When it dries out during the summer it will become much firmer, producing a quicker surface. Ideally, we want to reduce any thatch layer to a minimum, but for this scenario we will be doing this gradually over the years, without spending on resources we don’t have. So, aeration and scarification will be the two main mechanical activities to be undertaken.

We don’t want to be mowing any more than the minimum, but we do want to have a reasonably dense sward. We will reduce fertiliser application to a minimum, reduce or eliminate watering (accepting that it will dry out and go yellow and even die off in areas).

To encourage a healthier and denser surface which can better withstand dry conditions we will supply the rootzone with plenty of air, so aeration is going to be an important activity to carry out. This may disturb the surface a little, especially in the early stages of carrying it out because rooting will typically be shallow, but over time the roots will be growing deeper into the rootzone helping to provide a much better anchored turf.

For mowing, we will try and aim to keep to the one-third rule (up to 40%) as much as possible to reduce negatively impacting on rooting and sward density, but this won’t always be possible.

Petrol is most likely still going to be an expense, although as machinery transitions over to battery / electric power this will reduce eventually to zero.

A zero-based budgeting approach to maintenance requirements should be carried out, so that the works carried out are fully justified, understanding not just the impact the work is having, or not if the activity is not carried out, but the extent of any benefit gained form the work, but more importantly how does the proposed work contribute to the purpose of the green, which is the key focus of minimal maintenance inputs.