Ten Golden Rules 
Tennis Court Maintenance
The aim of a grass tennis court is for it to be even, hard to firm, provides good foothold for a player, especially when running at speed and turning sharply to deliver or return a ball. The court will play consistently throughout, giving good bounce and pace. A uniform and dense grass sward with good root growth, with a surface that is free of fine-leaved and broad-leaved weeds. The court will have adequate drainage for a light clay loam soil. The main grass tennis season typically runs from May to September, with a peak in June and July.
Thin Sward
A turf surface which has a low density of grass leaves and where the base of the sward can be easily seen. A thin sward may look satisfactory from a distance but upon closer inspection it is clear there are problems which need addressing. There can be many contributory causes of a thin sward, including:
Time Blocking
A structured approach to workload management. It has specific periods of time blocked out for the carrying out of different activities.
Time Management
This is a self-management skill, being part of the wider employability skills. Time management involves the planning and control of time spent on activities, becoming better organised, prioritising work requirements, setting and managing aims and objectives, and eliminating wasteful time.
Work study can be a helpful and comprehensive process to analyse activities and time spent on them, with the aim being to improve overall efficiency and effectiveness. This is certainly a subject area which employees and managers should be encouraged to become more familiar with.
Some common questions
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Time Stealers
Not exactly a thief of time, but rather time lost through inefficiencies that provide little benefit for the time consumed in achieving the outcome. Some actions, especially those with little focus, that are carried out use a lot time, but with little return, so time wastage is relatively high. Some typical time stealers include:
1. Machinery breakdown. This can be common in the grounds care industry and it can be a significant time stealer, especially on the day of the breakdown, having potentially significant negative impacts on the day’s work schedule and on other colleagues work schedules
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Time: Valuing it as a Resource
Time is a valuable non-renewable resource. Appreciating that it is a limited and non-recoverable resource can help an individual to focus on making beneficial use of time.
Recognising the limitations of time can help to focus attention on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the time available to carry out work activities. Some actions that might be considered include the following:
1. Clearly defining the purpose of the task and how this can be adequately achieved in the least time possible.
2. Prioritise tasks, ensuring that the most important and impactful is attempted and co
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To Do List
A simple time management technique whereby a list of tasks, which might just consist of a key word at times, is written down for what needs to be completed.
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Total Top Service
A design feature of maintaining some irrigation pop-ups without the need to excavate around the installation to get to parts needing servicing. It is a named feature of some Hunter Industries pop-ups and is often shortened to the acronym TTS.
Tracking