The Opening Drive, which signals the commencement of the bowling season, is nearly upon us. All the pre-season preparations are almost complete, and the members are looking forward to being outside, with friends, enjoying the sport that they love.

Such is the desire to get back on the green that all the early season matches are over-subscribed, and Club Captain, Gail Hawke, is busy ringing round other clubs to see if they can field more teams than was originally agreed. Long may this situation continue, as by the end of the season, when most players are all bowled out, then the selection committee will have difficulty in meeting our commitments!

Over the winter months, three of our members have sent themselves back to school, and they have studied for, and passed, level 1 bowls coaching course. This is not just an hour’s course, but it is a real return to the classroom, both mentally and physically. Their hard work has paid off, and they have all successfully passed, and are proud to wear the coaching badge. The three amigos are Carl Gilleard, Brian Hammond and Grant Hawes.

This now means that the club has six qualified coaches, so anyone wishing to learn a new sport will almost be able to have one-to-one coaching sessions!

Since our previous update, work has continued throughout the winter, with many hours of dedicated work carried out by our Head Greenkeeper – Dave Brown, ably assisted by Maurice. For those that have seen the green, I’m sure you will agree it is looking very good once again.
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Following the scarification of the green in September, there was some continuation of the problems we experienced with Fusarium towards the end of last season. A thorough spraying of the green followed by targeted spot spraying seems to have had the desired effect and we will continue to monitor this - hopefully a dryer summer will also help avoid a return of the problem. Dave has also introduced an application of compost tea which aims to help boost the green’s immune system.

You will all know that last season, there were numerous occasions where we saw standing water on the green and Dave has carried out some deep spiking with around 100 holes applied to the worst areas with the aim of improving the drainage. The aim here of course is to reduce and hopefully eliminate those instances where we have lost days due to a flooded green.

As we approach the start of the new season, the green team has been boosted with the addition of Steve Hoare, Tony Rogers and Brian Hammond who join the existing members and we will all be working hard to ensure the green is in the best possible condition for all of the games to come. This year we will be using our new mower that was delivered in early March and this will provide us with added options when preparing the green.

We wish you all a successful and enjoyable season starting with the Opening Drive on 13 th April.

The Greens Team