Our thanks to Martyn Cooper of Banbury Chestnuts BC and senior adviser on maintaining bowling greens to Bowls Oxfordshire, who has created these tips for all those that work on our county greens:

March and April are perfect windows to prepare your greens for the season. 

The winter has been very wet, so moss and fungi have become prevalent in most greens. 

The greens edges tend to get soaked, which is the perfect breading ground for moss, which can force out grass and grow in clumps.

Have a close look at the edges and see if they need the following: 

Broken or weak edges should be repaired in the autumn, but you can still do this in the spring if absolutely necessary.  

Moss in the edges can be treated with Iron Sulphate (mixed to a suitable strength in a watering can with a rose) 

Dead moss can be raked (very carefully) in late March. This may leave bare patches but these can be re seeded as long as the temperature is above 5c at all times. 

Localised dry patches (lpd) may also cause very slow drainage and encourage moss. Lpd causes compaction which can be inherent from the very hot dry weather from last summer. (These will appear as brown barren areas) 

You may well see patches of poor germination in the green, and this may well be from lpd and compaction, especially in areas of high foot traffic and equipment ingress areas. 

Once again, these areas can be aerated and re seeded at the end of the month. 

Aeration in March is essential to encourage good root growth and an  exchange of gasses below the surface. 

I'm fully aware that all of the above can be expensive if machinery is used, but lpd can also be aleviated with a sharp fork. 

Finally, check your mowers after the long winter months as follows: 

Have the blades been sharpened?

Are the blades set to the correct height  (they should be at 8-10mm, which can be slowly reduced over the coming months)

Is the bottom blade set properly (this will ensure a clean cut and stop the grass being ripped)

My apologies if this is too much information but I will make myself available to talk to any club to discuss further if required. 

 Many thanks

Martyn 

07704306236.

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Bowls Oxfordshire Greens Guidance and Support

As part of Bowls Oxfordshire’s ongoing guidance for club greens, we would like to propose the following for the 2025 season:

It’s obvious that each club is different (restricted budgets, lack of expertise etc) and some clubs will not need any assistance at all, as they have fully established working parties and greenkeepers. Bowls Oxfordshire do not want to lay a template for all clubs, as this would apply too much pressure both with manpower and costs. Whilst the County unfortunately cannot offer financial  assistance, we can offer guidance and planning to allow clubs to improve their bowling facilities as follows:

• Evaluation of current club greens (offer realistic guidance and expertise where necessary)
• Work with clubs to ensure the greens can improve throughout the season
• Ensuring that the most important work (the periods between supplier visits) is mapped out.

Please note that this is not an offer to take on the work required, but guidance on best practice.

Bowls Oxfordshire Code of Practice for Greens and Standards Expected to host high profile county games

Bowls Oxfordshire have set the following standards for clubs that wish to host high profile County games.

1. Greens should cut to 5mm or lower on the day of the County match (4 to 4.5mm if the green allows it)
2. The greens speed needs to be as quick as possible. This can be obtained by verticutting several days before the match. (thatch removal by this method      is key)
3. The greens surface needs to be as flat as possible (no bumps or jumps) to allow for accurate play.
4. The rinks should be laid out on the best possible marks for the match. (rinks that cause heavy disruption to the flow of the bowls should not be used)
5. Rink markers (for live bowls and the jack in the ditch) should be available.
6. Try to ensure that the greens minimum measurements are accurate as these will be checked on the day by the umpire (2m, 23m marks etc. on the side of the green)
7. Try not to water the green 24hrs before the match, unless absolutely necessary.

Bowls Oxfordshire understand that the standards above cannot always be obtained, but we hope that these guidelines will assist to allow your club to host high profile county games in the future.

Advice from Martyn Cooper, who has provided good greens for Banbury Chestnuts Bowls Club for many years

Ideally every green should be flat with no runs or bumps, but we don't live in an ideal world. We could go down the route of applying the Bowls England standards which would take ages and would probably alienate most of the clubs and their greenkeepers.

My personal thoughts are that we apply common sense to allow clubs to reach the standards required to host a County final.

How the green looks is not necessarily that important, especially given climate change, with long periods of hot dry weather, and indeed protracted rain showers as we had in 2023.

The requirements to allow bowlers a good chance to play accurately are as follows:

1. Six rinks must be available (in one direction)

2. The rinks must be as flat as possible (holes or bumps will impede the path of the bowls)

3. All four hands on each rink must be of a good standard (deviation due to 'runs' must be negligible to allow 'shots' to be played.)

4. The pace or speed of the green needs to be as quick as possible. (nice thick grass doesn't always allow for this to happen)

5. The green must be cut down to 4 to 4.5mm on the day of the competition (3.5mm can be achieved if the green is flat)

6. The rinks must be on the best possible marks to allow for accuracy.

7. The height of the grass on the edges shouldn't impede a bowls path to the ditch (i.e. grass can be longer on the edges of the green but shouldn't stop the bowl or jack from entering the ditch)

How the green is maintained throughout the year makes a huge difference as good preparation in the spring, especially if there has been an impact with disease, is essential. Prolonged periods of heat or rain will make it hard to maintain these standards.

I hope that this helps and I do understand that a lot of clubs don't have the money or the expertise to maintain a green to these standards.

Many thanks

Martyn

www.bowlsengland.com/greens-advisory-service/