LAWN BOWLING GREENS. . . Nothing but the best!byGordon Witteveen

Itseems lawn bowling belongs in thedomain of the "golden agers". No matter

how hard the sport tried to rejuvenate it-self, all its efforts failed to attract youthfulparticipants, middle aged yuppies or evenearly retirees.

Driving through the suburbs one catchesoccasional glimpses of people dressed intheir mandatory whites, rolling bowlsacross finely manicured grass, or sittingunder umbrellas sipping sloe gins and bal-ancing teacups. They may look content butwhen it comes to their greens they want thebest. Nothing else will do.

Lawn bowlers require a perfectly level,smooth and firm green. The ball mustnever bounce as it rolls across the surface.Irregularities in the turf are simply notacceptable. Thus, a bentgrass green mustnot have any patches of Poa annua, crab-grass or even broadleaf weeds. Differencesin elevation must be eliminated by meansof scalping the high areas and filling thelow areas. The turf on a bowling green isclose cropped and thatch is not allowed todevelop.

ConstructionLike modern golf greens, bowling greens

are now constructed almost exclusivelyfrom a sand mix, placed on a bed of tilesand a layer of gravel. Tolerances in eleva-tion on the actual green are less than aquarter of an inch. The top mix is fre-quently pure sand with only a little organicmatter added. Bowling greens must befirm, almost hard and, therefore, the em-phasis is on high sand content. A bowlinggreen measures 120 feet square, but can belarger, which is desirable to spread thewear. The green is surrounded by a 10 inchwide ditch.

The all-important consideration in lawn

bowling is the 'pace of the green', or itsspeed. On a bowling green, speed is ex-pressed in seconds. The number of secondsfor a bowl to roll 90 feet from its point ofdeliverance to where it comes to a rest isdefined as its speed. A speed of 12 secondsis acceptable but for competitions bowlersrequire much faster greens. It requiresgreater skill and expertise to bowl on a fastgreen.

Soil compaction is a very common prob-lem on the older bowling greens and aeri-fication is the only means by which thiscan be corrected. After aerifying, the coresare removed and the green is topdressedwith a heavy application of sand. The sandmust be brushed into the holes until theyare filled. A steel mat is dragged across thegreen to spread the sand, thus filling theholes and at the same time raising the lowareas on the green. This process may haveto be repeated two or three times during thegrowing season.

Since most of the compaction on a bowl-ing green takes place at the outer rim, it isnot always necessary to aerate the entiregreen. Only the first thirty feet along theoutside of the green needs to be treated.Bowling greens that are built on straightsand without soil amendments requireaerifying much less frequently or not at all.

... when tt comes totheir greens they want

the best.Nothing else will do.

•. JWlWJm'I

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Lawn Bowling Greenscontinued from page 7

On such greens the top layer needs to bepunctured from time to time with a spikeror a mini-tyne aerator.

To prevent compaction the rinks mustbechanged frequently so that the play isspread over the entire green. Another im-portant factor in the prevention of com-paction is to make sure that most of themaintenance work is done by peoplerather than machines. Thus, the steel matused to spread the sand topdressing shouldbe pulled by hand. In fact, if at all possible,use of machines such as garden tractorsshould be avoided.

MowingThe height of cut on the bowling green

is all-important since it, more than anyother factor, determines the speed of thegreen. Any height over five mm usuallymeans slow bowling and most good bowl-ing greens are cut at 3.5 mm or less. Lawnbowling greens keepers frequently havethe bed knives filed off on their mowers toreduce the height of cut still further.

The direction of cut on a green is diago-nal to the direction of play, and it ischanged to the opposite diagonal withevery cut.

Double cutting, to increase speed, ispractised before important events. Sincethere are no undulations in the bowlingsurface, the grass may be cut with thewider Australian mower. This mower hasa 3D-inch cut and usually is operate elec-trically.

It is best to remove the dew with a whip-ping pole or a squeegee roller before cut-ting. Removing the dew is also importantmeans of disease prevention.

It is very important to keep the mowersharp. Its height of cut as well as its abilityto cut paper should be checked after everymowing. The mower should be lappedwith grinding compound at least once aweek.

Thatch ControlThe development of thatch is anathema

to the bowler. Thatch results in a slow,sluggish green and must be prevented or

removed at all costs. The best method toprevent it is daily cutting at a very .lowheight and regular topdressing.

Light topdressing with an acceptablesand every two weeks is an excellentmethod. After the topdressing is applied,a specially designed dragmat is used towork the sand into the turf. Again, the steeldragmat also serves as a means of level-ling the green. Using a broom or dragginga piece of Astroturf across the green is notas efficient because both methods merelypress the sand particles down instead ofactually spreading them around.If, in spite of frequent mowing and top-

dressing, thatch still develops, there is norecourse but to verticut the turf. Lightverticutting can be done when the green isgrowing aggressively and when the turf isnot under stress. After the green has beenverticut it should be lightly topdressed.Never verticut or topdress a green that isunder stress through lack of water or be-cause of higher afternoon temperatures!

IrrigationThe perfection of automatic pop-up type

sprinklers has made watering of bowlinggreens much easier. As on the golf course,many bowling greens suffer from toomuch water with all the accompanyingside effects such as a soft, sluggish orthatchy turf infested with Poa annua.

Water should be applied only when thegrass needs it and this is a matter of judge-ment often acquired only after manyyears' experience. The ability to recognizedying grass is an acquired skill learned onthe job, not in the classroom. However, atensiometer will help determine whenmore water should be applied. As a gen-eral rule, it is best to keep a bowling greenon the dry side. It makes for a healthiergreen and more pleasurable bowling.

Disease and Pest ControlIf a green is maintained properly and the

turf is healthy, broadleafed weeds arerarely a problem. If a few dandelions orsome plantain do invade, remove themwith a knife rather than using a chemical.Small patches of chickweed can be re-moved manually using one of the Austra-lian-made turf repair tools. For crabgrass,it is best to apply pre-emergent chemicals

in the fall of the year.The' most common fungus diseases are

sclerotinia dollar spot and Take-all patchin the summer and snow mold during thewinter season. For the first two, wait untilthe first symptoms appear and then applyeither a contact or a systemic fungicide atprescribed intervals. For snow mold con-trol, a preventative spray is applied in latefall and again when a mid-winter thawoccurs.

Insects are rarely a problem, but cut-worms may appear after aerifying sincethey like to nestle in the aerified holes. Anapplication of Dursban will generally putan end to this pest, but it must not bewatered in since cutworms feed on thesurface.

It is an excellent practice to wipe the dewfrom the green in the morning. This helpsdry off the grass, scatters any worm casts,makes the grass stand up, and facilitates afirsthand inspection of the entire green. Ifthis is followed by a cutting, the green willthen be in good condition to greet the firstbowlers of the day.

Small blemishes on a green can be re-paired by means of sod plugs taken with ahole cutter from a turf nursery. Theseplugs should be at least three inches deepso they won't dry out. They should beplaced at the proper depth so that themower will not scalp them. Nor should theplugs be allowed to settle below the sur-rounding surface, since the bowls will bedeflected by the hollows.

Occasionally, a bowler will drop a bowlwhile delivering it. This results in a deeppock mark, which can be repaired by usinga ball mark repair tool from the golf courseand brushing some sand over the damagedarea.

The objective in creating perfect bowl-ing conditions is to have a very firm, al-most hard green, cut at a low height so thatit has fast pace. A green with these char-acteristics will tend to have a brownishhue rather than a rich green.

Bowlers are a discriminating in theirwants as golfers and, for expert bowler,only the best and the fastest greens willsatisfy. They are willing to travel far andwide to find the perfect green, even if itmeans going to Australia.

[Reprinted with the perm ission of the Author from Turf &Recreation, Vol. 6, #6; 1993]