Should you roll the rink?

[Dave Smith]

Our outdoor rink is not flat. It has pretty undulations in every direction. We can't have strings to mark the lanes as this makes it more obvious - the shadows make you think that you can walk under the string!
We have aske the council if they could put a heavy(ish) roller on the green. They say that the roller on he back of the regular mower is enough an that a 'proper' roller would cause damage.
Has anyone got views / experience of this problem?

[Angel]

Hi Dave

I'm really sorry that I cant be of any help, us girls tend to do the things like teas etc, and we are quite happy
My Club hires a firm which do all the important jobs like week killer etc we alway know when they have been,
There is usually a large sigh saying Do Not Lick Fingers
Surprised no one has been poisoned got one girl who cant help herself the Skip is alway shouting at her
Will have to leave this question to the Men Angel:rolleyes:

[Sailor]

Some Greenkeepers are against rolling the green, as it compacts the soil, making it more difficult to drain, with the amount of rain we get I would think spiking would be more useful

[snapper]

Hi Bowlers

Have been getting some advice from a very experienced Bowler

He told me the roller on the mower is not considered enough generally.
We use a triple roller called a true level roller when necessary to assist in getting the oddities out of the green rolling in the diagonal of the green. It can also help on a drying or dry green to have a polishing effect to increase the speed of the green. hope this helps. over rolling can do damage as it effects drainage unless other action such as spiking is carried out'

Snapper:D:D

[kiwi bowler]

Yes, I think they need to use a separate roller to the mower, the clubs here do, especially before a Tournament.

[peter]

The Green Committee feel that two much use of the roller compacts the soil, and at my Club it is used on occasions but not all the time.
Like other Clubs we employ a firm that tell us what to do and so far it has worked, no use having a dog and barking yourself

If You have ten people on a Greens Committee, you will end up with ten green keepers, who think they are the only ones who know what to do, best money our Club ever spent was getting a firm in to manage the Green:wink:

[mickpacholli]

Over here a greenkeepr would be considered incompetent and would gain the ire of members if the greens were not rolled before every form of major competition. Good greenies often double roll, but not with the old huge drum roller, although that was used way back. They use ride on multi roller vehicles to roll the greens now.

[snapper]

Hi Mick
I think were way behind you on good green maintenance, Some of your Clubs are fantastic
We have a volunteer Green keeper who is a playing member and a green committee who take it in turns to cut the grass
The problem is they are not getting any younger and pulling a big mower around is getting beyond some of them, we are still using the old type roller
Was wondering do you pay your Greenkeeper Snapper:D

[mickpacholli]

Hi Mick
I think were way behind you on good green maintenance, Some of your Clubs are fantastic
We have a volunteer Green keeper who is a playing member and a green committee who take it in turns to cut the grass
The problem is they are not getting any younger and pulling a big mower around is getting beyond some of them, we are still using the old type roller
Was wondering do you pay your Greenkeeper Snapper:D


Toorak is a small club by Melbourne standards and most of the work, watering, rolling, ditches etc are done by club members but a contractor cuts it and supervises maintenance and restorations.

Most others now have pretty much full timers or intensive contractors where members assist only in minor ways.

It is not top dollar for a full time greemie here as most clubs close for 5 or so months in Melbourne, so it is considered a lifestyle choice by many. Probably $35-45k a year,

[Bargain Hunt]

Hi All,

Interesting about paying 'Green Keepers', my Club paid a member £2000 a year to look after the Green, alright at first but the criticism got to him and he lost a bit on interest. The members who use to help with the green, would not help as they said 'He's getting paid and in principle will not help'.

Eventually the paid member gave up and our volunteer work force are doing an excellent job and the club is saving £2000 a year!!!!!

Guess if you are going to pay it has to be decent money as they can pay in Australia!!!! Us Brits are just Broke these days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bargain Hunt:cool:

[mary]

Hi Mickpaollil

I don't know of any Clubs who pay for a green keeper, we do have a company who come in and manage the green doing things like spraying fertilizing etc
They cost an arm and a leg its a lot of money for a small club to find and takes an awful lot of fund raising
We have been looking at the pictures of your Clubs with double rinks some with grass and others artificial
And are most envious We are struggling to keep our Clubs open a lot of Local Councils who owe the land are trying to close them down and build houses

[mickpacholli]

Hi Mickpaollil

I don't know of any Clubs who pay for a green keeper, we do have a company who come in and manage the green doing things like spraying fertilizing etc
They cost an arm and a leg its a lot of money for a small club to find and takes an awful lot of fund raising
We have been looking at the pictures of your Clubs with double rinks some with grass and others artificial
And are most envious We are struggling to keep our Clubs open a lot of Local Councils who owe the land are trying to close them down and build houses


Mary a lot of small clubs over here have staved off hungry councils by actually making a quid out of the game. We rent our rinks to local businesses for social fundays and breakups, team building exercises, seminars where we charge them up to $20 ahead to play for two hours and hang around for another two hours having a Bbq or seminar etc.

Here is a site of mine that may help...


http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/bowlsrental/

There is a bowler over there Michael Hutley who has spent a year here under one of our best Greenkeepers just last season. Goes by the nickname jabbathehut on Julian Haines forum. Top bloke and I'm sure you could twist his arm for a few bottles of nice red!

[Angel]

Hi Mick real good idea we have got to do something, with people out of work cash is not so plentiful but the heating water bills etc are still rising
What we need is someone with some forward looking ideas getting Club Committees to change their ways is not easy, if its not their idea hell will freeze over before they will try anything new

Angel:confused:

[Angel]

Hi Mick thanks for the tip am going to look and see if I can spot the posts by jabbathehut got to say something you Australians have all very unusual names

Have a Good Day Angel:D:D