Winter League
The Winter League held its Annual General Meeting at Netherton Con last Wednesday and attendees witnessed a great advertisement for the winter version and irrefutable evidence that winter bowling does no harm to a properly maintained green. The green at Netherton Con looked immaculate after a 15-week winter bowling programme followed by half a summer season of fixtures.
Winter bowling becomes a lazy target as an excuse for a poor green but the evidence is contrary to that. None of the Winter League's 5 host greens have reported any long-lasting damage to their greens caused by the weekly winter visits.
Every club has members who are opposed to winter bowling with no evidence to support such an opinion whereas those greens that have winter bowling, provide evidence that such use has done no damage to their green. Every green has problems every year. Why do people look to the easy scapegoat of winter bowling when the evidence is to the contrary?
I asked Geoff Dyson the Netherton Con greenkeeper if their first season of Winter League bowling had caused any damage to the green. He told me that they had only one bad experience when they had allowed bowling to go ahead after a hard overnight frost. "We learnt the lesson," he said, "and we won't be doing that again otherwise the impact has been negligible."
The Winter League is not a poor man's Griffin. We do not bowl on the green regardless of the overnight weather conditions. We definitely do not bowl at all costs. We bowl when it is safe to do so and when the host green club is happy that no lasting damage is going to be done to the green.
The Winter League insists that the host club call the shots on whether bowling goes ahead on match days or not. They are best able to read their own green and make the decision based on their own priorities which are always going to be the long-term impact on their green.
Instead of winter bowling why don't people look at a host of other factors as to why a green is not up to its best? Such as - heavy rainfall, flash flooding, poor/no maintenance programme, lack of investment in equipment and treatments, dry summers leading to brown greens, wrong application of chemicals, seed planting at the wrong time, over-use of top sand dressing, conflict of expert opinions and there are more. There are plenty of greens that are closed through the winter months that still have problems and poor surfaces, so what are they blaming?
John Pix is the greenkeeper at Springwood another Winter League host green and he told me that he vehemently believes that winter bowling has been good for their green especially as his green maintenance budget has increased directly as a result of income generated through winter bowling.
Bowling greens only exist because bowlers want to bowl on them. Increasingly bowlers are supporting the explosion of winter bowling competitions. If greens really are there for bowling on when bowlers want to bowl on them then why close them when bowlers want to use them? It makes no sense. All these 'experts' have no experience of a home green after a winter season of action. Why cannot they accept the reality from those clubs that have gained that experience?
We all prefer to bowl with the sun on our backs but we also know that we have milder winters now so why shouldn't we take advantage of that? I have plenty of photographs from Winter League matches with bowlers wearing shorts and in shirtsleeves enjoying an extended period of playing their favourite sport.
If a bowling club is a business then they need to listen to their customers and respond appropriately. If they aren't run as a business then inevitably they will stop trading eventually. These are difficult times for many bowling clubs with reduced membership and an ageing member profile. There are a lot of business and social reasons for supporting winter bowling and the demand is definitely there.
The host clubs in the Winter League are reporting profits around £3,000 for playing 3 hours a day for 15 days during the October to February period. That sum is surpassed if you have a bar open on matchdays. Stopping bowlers from bowling should not be on the agenda of any customer-focused club intent on staying in business.
The Winter League currently has one vacancy for a host green for the 2023-23 season starting in October. In addition the League is planning for further expansion in 2024 with an expectation that two more host greens will be required for the 2024-25 winter season.
Any club interested in becoming a Winter League host club, this year or next year, can learn more and have all your questions answered by contacting Jeff Jacklin on 07968 171 197 or by email at jefftheref2000@yahoo.co.uk or by using our Contact Form. We would love to hear from you.
On the general topic of clubs doing winter league bowling for finances etc......... I think a good discussion is
DO WE IN BOWLING pay enough in membership towards our bowling clubs needs... Would £100 a year membership actually be a reasonable sum....I bet some people have just choked on there choccy biscuit ,but at £2 a week is it that much compared to golf membership ????
The Winter League is clearly a great success for bowling and I can understand that the condition of greens can improve when the host clubs invest the profits made ,back into the maintenance of the green. It can also allow the clubs to afford more professional expertise in maintaining the greens and therefore maintain the green better than previously.
On the other hand, if clubs don’t do more work on the greens then logically the greens won’t improve and I take the point that greens need time to recover. There is no doubt in my mind that our green at LINDLEY would deteriorate with winter bowling . Why? Because the green has a shallow root system . We see th…
Good points made there and of course it relies on greenkeepers being given the budget to deliver a good green. As you rightly say Netherton Con and Lindley Lib have been rewarded for their investment in winter league bowling and are models to follow. Re your specific references to two greens, and I know that they are big enough to respond on their own behalf, Milnsbridge use a professional green advisor but do most of the work themselves. Their green advisor told them that the reason their green is not in a pristine condition, I cannot comment on your 'worse in 20 years' definition is that they seeded at the wrong time. He had told them when to put the seed…
If the clubs are doing it for financial reasons then good on them as we all need the clubs to stay open and survive ...,but at the same time the greens at some point need a rest or we need to get better educated greenkeepers (which I am not)... I took a team down to springwood and it was very poor...I've bowled at milnsbridge bc for years and it's the worst I've ever seen it in over 20 years....and thorpe green ???? Don't get me started...... The winter league is a fantastic restricted( not available to all) run league but if these clubs are going to be hosts and make alot of money then please at least put some of…