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EDITOR'S BLOG

INVEST TO SURVIVE
A must for bowling clubs
by TurfPro Editor, Laurence Gale MSC, MBPR

It has been a difficult year for many bowls clubs due to ever dwindling numbers of members and the upwards spiral of maintenance costs.

The sport of bowls continues to be in decline.

Without a doubt it has been a difficult year for many bowling clubs due to ever dwindling numbers of members and the upwards spiral of maintenance costs. Many bowls clubs up and down the country are now facing the threat of closure.

These clubs are facing closures due to several, interrelated, factors:

Decline in membership: Lawn bowls, traditionally associated with older generations, has seen a drop in participation as fewer younger people take up the sport. The aging membership base leads to fewer active players, and when older members stop participating, clubs often struggle to attract new members to sustain operations.

Financial pressures: Maintaining a bowling green can be costly due to the upkeep of the green itself, club facilities, and other administrative expenses. As membership declines, clubs generate less revenue from fees, making it harder to cover these costs.

Loss of local authority funding: Many clubs historically relied on support from local councils for maintenance and other expenses. However, with austerity measures and cuts to local authority budgets in recent years, many councils have withdrawn funding, placing the financial burden directly on the clubs. We have seen local authorities draw up agreements for the clubs to take over the maintenance and running of the facilities.

Increased competition from other sports: Lawn bowls faces strong competition from more popular and dynamic sports, such as football, rugby, or fitness-based activities like gym training and running. These sports are perceived as more appealing to younger generations, leading to a drop in interest for bowls.

Changing social trends: The sport of lawn bowls has struggled to shed its image as an "older person's sport," which affects its ability to attract younger demographics. Modern social trends often emphasise more fast-paced, high-energy activities, making bowls appear less exciting.

Development and land use pressure: Some bowling clubs are located on prime real estate. With rising property prices, some local authorities or private landlords may prefer to repurpose the land for housing or commercial developments, pushing out the clubs.

And finally, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic: The pandemic forced many sports clubs to close temporarily, but bowling clubs, with their already vulnerable financial and membership positions, were hit particularly hard. Some clubs never recovered from the loss of members and revenue during lockdowns.

I personally think that Bowls England and the Crown Green Bowling associations did not do enough to promote the sport, with no real incentives put in place to encourage new players to take up the sport.

Talking to one ex-England bowler, inter-club competitions and county matches have been on a steady decline for many years and the standard of play now compared to twenty years ago is vastly lower.

With little and no real incentive to play the game, coupled with the fact that no new blood is coming into the sport, club memberships are at an all-time low.

These factors combined have created a challenging environment for lawn bowls clubs across the UK, leading to their gradual closure.

The costs of decline

However, for me, the three biggest factors are the decline in membership, which has a profound effect on clubs’ income; the spiraling costs of the green’s maintenance; and the lack of volunteers to help with the upkeep of the club and facilities.

I have flagged this up before, in a number of TurfPro articles, that the sport of bowls has been in decline for many years.

A recent publication explains the reason for sports decline.

I believe it is time that the sport’s governing bodies came together to find a way of promoting this sport. It has many benefits and if given some positive spin and linked to schools curriculums, the sport of bowls may have a chance to redeem itself and be a valid community sport once again.

It is about time community sports clubs faced up to the reality that there is a substantial cost attached to maintaining a given sports facility. Even if they manage to get volunteers to do the work, there are still substantial costs for materials, equipment, servicing and employing contractors to carryout end of season renovations.

In most cases the level of budgets being put aside for general maintenance of grass roots level playing facilities tend to be way off the mark. One of the reasons for this is often the lack of understanding of groundsmanship and what is required in terms of inputs and resources that are required for the maintenance of their facility. No two sites are the same. Each have their own unique set of requirements, maintenance needs and inputs to either maintain its status or additional work to bring it up to standard.

Far too often clubs tend to do the bare minimum, purely undertaking a basic set of maintenance inputs such as mowing, feeding, marking out and some minor repairs when warranted. Quite often they also skimp on end of season renovations which over time leads to a deteriorating playing surface.

I firmly believe if clubs recognised the true costs and inputs required to maintain their pitch and produced a business plan to facilitate a way of securing the budgets to run the club, we would then start to see an improvement in club facilities and an increased level of sport participation.

Based on today’s costs the minimum annual fee for maintaining a bowling green is likely to be around £12,000.

Most clubs only charge around £50 per year membership, with also a small match fee. With many clubs running with less than 100 members, it not surprising they struggle to pay for the greens upkeep and maintenance.

This fee of £12,000 was accumulated by working out the man hours and costs of materials required to maintain a single bowling green.

I came to a figure of 258 man hours with end of season renovations, material and servicing costs being around £4,000.

Therefore again, if we are to have a volunteer workforce, and also needed to cover the costs for machinery and materials, we are looking at a total annual cost of £4,000 per green.

However, if you must pay for the services of a paid greenkeeper or contractor to undertake the maintenance work at a low rate of £30 per hour, then the total annual labour maintenance cost would be 258 x £30 = £7,740.

Therefore total annual cost including labour and materials would be £11,740. Rounding off and allowing for some unforeseen works etc, we are probably looking at a baseline figure of an investment of £12,000 per green.

At the end of the day, clubs need to be charging a more realistic membership fee to help cover the costs associated with the maintenance of the facility.

Therefore, if the annual expenditure for the club is £20,000 based on 100 members that would equate to each member having to pay a £200 membership fee. I feel that is a small amount given the amount of pleasure and fulfilment you would get from playing the game on a weekly basis throughout the summer months.

For far too many years, sports clubs have not been charging members enough to cover the cost of maintaining their facilities. Bear in mind if you or I were to join a fitness centre, we would be expected to pay £500-plus a year. and still pay for drinks and food etc.

For too long we have kept our sports clubs on a shoestring. It now time to change and start investing in our clubs for the next generation of sporting stars.

NEWS

'MR SALTEX' TO RETIRE
Stepping down after this year's show

In our first WEB ONLY story, the GMA say long-standing operation director's dedication to SALTEX and the grounds management industry has been remarkable.

COMPANIES TO COMBINE AT SHOW FOR FIRST TIME
Celebrating 40 years of working together

Two companies are combining for the first time

In our next WEB ONLY story, two companies say they will be joining forces on a stand at for the first time to bring visitors a large range of groundscare machinery.

PRO UK DEALERS VISIT U.S HQ
Strengthening partnerships

Dealers explored the manufacturer's test facilities where they witnessed rigorous product testing and development.

Toro U.K. Limited recently welcomed ten of its pro dealers to the Toro headquarters in Minneapolis for an exclusive event aimed at strengthening partnerships and showcasing the company’s latest innovations.

During their visit, dealers explored Toro’s test facilities, where they witnessed rigorous product testing and development. The group also toured the Toro factory in Windom, gaining firsthand insights into the manufacturing processes that ensure the company's products meet the highest standards of quality and performance.

“The opportunity to connect with our pro dealers and provide them with a behind-the-scenes look at our operations is invaluable,” said Craig Hoare, UK sales & marketing manager at Toro U.K. Limited.

“We are committed to our dealers’ success, and these interactions foster collaboration and innovation.”

In addition to the informative sessions, the dealers enjoyed an outing to watch the Minnesota Twins take on the Milwaukee Brewers. Dealers witnessed Toro’s long-standing partnership with the Minnesota Twins seeing in action on the pitch a large range of their machinery. The visit culminated with a relaxing evening cruising on Lake Minnetonka, further enhancing relationships in a casual setting.

Toro U.K. added in an statement, that they are dedicated to empowering its dealers with knowledge and resources to better serve their customers. They said, "This event not only reinforced existing partnerships but also showcased the commitment Toro has to its dealer network."

TRAINING DAYS POSTPONED
Due to unforeseen circumstances

Two previously announced sustainable lawn care training days have been postponed until spring 2025.

The Lawn Association say they are sorry to announce that, due to unforeseen circumstances, the first of the two new level-two training days dedicated to enhancing knowledge of sustainable lawn care will be postponed until spring 2025.

The first confirmed venue was to be the Wrest Park, part of English Heritage's esteemed collection and had the initial date set in November of this year. This will now be kept at the same venue but moved to the spring of 2025. The second venue, located in the North, will also have its training day in 2025.

The Lawn Association say all companies and attendees have been informed.

BRITISH TEAM ANNOUNCED
For Timbersports World Championships

The pinnacle of logger sports action takes place in Toulouse, France on 8th and 9th November this year.

The pinnacle of logger sports action, the STIHL Timbersports World Championship, takes place in Toulouse, France on 8th and 9th November this year, and the athletes who will represent Great Britain in the Team event have now been selected.

The British team

After going head-to-head against each other as rivals in the British Championship earlier this year, the top British athletes will now have to work together if they want to repeat their success on the world stage.

In the Team World Championship, each team consists of four athletes who take on four disciplines in a relay; the Stock Saw, the Underhand Chop, the Single Buck and finally the Standing Block Chop. The teams compete in knock-out rounds against each other, with the fastest team proceeding to the next round, so the athletes with the quickest times in their national championships stand the best chance of being selected to represent their country.

British Pro champion Glen Penlington from Knighton, Wales took his third British title in a row in June at the Royal Three Counties Show, but it was his impressive times in the Underhand Chop, Single Buck and Standing Block Chop that guaranteed him a place in the team. Penlington was faster than his fellow competitors in all three disciplines, even delivering a new Personal Best time in the Single Buck, on his way to the top of the podium.

With four other places on the team to be filled, including a reserve, the decisions in the rest of the selection process needed more consideration. But through analysis of each of the discipline times from the British Championship, the rest of the team was selected.

Along with Penlington, Rob Chatley from Hanley Broadheath in Worcestershire, Graham Turner from Penicuik, Scotland, Tom Redmond from Bere Regis, Dorset and George Spencer from Hereford all made the cut, meaning that the British team for the 2024 World Championship is the same as the team that travelled to Stuttgart for the 2023 World Championship.

They will once again be joined by the British Rookie Champion, Jack Morris, also from Knighton, in Wales. Whilst Rookie athletes don’t normally compete as part of the team, Morris delivered some lightning-fast times at the Rookie Championship and will be nipping at the heels of the Pro athletes when he joins them for the three Team training camps that take place in the lead-up to Toulouse.

These training camps are a great opportunity for the team to work out who will take which leg of the relay at the World Championship, as well as an opportunity to practice the changeovers between the disciplines. In a sport that can come down to the tiniest margins, the additional training is critical to the performance, and the team will be looking to build on their 14th place finish from 2023.

The World Championship can be watch in full, live on the STIHL Timbersports YouTube channel on Friday 8th November.

Sponsored Content

CS PRO PACKS A PUNCH
For Parkers Pitches

New 3.0m Cs Pro transforms the mowing efficiency for sports turf contractor Parker Pitches in East Anglia.

Parkers Pitches is a busy commercial operation delivering high quality sports turf management services across East Anglia. The company started as a father-and-son operation in 2015 and now has five full time staff offering maintenance of all sports turf surfaces including renovations, drainage work and construction on just about any sport playing on natural grass.

Will Parker

“We’re based in Suffolk, but we cover all of East Anglia,” owner Will Parker begins. They offer full mowing services on a wide range of surfaces from golf greens to rugby. School sites with rugby, cricket and football pitches keep Will and his team busy.

One of his most important clients is Ipswich Rugby Club, about 30 miles away from their Woolpit depot. The club runs one of the largest youth and mini sections in the Eastern Counties. It also has active senior men’s and women’s sessions playing nearly every weekend.

“We offer full contract mowing here at Ipswich, which is a 7-hectare site,” continues Will. He used to use a 1.9m mower to keep it trimmed 45mm to 50mm. “We found we’re not getting through the ground quick enough – it would take all day to cut this site”.

Some sections of the site were pretty rough. “Our previous mower was too light weight and seemed to bounce along, so we had to crawl along to get a higher quality finish,” added Will.

With more clients requesting mowing services on larger sites as well, it was time to find a wider mower that would be able to deliver higher output without compromising on quality of cut. It also had to be transportable by trailer.

There weren’t many options on the market. “The options for foldable mowers were too wide and couldn’t be transported on a trailer,” explains Will. “Triple deck options were trailed and too long.”

“The Major CS Pro was the only option on the market.”

The only option on the market was the Major CS Pro. Will knew of the build quality of Major Equipment machinery and expected no less from the CS PRO.

The CS Pro is a multipurpose mower for compact tractors. The 3.0m model requires just 30HP on 540 PTO. The machine has 4 rotors – two in the middle deck and one on each wing – fitted with 16 blades capable of cutting, chopping and shredding dense vegetation yet precise for fine turf applications. Front and rear rollers on each deck eliminate scalping and produce a striped finish.

The wings can be folded up to 2.0m transport width. The body is produced from high-performance Strenx™ 700 MC structural steel for increased strength. The galvanised finish protects the machine from corrosion, extending the life of the unit.

“We’ve almost halved our time mowing the whole site.”

“With this mower we are able to save fuel and time,” enthuses Will. “With the 3.0m CS Pro we can cut this site in 4 to 5 hours. It used to take a whole day! Now we can go to a second site on the same day which saves a massive amount of time and effort for us.”

The build and weight combined with the gear-box driveline means no reduction in power and cutting performance when going over rough ground. “Because there are no belts, the mower cuts very well and the spread is very even across the rear without leaving clumps,” continues Will. “The rollers are very heavy duty, they take all the bumps very well. And the bearing system is very strong.”

The CS Pro is mainly used with Will’s 40HP Iseki tractor. “There’s more than enough power to cut the sports turf we cut. It runs absolutely fine on our 35HP tractors as well. It has transformed the cutting side of our business, especially when the growing periods are strong. We can get over the work quickly and still offer the high quality of cut our customers expect.”

“I would recommend the CS Pro to any sports club with wide areas to cut. From 20mm to 80mm, it will do a great job. We couldn’t ask for anything more from this mower.”

To book a demo, call Major Equipment Ltd on 01524 850501 or visit www.major-equipment.com.

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