The Continuing Improvement Programme at Leamington

STRI is working with Warwick District Council at the Royal Leamington Spa Bowls Club, host of the National Women’s Bowls Championships. STRI advisors have been using innovative technology to carry out assessments, the results of which provide a more informative, objective and accurate measurement of the performance and condition of the bowling greens. The aim at Leamington is to provide an accurate measure of the bowling surfaces, to pinpoint areas where focus and attention of the maintenance programme is required. This methodology is known as the STRI Programme which is already running throughout golf clubs across the UK.

The STRI Trueness Meter

Golf and bowling greens share many similarities regarding maintenance, with both providing the best possible playing characteristics on fine turf surfaces, generally mown between 3-5 mm although, our desired firmness for bowls surfaces is much higher than the average golf green. The similarities don’t end there as it is common to find the quality of greens judged purely on the basis of player feedback. However, our experience has shown that player feedback can often be misleading and commonly inconsistent as it is based upon a subjective opinion of quality. On the same day that a green is said to be running fast and smooth it can also be described as heavy and bumpy often leaving the Club committee in a state of confusion.

Clegg Impact Hammer

What is the STRI Programme?

The STRI Bowls Programme at Leamington consists of regular monitoring of the key performance characteristics or more broadly speaking “the playing qualities” of the greens. Measurements take into account are speed, firmness, smoothness, moisture content and soil analysis. These are the key performance indicators for fine turf and can tell us everything we need to know to develop a targeted maintenance plan.  The measurements are analysed and interpreted by the agronomists to provide valuable input into the management programmes for greens. The advantage of the STRI Programme is that the data is “live” and results produced on site. By using a series of easy to interpret graphs and charts, it is possible to compare the results against site specific targets for known performance.

Soil Moisture Probe

The STRI Programme has now been developed for Leamington and, by the end of 2010, our services for Warwick District Council also included undertaking a laser levels survey across the five greens. Whilst this highlighted the requirement for a long term management plan to improve surface levels, the results of soil analysis, backed up by visual assessments, determined the need for a focused approach to ensure the surfaces would perform to the standard required for both national and international fixtures.

THE WAY FORWARD

A benchmark to work from has now been set at Leamington and possibly for other venues. As already discussed, work is very much in progress to improve and refine the performance of the greens and the desire for progress has never been stronger. Further data has been collected following the tournament and the results are now being used to help direct the end of season renovation programme. STRI is now looking ahead to next year throughout which the Programme will commence at the pre-season stage and used once again to provide support to Warwick District Council and Bowls England.