I am amazed about the early scheduling of the open centre events. I disagree with this because ▪some grass greens are not up to standard for an important event.
▪who actually audits the greens chosen.
▪players have not had enough blowing time.
Wouldn't it be better if these were played mid to end of season.
Prior to this years handbook being published and released, all clubs, plus the greenkeepers association and umpires assosiation where asked for feedback. All sensible suggestions have been included and many alterations have been made on previous years. All bowlers need to be aware that bowls northland is committed to running tournaments to comply with bowls NZ timelines. this means we cannot run tournaments at the same time time as the nationals or the NZ trusts open. We need the finalists of centre events known well before the regional and national finals. we have the interclub 7s to slot in and we are committed to have representatives in all teams.
All clubs now have a copy of greenkeepers green quality matrix. this provides actual measures of how a green needs to perform in order to be selected for centre events. All clubs are trying to improve their greens with the resources they have. The allocation of greens is a decison that I approve after consultation with greenkeepers and opperations.
All decisions are made with the view of maximising players enjoyment. We constantly face challenges and not everyone will be satisfied.
Thanks for using this forum, as your president I am happy to answer any questions concerns or comment on ideas or suggestions.