Super new green for Ōmokoroa Bowling Club teams

Dennis Matthews on Ōmokoroa Bowling Club's new artificial green. Photos / Rebecca Mauger

Ōmokoroa Bowling Club rolled out the red carpet at the weekend to celebrate their new carpet — the impressive artificial green.

The club officially opened the new green on Saturday and many came along including Western Bay of Plenty District Council Mayor Garry Webber.

Much fundraising went on behind the scenes in the few years prior and the green was laid in July at a price tag of $300,000.

Greens supervisor Dennis Matthews says the amount sounds like a lot, but will massively save them money in the long run.

''One of the reasons why a lot of clubs are changing to artificial surfaces is that, while you still have to do a bit of work on them, it's nothing to the extent and cost you need on a natural green.''

Dennis estimates it costs about $15,000 a year to look after a natural green ''with all your chemicals, insecticides, mowing, rolling and paying someone to maintain it''.

The new green means they no longer need to worry about the weather — they're now available for year-round bowling.

''The major advantage is they you can play all year round.''

The artificial green needs to be kept clean and every 2-3 months is sprayed with fungicide. This is easy maintenance they can do themselves, Dennis says.

Ōmokoroa Bowling Club's new green ready for action.

It's good timing for the club as their membership has had a jump in numbers.

The club is really starting to get a profile and they have had an influx of younger members in the last three to four years, Dennis says.

''Because Ōmokoroa is growing so much we have been able to increase our members by 30 members recently.''

It's also good timing as in the lead up to Christmas the club has community bowls where there's up to 70 people at Ōmokoroa Bowling Club every week.

Dennis says ''it's not a closed shop'' and he encourages people to make contact if they're interesting in trying out bowls.

TECT had helped bump up the club's fundraising with $100,000, the council has donated and club members have raised the rest of the money.

New Zealand company Tiger Turf laid the new green. It has a life of between 12-15 years.
- More photos on pages 18-19