With growing environmental and maintenance challenges, many clubs are turning towards a synthetic green playing surface. The benefits of a synthetic green over a traditional grass green range from reduced maintenance costs, reduced water usage and a more durable playing surface, allowing for activities such as barefoot bowls. Protecting your synthetic green with a MakMax Canopy makes good sense.

Protect Your Playing Surface

If your club has recently invested in, or are thinking about a synthetic green, then it’s a good idea for your club to consider a full-cover bowling green canopy. We spoke to a number of synthetic bowling green suppliers and asked them what advantages and benefits there are by protecting your synthetic green with a Bowling Green Canopy, here’s what they told us;

Tony from Berry Bowling Systems

“The average lifespan of carpet green outdoor is 10-12 years and we normally see undercover greens lasting between 15 and 20 years.  The club’s maintenance regime still has a massive bearing of lifespan and playability regardless of undercover or outdoors which explains the variability.

As all artificial bowling greens are made from plastic, the longer they last without UV degradation the less damage and wear, hence less breakdown undercover equals less fibre breakdown equals less micro plastic sin the environment.”

Jon from KCL Sports

“The woven and needle punch products, and some tufted products are made from polypropylene fibres. These are highly susceptible to UV degradation from about the 7-year mark. Our Polyethylene products have proved to be UV stable for over 20 years, as well as being far more durable to use. The needle punch and woven products should really, in my opinion, be used in an enclosed climate-controlled environment.

Other advantages of a Bowling Green Canopy for us includes,

• • We can use a more solid base products as we’re not so worried about drainage.
  • Obviously, it’s cooler
  • It may help us in completing the project without weather delays”.

Craig from BIOSCAPES Group

“We’ve thought of the following points:

• • Less environmental impact on the green allows for more consistent bowl speed – with uncovered greens you will see a greater change in speed overtime.
  • Bowl speed remains more consistent for a longer period.
  • Minimised wear on carpet due to reduced exposure to UV, rain, dirt, and dust.
  • Reduction in algae growth.
  • Allows for year-round play, no concerns for weather constraints.
  • Bowling into the evening under lights.
  • Can utilise digital scoreboards and digital advertising boards outside for club events.

Nick from Tiger Turf

“Taking UV out of the equation is certainly a good thing as it’s a major contributor to the life expectancy of the green. The flip side is that by putting a roof over the green you increase the traffic on the green to all year round and in a lot of cases night play as well. So additional wear on the green. We traditionally tell clubs that they should be budgeting on 10 years to resurface their green. In most cases they will get more life than this with an undercover green.”

Are you interested in protecting protecting your synthetic green with a MakMax Canopy? Want some more information about a full-cover bowling green canopy?

Contact MakMax and we’ll be happy to help, from an initial estimate to see if a canopy can fit into your clubs future plans, a more details quote for your Grant Funding application or preparing a shovel-ready set of drawings for your BA/DA application.