For the first time ever, the Greenkeeper of the Year has in 2024 been awarded to a greenkeeping team, rather than a single greenkeeping individual.
The team of Mike Walsh, Don Christensen, Ian Andrews and Aidan Zittersteijn has not only produced outstanding greens at the Paritutu Bowling Club, but has also been influential in outstanding greens being produced across Taranaki … this last year, and in previous years.
Of course the touted quality of a green triggers much debate in the bowling community, and there are as many different opinions about greens as there are bowlers in the community.
But what can’t be debated is the fact that this last year, the Paritutu Bowling Club was the headquarters for four of New Zealand’s largest annual tournaments : the Taranaki Men’s Open Fours and the Taranaki Women’s Open Fours in January, and the National Open Fours and the National Open Mixed Pairs in February.
The greens must have something going for them!
And whilst sumptuous cheese rolls and lamingtons are welcome exigencies to earn the privilege to headquarter such prestigious tournaments, it is the greens that need to be spectacular … the many, many eyes of the players, the umpires, the spectators and the television cameras are critically scrutinising every blade of maniototo.
The greens were spectacular at Paritutu for all four tournaments. And in fact they were spectacular all season. So mature is the leaf that when the club hosted the Para nationals in November there was no long-term damage to the surface.
“The greenkeeping team at Paritutu has challenged current thinking,” says Grant Hassall, President of Bowls Taranaki. “They produced a quick green when the season opened last October, and the green was still playing quick more than six months later in April. Traditional thinking would have you believe you can’t keep a green in that form for that long.”
Grant points to the ‘team’ approach to greenkeeping at Paritutu as maybe the key.
“With teamwork,” continues Grant. “They can share their knowledge and their experience … acknowledge their strengths and weaknesses … and delegate and allocate accordingly. It’s been a great prototype, or a reminder to show other clubs in New Zealand an alternative way to manage greens.”
“But the really great thing about this greens team is that they see the bigger picture … it’s not just about doing the best for Paritutu … but the best for clubs around the Taranaki Centre. And they’ve made themselves available to consult at other Taranaki clubs like Waimea, Waitara, Inglewood, West End and New Plymouth.”
“The team is thinking about the game of bowls New Zealand-wide, not just their own patch at Paritutu.”
Grant credits the team with being influential in creating the best greens in the country in Taranaki. And frankly, you’d have to be a brave bowler (or a one-eyed bowler from elsewhere) to dispute the pre-eminence of the greens in the province.
Most bowlers are very envious.
“Sure, we’ve got the climate and the volcanic soil which are both conducive to maintaining great greens. But the gamechanger happened twenty-odd years ago when the majority of Taranaki clubs started changing from cotula greens to maniototo greens.” There had been less than a handful prior to this.
“Before then, there were many Centres In New Zealand with much better greens than Taranaki.”
“Now with the right climate, the right soil, the right weed, and the right greenkeeping team like Mike, Don, Ian and Aidan, natural greens will continue to have a great future in Taranaki.”
And that’s fantastic.
Sometimes you can’t help feeling that we’re ‘succumbing’ to artificial greens. So it’s great to see the Paritutu team fighting back!
Well done Mike, Don, Ian and Aidan. And congratulations on being Bowls New Zealand’s Greenkeeping Team of the Year in 2024.