Narrabri’s synthetic green officially opened

The Narrabri Sporties’ artificial green was officially opened on Saturday morning with a presentation and a game of bowls.

The green, which has been operational since June, was named the John McNamara Owen Campey Green as a combination of the two previous greens which made way for the new synthetic green.

The construction of the new green was part of the Stronger Country Communities fund in which Narrabri Sporties and Wee Waa Bowling Club applied for a joint grant to build two artificial greens at their respective clubs.

The clubs’ application was successful and saw them both begin construction on a synthetic green.

The synthetic green in Narrabri has been used in several events including the A-day bowls day and Thursday night social barefoot bowls.

Narrabri Sporties president Archie Sheppard thanked everyone who attended the presentation and the people involved in securing the grant for the club.

Narrabri Sporties greenkeeper Peter Doring said that there are many reasons why the green was beneficial to the club and the community.

“The benefits of it are if we get an inch or two inches of rain you can walk back out on to it and play after 15 minutes,” he said.

“The rain will just soak in and it won’t change the speed or anything.

“It has spoken for itself I suppose because everyone loves playing on it.

“We can’t keep people off it.”

Doring said the green was a wonderful addition to the Narrabri community and it has really encouraged the younger members to become more involved.

“Every Wednesday we have the high school students come across and play for their sport,” he said.

“We’ve been encouraging them to come across and play barefoot bowls on a Thursday night.

“If we can encourage young kids to play the game it becomes very beneficial, it’s beneficial for our game.

“It’s a great sport to get into.”

Doring discussed the green’s specifics with The Courier and explained how it was different to other synthetic greens.

“I obviously familiarised myself with the construction, the characteristics, the maintenance and the preparation that goes into the synthetic green,” said Doring.

“It is a sand-filled green, its name is Pro-Master-Ultra-Cool-Plus.

“It is a polyethylene, usually most synthetic, sand-filled greens are polypropylene.

“The difference is that it sort of has a life where it can be rolled with a rolling machine and flattens down, you then water it down which pushes the sand back down into the green and it just adds for a smoother playing surface for bowls.

“It’s like any other green, you have to have a greenskeeper’s judgment.”

The new green has also been accompanied by a couple of face-lifts to Narrabri Sporties.

“The green adds to the beautification of the Sporties,” said Doring.

“We’ve been working hard doing a lot of different things like ripping out the old garden, putting in a new hedge and garden, painting the fence, painting the retainer wall, painting the club.

“There’s been a lot of work around it as well as a lot of work on it.”