🌱 Greens Care

Last updated September 21, 2026

Greens Care is the greenkeeper’s home in Pavilion: a maintenance diary, a register of the products and materials you apply, and a place to record readings such as green speed and track them over time. Find it under Pavilion → 🌱 Greens Care. It is part of the Complete plan.

At the top of every tab a status strip shows whether the green is open or closed (with a one-tap close/reopen that notifies members, exactly like the rain-off button), the latest green speed, and how many products are low on stock.

Natural or artificial? Set your green surface (natural grass, artificial/synthetic, or both) at the top of the page and the maintenance jobs, readings and starter programme adjust to suit. Natural turf offers mowing, feeding, scarifying, aeration, top dressing and overseeding; artificial/synthetic offers brushing/grooming the pile, drag-brushing, debris & ditch clearing, moss & algae treatment, sand-infill top-up, deep clean / major service and carpet repair — plus readings like sand-infill depth and pile height. Jobs that suit both (rolling, watering for speed, moss/algae treatment, inspections) always appear.

📓 Diary

Log every job on the green — mowing, rolling, aeration, scarifying, top dressing, feeding, overseeding, spraying, irrigation, inspections and renovation. Each entry records the date, operation, area (the whole green, a named rink, banks, ditches or surrounds), any product used and its rate/quantity, height of cut or working depth, labour time, who did it, the weather and free notes. When you log a job that uses a product and a quantity, that quantity is taken off the product’s stock automatically. Filter the diary by operation to see, say, every spray this season.

🧴 Products & materials

Keep a register of everything you put on the green: name, category, manufacturer, MAPP number (the UK pesticide approval), NPK analysis, active ingredient, pack size and unit, current stock and a reorder level, unit cost and where it is stored. Products at or below their reorder level are highlighted and counted in the “low stock” tile so nothing runs out mid-season. Keeping accurate product records also underpins the legal requirement to record professional pesticide use. On the Diary tab you can export a compliant pesticide-usage CSV (optionally for a date range): every application that used a product with a MAPP number, with product, MAPP no, active ingredient, rate, quantity, area, date, operator and weather.

📈 Readings

Record measurements — green speed (pace), soil moisture, firmness, thatch depth, height of cut, soil pH, disease and sward coverage — and Pavilion plots the trend so you can see the green improving or drifting. Pick a metric to see its trend line and the full list of readings.

🗓️ Schedule & reminders

Set up your recurring programme once — mow every week on set days, roll fortnightly, feed monthly, aerate in spring and autumn — and Pavilion works out when each job is next due. Every job can have a frequency (every N days/weeks/months), specific weekdays for weekly jobs, an optional season window (so mowing only comes up in season), and a reminder lead time. A “Due now / soon” panel lists what needs doing, and Mark done logs the job to the diary and rolls it forward to its next date. Each morning, greenkeepers get a notification listing anything due today or overdue — and, unless you turn it off on the Schedule tab, an email too.

New to it? Use the setup wizard (the Schedule tab’s “Set up a starter programme” button, or Wizards → Greens maintenance schedule): tick the jobs your club does, adjust how often each happens, set the reminder lead time and email preference, and Pavilion creates the whole programme in one step.

📣 Publishing the green speed

On the Readings tab you can optionally publish the latest green speed — independently — to the members’ app home screen, the TV display (its Green Status panel), and the noticeboard or any page via the [pvl_green_speed] shortcode. Everything is off by default; turn on only the surfaces you want.

🌿 What each natural-turf job does

Mowing — Cutting the grass to a low, even height (often around 5 mm in season). Keeps the sward tight, smooth and true; a lower cut generally gives a faster green. Box off the clippings and mow little and often through the growing season.
Feeding — Applying fertiliser (an N-P-K balance, sometimes with iron) to keep the sward healthy, dense and well-coloured. Light, balanced feeds through the season; iron also hardens the sward and discourages moss. Rates are given in grams per square metre.
Scarify / verticut — Using blades to cut out thatch (the spongy dead layer between grass and soil) and lateral growth. Verticutting is light and regular for trueness; scarifying is deeper and occasional. Too much thatch makes the green soft, holds disease and slows drainage.
Aeration — Making holes to relieve compaction and let air and water into the root zone. Solid tines and sarel rollers give shallow, regular relief; hollow-coring removes cores to exchange the top and reduce thatch; verti-drain and slit tines go deeper. Mostly done in autumn and spring.
Top dressing — Spreading a sandy dressing and brushing it in to smooth and level the surface, dilute thatch and improve drainage. Usually follows aeration or renovation.
Overseeding — Sowing fine bowls grasses (bents and fescues) to thicken the sward and fill worn or bare patches. Best in early autumn while the soil is still warm.

🟩 What each artificial / synthetic job does

Brush / groom the pile — Brushing with a stiff brush or power broom, against the lie of the pile, to stand the fibres up, prevent matting and spread the sand evenly. Do it regularly — it keeps play consistent, though it opens the pile and slightly slows the green.
Drag-brush — Dragging a brush or drag-mat across the whole green to level the infill and lift surface debris — a gentler, whole-green version of grooming.
Debris & ditch clearing — Removing leaves and loose debris with a rake, drag-mat or sweeper (never a blower, which just scatters the sand and leaves the surface uneven) and keeping the ditches clear. Debris left on the pile contaminates the infill, blocks drainage and feeds moss.
Moss & algae treatment — Applying a moss/algae treatment approved for synthetic turf. Synthetic greens grow algae just like natural ones, and it makes the surface slippery and unsafe, so treat it before it takes hold. Good drainage and sunlight (trim overhanging trees) help prevent it.
Sand infill top-up — Checking and replenishing the silica-sand infill so it sits about 3–4 mm below the fibre tips. The sand supports the fibres and carries the drainage; too little leads to matting, poor drainage and a shorter carpet life.
Deep clean / major service — A specialist service that decompacts the surface with tines, then vacuums and filters the contaminated sand to restore drainage and pace. Contamination builds up invisibly, so this is typically needed once or twice a year.
Carpet / seam repair — Repairing frayed areas, lifted seams or joints so the surface stays flat, safe and true.

🔁 Jobs for either surface

Rolling — Lightly rolling to firm and smooth the surface. It makes the green faster and truer, but over-rolling compacts the ground (or, on synthetic, the sand infill), so use it sparingly.
Irrigation / watering — On natural turf it prevents drought stress; on both surfaces a damp green plays quicker than a dry one, so many clubs water lightly before play on match days (it also cools synthetic turf in summer). Don’t overwater.
Spraying — Applying a product through a sprayer: fungicides for disease, herbicides for weeds, wetting agents, or moss/algae treatments. Record sprays for your pesticide log (there’s a CSV export on the Diary tab).
Inspection — A walk-round noting wear, disease, worm casts, moss, damage or anything needing attention — logged so you can spot trends.
Renovation — Major seasonal work: on turf, heavy scarifying, coring, dressing and overseeding; on synthetic, a deep clean and infill top-up.

📈 What the readings mean

Green speed (pace) — How fast the green plays, timed in seconds — the headline number bowlers care about. A damp or freshly rolled green is faster; a brushed or longer green is slower.
Surface moisture — How wet the surface is; affects pace and, on turf, plant health.
Firmness — How hard the surface is (a proxy for compaction and pace).
Thatch depth (turf) — The depth of the spongy organic layer; keep it in check.
Height of cut (turf) — The mower blade height; lower is faster but stresses the grass.
Soil pH (turf) — Acidity of the root zone; fine bowls grasses prefer slightly acidic soil.
Disease affected / Sward coverage (turf) — The share of the green showing disease, and how complete the grass cover is.
Sand infill below tips (artificial) — How far the sand sits below the fibre tips; aim for about 3–4 mm.
Pile height (artificial) — The height of the carpet fibres; drops as the carpet wears.
Moss / algae coverage — The share of the surface affected, for catching it early.

Who can use it

Two capabilities control access: View greens care and Manage greens care. There is a dedicated Greenkeeper role for grounds staff, and you can grant either capability to any role under Settings → Permissions. Administrators always have full access.

Common questions

Does logging a job change stock levels?: Yes — if the entry names a product and a quantity, that amount is deducted from the product’s stock, so your register stays current and the low-stock warnings are meaningful. Deleting the entry puts the quantity back, so a mistyped figure can always be undone.
Why does a product show a negative stock figure?: Because more has been logged as used than was ever recorded as bought in — usually a mistyped quantity, or a delivery that was never entered. It is shown in red with a “check” flag rather than being quietly rounded up to zero, so you can see it and correct it. Edit the product and set the stock to what is actually in the shed.
Can I delete a product I no longer use?: If it has never been used, yes. If it appears in your diary it is part of your spray records, so Pavilion archives it instead: it disappears from the “log a job” dropdown but every past application stays in the pesticide export. That record has to be kept for three years, so it is not something a tidy-up should be able to delete.
Why won’t the ✓ tick off a spraying job in one click?: Because a pesticide application is a legal record and needs the quantity applied and the conditions on the day. Pressing ✓ on a job whose product has a MAPP number opens the diary form pre-filled from the schedule, with quantity and weather required. Fill them in, save, and the schedule is ticked off at the same time.
What does “Maintenance” mean next to Close green?: It is a third state, for renovation weeks and works — the green is not playable, but for a planned reason rather than the weather. It shows on the clubhouse TV, in the officers’ app and on the Greens Care page, with whatever reason you type.
Why was my reading rejected?: Each measurement has a plausible range — soil pH 0–14, percentages 0–100, and so on. A figure outside it is almost always a slipped decimal point, and one wrong value sets the scale of the trend chart and flattens every real reading into a line. Check the number and try again.
Why am I not getting a reminder every day for an overdue job?: By design. A job that stays overdue is reported about once a week rather than every morning — daily repeats are what make people turn reminders off altogether, and then nothing gets reported. A job that has just become due is always reported the day it does.
Can I record pesticide applications for compliance?: Yes. Store each product with its MAPP number and active ingredient, then log sprays with the product, rate, area, date, operator and weather. That gives you the record UK law expects for professional pesticide use.
Who can see and edit Greens Care?: Anyone with the “View greens care” capability can see it; “Manage greens care” is needed to log jobs, edit products and record readings. The Greenkeeper role has both, and administrators always have access.
Which plan includes Greens Care?: It is part of the Complete plan (alongside the officers’ app and the treasurer & accounts suite).
What’s the difference between scarifying and aerating?: Scarifying uses blades to cut thatch and lateral growth out of the surface; aeration makes holes to relieve compaction and get air and water down to the roots. They fix different problems and are often done together during renovation.
What is “green speed”?: A timed measure of how fast the green plays, in seconds. Record it on the Readings tab over time to see how weather and maintenance change the pace — a damp or freshly rolled green is faster, a brushed or longer green is slower.
Why shouldn’t I use a leaf blower on an artificial green?: A blower moves the sand infill around and leaves the surface uneven, which changes how it plays. Lift leaves and debris with a rake, drag-mat or sweeper instead.
How often should an artificial green be brushed?: Regularly — many clubs brush weekly, and more in autumn when leaves fall. Brushing stands the pile up and keeps the sand even. Remember it slightly slows the green, whereas rolling speeds it up but compacts the sand, so balance the two.
How do I stop an artificial green getting slippery?: Keep it clear of debris, treat moss and algae early with a product approved for synthetic turf, make sure it drains freely, and let light in by trimming overhanging trees. A specialist deep clean restores badly contaminated greens.
What sand level should an artificial green have?: As a rule of thumb keep the silica sand about 3–4 mm below the fibre tips. Bowlers often prefer a little less sand for a faster green, but too little causes matting and drainage problems — it’s a balance, and watering sand back into the pile can help.
Where do I set whether my green is natural or artificial?: At the top of the Greens Care page — the “Green surface” selector (natural grass, artificial/synthetic, or both). It controls which jobs and readings are offered throughout Greens Care, the schedule wizard and the officers’ app.