Enfield Croquet Club

Have you thought about learning to play croquet? If so read on.

Why?
Because it's good fun and sociable for people of all ages and is one of the few active sports where men and ladies compete equally. 

    

                                                
What?
Do you have any idea about what croquet is about? 
Well, it’s a cross between the accuracy needed for snooker, the stroke play of golf and the tactical side of cricket, and certainly not the “vicious” game or the “fuddy duddy” game many people believe. The game has two formats, Golf and Association.  
Golf croquet is good fun, quick to play and is an easy way to get started. On the other hand, Association croquet matches are enjoyable and absorbing, with fluctuating fortunes and the need for continuous tactics, skill and concentration. 

          

Where?
Bush Hill Park, Enfield- use the Cecil Avenue entrance.
Turn left as you enter the park to find the lawns.
The club house is on the right.

 

 

The Mayor of Enfield ponders his next shot at the opening of the new lawns in May 2005

When?
Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday at 2.30 PM- just turn up and join us for a game on one of our three lawns. Your first couple of visits are free and one of the members will get you started and explain the basics of the rules, techniques and tactics.

Who?
For more information contact Keith Davis, 12 Uplands Park Road, Enfield, Middx., EN2 7PS

or email : kcdotteryuk@btinternet.com

The Croquet Association website gives you more information and contacts : http://www.croquet.org.uk/

 

How?
Croquet is a friendly game, easy to understand, fun to play. It requires only one basic skill - that of propelling a ball with accuracy.
Although Croquet can look complicated, the basic idea of the game is very simple and can be easily learned in a few practice sessions. There are two forms of the game, called Association Croquet and Golf Croquet.
Both versions of the game are played with four balls - red, yellow, black and blue and can be played as singles or doubles. Red and yellow always plays against blue and black (in doubles you would have red and your partner yellow, in singles you play both red and yellow).

1. Association Croquet
In Association Croquet the object of the game is to get both balls around a course of twelve hoops in a set order, and finish by hitting the centre peg, (which has given us the phrase "pegging out").
On your turn you have two options: To hit a ball through its next hoop (running the hoop). If you manage to run the hoop you get a free turn. Or you can: Hit your ball so that it hits any of the other three balls. In this case you get 2 free turns.
This second option is the key to the game. When you hit another ball, you pick your ball up and place it against the ball you've hit. You then play your ball again (called a croquet stroke). This means you can send both balls to different parts of the lawn. After the croquet stroke you have another free shot with which you can aim for another ball or run your hoop. You're allowed to hit (and then croquet) each of the other three balls on your turn.
By careful play you should be able to manoeuvre your ball in front of its hoop. If you do that and then run the hoop, you're allowed to hit all the other balls again. By using the other three balls you can then get your ball in front of its next hoop, etc, etc.
Good players can make 'breaks' as in snooker, sometimes running all twelve hoops in a single turn. But....if the player miscalculates and fails to run the hoop or hit another ball, his turn comes to an end, and his opponent has the chance to make the running himself.
This above description gives the essentials of the game; all other rules and modifications can be picked up easily in the course of play.
2. Golf Croquet
This is a much simpler and quicker version of the game, but can be just as exciting.
The object is to score hoops in the same order as in Association Croquet. There are no extra turns for going through hoops or hitting other balls although opposing balls can be knocked out of the way. The moment any of the players make a hoop, that hoop is "abandoned", and all players rush on to the next hoop.
The first player to score seven hoops wins the game, which usually takes about twenty minutes.