I organized my first croquet tournament on July 4, 1998. I was 30 at the time and my wife had plans to get our usual crowd together to celebrate the Fourth at our house. By that time, the summer house party circuit was just about to bore me to death. However, I had an idea -- a croquet tournament.

There was one problem though. Our yard was slightly undersized in my opinion and dotted with landscaping. Sure enough, after a trip to the library to gather some publications, the standard court size was 100' x 50'. So, I decided we would play with a reduced version of the six-wicket court, which fit my yard pretty well. However, I wanted to get as many people in a game as possible, so we played it as a standard, cutthroat (one-ball) game.

I called the event the PBR Classic and awarded the winner a 12-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon in a styrofoam cooler. The event was an instant success and the following year everyone was clamoring for another tournament. By 2002, we had a full circuit going with a season long points race and a website.

Still, going back to the prep for that first event, I would skim through those library books and marvel at the photos of the six-wicket game. With the putting green surfaces and insanely tight wickets, I was truly fascinated by the concept of six-wicket play.

A few weeks ago, I finally played my first real game of six-wicket croquet in Parkville, Missouri. The experience did not disappoint so later this month I will provide the details on my trip to Parkville and my thoughts on the six wicket game. In the meantime, keep swinging the mallet while I try to figure out how to carve some more time out of my hectic schedule to get back to Parkville.

Sincerely, Dylan, Publisher -- Croquet Network