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Okay, we've got to take a little time out this morning to talk about a bold move on the croquet media scene. This weekend I was checking out digital editions of back issues for Croquet Network on the Yudu site. When I did a search for croquet, I detected a beautiful new croquet magazine delivered through my same host at no charge to readers. And in fact, it was immediately clear that this new magazine was superior in content and design to Croquet Network. But wait, it's not new. It was the venerable old Croquet Gazette produced by the Croquet Association. Further research indicates that the Croquet Association has made the Gazette a marketing initiative and has hired Bamboo House Publishing to redesign, sell ads and produce their association magazine -- a fantastic move. The redesign is beautiful and I'm certainly flattered that they chose the same digital edition host (even if it is a coincidence). If anyone in the U.K. is listening, I would also suggest you distribute through MagCloud to offer North American and U.K. fans a chance to purchase in print. It might open up a little revenue stream and I know that I certainly prefer print to digital editions.

Croquet Gazette - June 2011 Digital Edition
Croquet Gazette - April 2011 Digital Edition

In other Croquet Association news, the line-ups for the CA Eights are now available--
http://www.croquet.org.uk/?p=/news/newsdb.asp&NewsID=3905

With the culmination of the BestInvest GC World Championships last week, the croquet news cycle finally took a slight pause. No worries though, the Championships of Ireland are well under way at Carrickmines and the Ireland vs USA Carter Challenge is also on deck (August 10-13). The croquet beat goes on.

Speaking of the big news cycle, Croquet Network certainly enjoyed the busy July. Already having broken previous traffic records in May and again in June, July went into the stratosphere. Check out the following traffic chart. Last August represented a major peak (MacRob 2010), but that seems insignificant now. Thank you readers!

Croquet Network unique visitor and page view traffic

Back on the U.S. circuit, High Country CC took this past weekend's NC Club Championship held in Linville, North Carolina. Final standings and a photo of HCCC with the Penwell Trophy are available on the CroquetNC.org site--
http://croquetnc.org/news/290/2011-nc-club-teams-final-results

The latest check-in on the 2011 USCA Grand Prix has Danny Huneycutt still leading, but the race has tightened a bit as Chris Patmore has moved into second place. One surprise is that "Handicap -3" has cracked the top 10 with 12,000 points. Full standings are available on the USCA website. Top 20--

Rank/Name/Hcap/Singles PTS/Doubles PTS/Total
01    Danny Huneycutt    -3.5    17360    9516    26876
02    Chris Patmore    -2.5    16080    4750    20830
03    Ben Rothman    -3.5    14588    4243    18831
04    Brian Cumming    -2.5    9110    5400    14510
05    Johnny Mitchell Jr.    -2    10776    2640    13416
06    Derek Wassink    -2.5    7180    5210    12390
07    Peter Just    -2    7850    4470    12320
08    Handicap -3    -3    6600    5400    12000
09    Richard Brackett    -2    6066    5378    11444
10    Bob Chilton    -0.5    4064    6930    10994
11    Jackie Jones    -0.5    6630    3200    9830
12    Ron Huxtable    0.5    3636    4908    8544
13    Stuart Lawrence    -1    6280    2250    8530
14    Richard Wilhoite    -0.5    3660    4752    8412
15    Doug Grimsley    -3    5350    2850    8200
16    Ted Knopf    -1.5    7500    510    8010
17    Richard G. Curtis    -1.5    6550    1400    7950
18    Jim Bast    2    3350    4200    7550
19    Kenneth (Tim) Bitting    -1    4220    2900    7120
20    Mike Taylor    0.5    4096    2928    7024