Croquet Network Magazine (December Issue Available)


Click to launch the full edition in a new window. PASSWORD REQUIRED

The December issue of Croquet Network Magazine is now available as true digital magazine through YUDU (no huge PDF download). All you need to do is subscribe to our free e-newsletter to gain access via password.

Subscribe to Our FREE Monthly PDF Magazine
Enter your name & email address below:
Name:
Email:
Subscribe Unsubscribe

 

Again, there is no charge for subscribing. This month's issue is 25-pages and is packed with the following features:

  • USCA National Championship coverage
  • Danny Huneycutt Profile
  • Editorial on Golf croquet
  • Tactical Article by Ben Rothman
  • Listing of popular croquet websites
  • Upcoming tournaments calendar
  • Relevant advertisements from croquet manufacturers
  • Active links in the magazine can take you directly to external websites or specific articles in the magazine
  • True digital magazine format through YUDU so you don't have to download a large PDF

If you love croquet, you can support this project simply by subscribing to the list. Just follow the steps below.

FREE ONLINE MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION


STEP ONE

To subscribe to the FREE monthly online Croquet Network Magazine (PDF), enter your e-mail and name in the form to the right. You will be sent offsite for a password that will get you into the digital magazine. Remember this password andClick the "Return to Website" to go to the magazine.

STEP TWO

The link will take you to the digital magazine via a YUDU page. You will need to enter the password on the first page.Next, you will be taken to a page that shows a cover of the current magazine. Click on the magazine to enter. You may be asked to enter the password one more time, but you should be logged in going forward.

STEP THREE

You can go ahead an enjoy the magazine right away, but later, you'll want to check your e-mail as you should receive an e-mail asking you to verify that you want to be subscribed to the e-newsletter. The newsletter is key in that it provides the password and link for each upcoming issue along with highlights from the website. Occasionally, this e-mail may go into your spam or junk mail folder. If you haven't received a verification check there or if you have any problems, contact me at goodwinworldmedia@gmail.com

NOTE

The current password is valid for all of the current year issues.

Opening Game (December 2009)

The video above is the last segment of the game five final between Iman El Faransawi and Alix Verge for the Women's Golf Croquet World Championship. If you haven't already, make sure you view the video before you go any further. Otherwise, I'll probably spoil what is a great viewing moment for any fan of croquet.

I suppose most of the croquet world already knew that Alix Verge had won the event, but the video taken by Chris Clarke truly caught me off guard. I think a lot of us would have been expecting a clearing of yellow there at the end. The double jump for the win takes your breath away.

Overall, I think the video series and following that championship event through the message boards provided a nice kickoff for the month of December, which by the way is still patiently awaiting the arrival of the December issue of Croquet Network magazine. Yes, things are still moving along, but it is an ambitious leap forward for this particular issue and the nature of this collaborative work means that we've seen a few delays. Let me just say that the release is near and hopefully it will be worth the wait.

On the website side of things, there was more planned for November than could really be posted. So, you may have noticed a few of the standard monthly posts didn't make it. I'm feeling a little more caught up on the web side, so we should get that back on track this month. Now, if we can just get this magazine lined out, everyone wil be happy. In the meantime, enjoy the site and have a great December!

Dylan Goodwin

Upcoming Tournaments / December 2009-January 2010

December 2009

Dec 03–06 / USCA Florida Regional Championship / West Palm Beach, FL
Erica Sherman - (561-478-0760) tournamentusca@aol.com

Dec 03 / USCA vs CA President's Match / Rancho Mirage, CA

Dec 04–07 / WCF Solomon Trophy / Rancho Mirage, CA
Rich Lamm - (415-928-5525) richlamm@comcast.com

Dec 04–06 / SCCC Doubles Invitational / Venice, FL
Jackie Jones - (941-484-3206 or 941-416-1009) crokpeople@aol.com

Dec 08-12 / 2009 US Open / Rancho Mirage, CA
Stan Patmor - (602-955-1547 or 866-252-2135) patmor@fastq.com

January 2010

Jan 18–23 / Palm Beach CC Invitational / West Palm Beach, FL
Archie Peck - (561-835-1726 or 561-818-6039) archiepeck@aol.com

January 19-23 / Desert Classic / Rancho Mirage, CA
Jim Butts - (760-328-9482) jbutts@dc.rr.com.

Jan 26–30 / Ocean Reef Anglers Club (ORAC) Invitational / ORAC, Key Largo, FL
Mike Todorovich - (305-684-9500) miketodo@aol.com or michael@arm-ins.com

Jan 27-31 / The Beach Club Invitational 2010 / Palm Beach & West Palm Beach, FL
Dwight Mayer - (561-845-8820) marshamontoya@msn.com

Jan 28–31 / Croquet at Koele / The Four Season Resort Lanai, The Lodge at Koele
Leo Nikora - (808-879-0087) leo@maui.net / www.mauicroquetclub.org/koele/

Billy Bob Breeden Interview Excerpts

Breeden during the 9W doubles championshipThis is a follow up to yesterday's post on George Cochran. During interviews for the November issue of the magazine, I had interesting conversations (via e-mail) with both Billy Bob Breeden and George Cochran on nine-wicket that I wasn't able to fit into the magazine story. Today I'm posting the discussion I had with Billy Bob. Here's a link to the conversation with George.

Dylan: Let's start with your general impression of nine-wicket play compared to six-wicket croquet, now that you have two of these national nine-wicket tourneys under your belt.

Billy Bob: One of the things that I find harder about 9W versus 6W is the long grass. It is hard to control your breaks, but it can be done. Now on the flip side, sometimes it is hard to control your balls around the wickets on short grass whether it is 9W or 6W. Just a little hit and it may give you a tough shot on a tight wicket. I know from playing at the 9W nationals two years in a row that both years the field conditions were great for the tournament. We had a lot of break play and some of them were long breaks.

Dylan: Do you see nine-wicket as maybe being able to provide organized croquet in areas where courts are not available? In other words, is a nine-wicket club possible?

Billy Bob: Yes I do, right now there are several organized croquet club in Missouri. Just in my area, I can think of a few -- the Stanberry, Mo croquet club, they have a sand court, in the middle of their town that was built in 1973, and it is in the local park. The Chillicothe Croquet Club just plays in the local Chillicothe Park every third Sunday during the summer, I think they told me two years ago, they had been playing for 43 years, so they have had organized croquet for 45 years. The Trenton college also has a local tournament held on their campus every year. In Albany, Missouri, the local community club is trying to organize and build a court in their park. Years ago almost every little town in American had some kind of croquet being played in their local parks. Our biggest challenge is how to get our young people out of the house and onto the croquet course. I think that we all should contact organizations like local Boy Scout, Church groups, athletic directors and 4H groups and start organizing youths at an early age. Maybe even offer class in the local parks free to teach croquet.

Dylan: Wow, I had no idea there was that much croquet activity anywhere close by. Are any of those players in that region participating in the national tournament?

Billy Bob: I have tried for at least four years to get them to my tournaments. The only success was an older man from Chillicothe after I had played with them a couple of times on their sand court. He showed up for two years, but I think his age (88) was making it hard for him to hit the balls in long grass. He likes to play roquet -- an American variant of croquet played on a hard, smooth surface. There are about twelve players in Stanberry, Missouri I’ve been working on for two years, but I think the name “Nationals” scare them off. They already play both two-ball singles and doubles.

George Cochran Interview Excerpts

Cochran at 9W NationalsDuring interviews for the November issue, I had interesting conversations (via e-mail) with both Billy Bob Breeden and George Cochran on nine-wicket that I wasn't able to fit into the magazine story. Today I'm posting the discussion I had with George and I'll follow up later with Billy Bob's comments.

Dylan: Now that you have two years in for this event, how about we start with your impressions of the nine-wicket game and playing on the long-grass? Obviously, it would never compare to six-wicket, but does it offer appeal as a change-up type event or maybe on some other levels?

George: Your phrase "Obviously it would never compare to the 6-wicket game" would indicate that you believe the 9-wicket game to be an inferior version of croquet.  I disagree.  I love playing both American rules and International rules 6-wicket croquet, and I equally love playing 9-wicket croquet.  The backyard game is neither better nor worse than croquet on groomed courts, but it is very different, and a person that ignores those differences is probably playing the game badly.
 
The first difference is in availability.  Flat courts with golf-green grass are very expensive to both build and maintain, and so there are vast regions of the U.S. with very few such courts available.  For example, there is not a single groomed croquet court in the entire state in which I live.  But a backyard game can be set up anywhere, anytime, with relatively cheap equipment, and provide hours of fun.   When I visit friends or family, we could set out some wickets and play, talk and drink beer in the back yard.  I went to my high school class reunion a few years ago, which was held at a picnic pavillion next to a lake in a state park.  There was a 9-wicket croquet court set up in the grass next to the pavillion and everyone had a blast knocking balls around.

The second difference is that the 9-wicket game is generally an aggressive and wide-open game, even more so than the Association game.  Aunt Emma is a losing strategy in a 9-wicket tournament, as long as your mallet is weighted appropriately for the balls and grass on which you're playing.  This is because the wickets are wider, making it easier to get through them from a distance and from an angle, and also easier to peel a dead ball through.  Because there's no relief from wiring and the vagaries of the ground make long roquets uncertain, a player who has control of the balls can literally leave the opponent with no shot at the end of each and every turn.  A well-played 9-wicket game will have a very aggressive early attack or rout, even if it results in a lot a deadness, because you can leave the opponent with no shot, it is easy to get clean, and gaining contol of the balls is paramount.
 
For players who are at the stage of learning various croquet shots (roll and split shots), the 9-wicket game offers a much more rewarding game in which to try those shots out.  The distance between consecutive wickets is shorter and the angles on split shots are not as severe.  And if the shot is off slightly, you generally still have a makeable wicket shot because of the generous hoops.  The result is that an improving player can often run an all-around break and set a leave in a 9-wicket game, while the same player in a 6-wicket game would make a couple of hoops and then break down dead and be forced to sit for a long time.  My club runs a "Leisure Class" on croquet, and we use the 9-wicket game for all but the last class-day for this reason...the 9-wicket game can be less frustrating.
 
Of course, there are more randomizers in the backyard game.  The ground can be bumpy or slope off, the grass is not uniform, sometime balls can be defective.  A type-A personality can find these random variations aggravating.  I just accept them as being a part of the game that makes it interesting, and try to play the lie as best I can.  I often misjudge slopes with soft shots.  When I have these misses, I just try to make a mental note of the location, the shot and the curve and try to get better at it.  At least everyone is playing on the same ground and trying to get through the same wickets.
 
Very slow or very long grass can be frustrating, but that's not the fault of the grass but more the fault of not having the right mallet at the game for the conditions, and for failing to adjust your game strategy to fit the speed of the lawn.  If you are flexible enough to adjust your game for the types of shots that you can actually do with the grass, balls and mallet that you are using, then the "slow" game can be a lot of fun too.  Not better or worse, just different.
 
This whole discussion reminds me of the unrelated issue of the relative merits of golf croquet.  There are some in the croquet world who dismiss golf croquet because it has no croquet shots.  Someone who gets all of their enjoyment from croquet shots would probably not get much pleasure shooting golf croquet.  But I find the game fascinating, frustrating, and a hell of a lot of fun.  Strategy in golf croquet is deep and nuanced.  I just wish I could shoot better.  The game really emphasizes the kinds of shots at which I'm weak.  Compared to "regular" croquet, it is not better or worse, but it is definitely different.
 
Dylan: Do you see nine-wicket as a way to build organized croquet play in areas where six-wicket courts are not available? Do you think it is the kind of game that you could build a club around? You mention that your club uses nine-wicket for teaching, what kind of field do you use?

George: Absolutely! The club in Baton Rouge played only 9-wicket croquet for two years before we even knew that the USCA existed.  We all knew the 9-wicket game and had never heard of any other variations.  We played (and still do) in a public park on long grass that's mowed fairly short, on a 2/3 size court.  There are no golf-green grass courts in Louisiana.  Just recently a couple of guys coming off the nearby golf course stopped and watched us, and then got in a game.  It turns our that they have been hosting a regular Thursday night cutthroat 6-ball 9-wicket game in their backyard for several years, as kind of a neighborhood party.  After playing with us a few times they just recently joined the USCA and are turning into croquet fanatics.  Would they have been as interested in joining us if they hadn't already been playing 9-wicket croquet regularly?  Probably not.
 
The 9-wicket game has three things going for it:

1)  Everyone knows some variation of it

2)  You can set it up anywhere, and

3)  For a serious improving player, roll and split shots are more rewarding with less downside when they go bad, and it's relatively easy to score multiple hoops in a turn.

For these reasons I believe it makes a great game for teaching skills with croquet shots and for recruiting people into the serious side of the game.

November Croquet Links:

North American Clubs

Bald Head Island -- A North Carolina club that I think serves as an interesting example with posted play schedules and details on organizing events at the club.

Oakland Croquet Club -- The Oakland Croquet Club plays on one of three lawn bowling greens located at Lake Merritt's Lakeside Park on Bellevue Avenue in Oakland, CA.

Boston Croquet Club -- Boston club based in Milton Massachusetts. Shares lawns with the local lawn Bowling Club and is able to set up two near full size courts.

Associations

Croquet Australia -- With the Womens Golf Croquet Championship occuring in Cairnlea, it was time to get a link to this association site. Very informative site.

Croquet Canada -- Association for croquet in Canada.

International

Oxford Croquet -- Deep, deep croquet website focused toward instruction on the association game. Essential reading for all aspiring croquet players.

Hurlingham Club -- U.K. based club that is one of two recently named hosts for the 2011 WCF Golf Croquet Championship.

Surbiton Croquet Club  -- Surbiton is the other U.K. club that will be hosting the 2011 WCF Golf Croquet Championship.

All links above will now appear in the Croquet Links section on the navigation bar at the top of the site. Any links back are greatly appreciated.

Croquet Champions Page

After playing in and covering the USCA Nine-Wicket tournament here in Kansas City, I determined that I wanted to do something to preserve the history of that event. So today, I present the Champions page on the site which also links to the list of WCF World Champions on the croquetrecords.com site and the WCF Golf Croquet Champions on the WCF website.

I will also add a U.S. Rules Champions list, but as of now, I have not yet found that information.

Bob Kroeger provided the information on the 1995 Nine-Wicket event.