Croquet
Croquet
is
the most difficult game I've ever played! I began 20 seasons ago when I was 64. I’ve mostly played association croquet, a game which has sometimes been described as a mallet game containing elements of snooker and chess. The 22-23 season, though, I am having a break from croquet. At the beginning of the 23-24 season I’ll think again.
One of the great things about croquet is that men and women, boys and girls, can all play, and play against each other. My wife Marion and I both play and although we don't travel as often as we used to, we still play in tournaments that are not too far away from home.
In the past we sometimes left New Zealand and travelled across the Tasman Sea to Australia. Above, I am playing in the Australian Open, November 2011, at Cairnlea, Melbourne. Age has caught up with us a bit now and probably all our croquet from now on will be in New Zealand.
is
the most difficult game I've ever played! I began 20 seasons ago when I was 64. I’ve mostly played association croquet, a game which has sometimes been described as a mallet game containing elements of snooker and chess. The 22-23 season, though, I am having a break from croquet. At the beginning of the 23-24 season I’ll think again.
One of the great things about croquet is that men and women, boys and girls, can all play, and play against each other. My wife Marion and I both play and although we don't travel as often as we used to, we still play in tournaments that are not too far away from home.
In the past we sometimes left New Zealand and travelled across the Tasman Sea to Australia. Above, I am playing in the Australian Open, November 2011, at Cairnlea, Melbourne. Age has caught up with us a bit now and probably all our croquet from now on will be in New Zealand.
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At Waimarie Hutt Valley
Waimarie Hutt Valley, my home croquet club is a lovely place to spend a morning or an afternoon, or both, knocking coloured balls about.
This is the view looking east through the pergola behind Lawn 3 towards the clubhouse in the distance.
Wellington, New Zealand, is in the southern hemisphere, so the croquet season runs September to
the end of April – through spring, summer, autumn.
photo Rose Jepsen
This is the view looking east through the pergola behind Lawn 3 towards the clubhouse in the distance.
Wellington, New Zealand, is in the southern hemisphere, so the croquet season runs September to
the end of April – through spring, summer, autumn.
photo Rose Jepsen
Playing a break
The video clip below shows me at the old Waimarie Hutt Valley lawns playing a small segment of a break – the essence of association croquet – on a typical Wellington sunny, breezy, summer morning. The club moved to new lawns March 2019.
To start the clip, please click the arrow. video Donald Rogers
To start the clip, please click the arrow. video Donald Rogers
The sequence of shots in this clip
To get my striker ball, white, in to a suitable position to run the next hoop in order, and thus score a further point, I'm using two other balls. Pink (though it doesn't look very pink in the video) is my partner ball and brown is one of my opponent's. I'm placing those balls in suitable field positions so that after I've run the hoop I can use them to continue the break. Green, the opponent's partner ball, not shown in the video, has already been placed in readiness at the next hoop but one.
In the video I'm playing with secondary coloured balls – white, pink, brown and green. In the Melbourne picture I'm using primary colours – red, yellow, blue and black. Having two sets of colours enables two games to be played on one lawn.
In the video I'm playing with secondary coloured balls – white, pink, brown and green. In the Melbourne picture I'm using primary colours – red, yellow, blue and black. Having two sets of colours enables two games to be played on one lawn.
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For a direct link to Waimarie Hutt Valley's Croquet Club's website please click here.
On that website there are links to many other parts of the world of croquet.
On that website there are links to many other parts of the world of croquet.
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