Croquet Shirt: Official Magazine Logo Apparel

Croquet Network Product of the Month -- Official Logo Croquet T-Shirt - $17.95 plus s/h

This month, we're releasing Official Croquet Network Logo t-shirt along with a full Cafepress store that offers all kinds of official logo merchandise ... shirts, hats, polos, sweatshirts, coffee mugs and plenty more. Check out the full collection at the Official Croquet Network Logo Croquet Collection page. To buy the shirt pictured above, go to the Croquet Network Logo T-Shirt page.

Remember all of the content here is free, so if you enjoy the site and magazine the best way to show your support is with a merchandise purchase. We have more croquet related designs available. To see all of the Croquet Network product designs go to the Croquet Network Store page.

Croquet News: Women's GC Commentary, USCA Club Workshop & Rothman's Calendar

Rosemary Graham and Margaret Melville posted a follow-up in the Croquet World forum regarding tactics and strategy from the Australian players perspective from the recently held WCF Women's World Golf Croquet Championship held in Cairnlea.
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Opening Game (January 2010)

Okay, it's time to get back to work. More importantly, it's time to get the kids back in school, so I can work. I've just had two weeks at home with the eight- and four-year-old. A little sledding here, fort-building there and a trip to central Kansas, and all of the sudden the break is gone. No problem, the January issue of the digital magazine should come out this week, but I have to admit that is tight. Don't be surprised if it slips into next week.

I do want to remind everyone that this site welcomes feedback from all in the community. Comments are available on every article and the forum is wide open. I see a lot of discussion from the British players on the Nottingham e-mail list centered around association croquet. I would definitely encourage anyone that wants to talk to utilize the forum to get things started. The more active the discussion, the better.

Otherwise, here's to a fantastic 2010 and thanks for stopping by!

Regards,
Dylan Goodwin
Croquet Network Publisher

Upcoming Tournaments / January-February 2010

January 2010

Jan 04-09 / Pat Apple Bisque Tournament (Association) / Rancho Mirage, CA
Ben Rothman - croquetpro@gmail.com

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 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/

February 2010

Feb 04–06 / Grand Haven Club Championship / Palm Coast, FL
Richard Burns - (386-446-9478) rburns3007@aol.com

Feb 04–07 / SCCC Winter Singles Invitational / Venice, FL
Jackie Jones - (941-484-3206 or 941-416-1009) crokpeople@aol.com

Feb 08–13 / Peyton Ballenger Invitational / Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Joan Murphy - (561-627-7426) jasmurf0101@yahoo.com

Feb 17–21 / Int'l Polo Club Palm Beach 3rd Annual Open Tournament / Wellington, FL
Don Jacobson (561-254-0999) donjay16@aol.com

Feb 18–21 / SCCC Club Singles/Doubles Championship / Venice, FL
Jackie Jones - (941-484-3206 or 941-416-1009) crokpeople@aol.com
Will be played on February 26-28 and March 19-21, 2010

Feb 18–21 / Green Gables Winter Tournament / Palm Beach, FL
Carol Neves (732-546-0170) carol4croquet@gmail.com

Feb 24–28 / Ocean Reef Anglers Club (ORAC) Invitational / ORAC, Key Largo, FL
Mike Todorovich - (305-684-9500) miketodo@aol.com or michael@arm-ins.com

Feb 25–28 / Audubon Croquet Invitational / Naples, FL
John Richardson - (239-653-9705 or 416-648-6249) john_richardson@munulife.com

December Croquet Links: Greenwich, Lenox and Croquet Ireland

North American Clubs

Greenwich Croquet Club -- Active croquet club in Greenwich, Connecticut with a vast website.

Lenox Croquet Club -- The Lenox Croquet Club is a USCA-sanctioned club located in Lenox, Massachusetts with two and a half full-size courts or as many as five half-size courts.

Associations

Croquet Ireland -- Croquet Association of Ireland website.

Scottish Croquet Association -- The Scottish Croquet Association's website.

International

Carrickmines -- Carrickmines Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club in Ireland.

Edinburgh Croquet Club  -- Edinburgh Croquet Club in Scotland.

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.

Nine to Six: Part 3 - Boundary Play

USCA stock photo shows the string line boundaries utilized for six-wicket croquet

A Subtle Difference

After a month off due to a very busy website schedule in November, it was time to get the Nine to Six series back on track. This month, we are looking at the boundary rules for nine-wicket and the U.S. six-wicket games. At the USCA nine-wicket national championship, option two and three of the advanced rules are utilized which effectively means that boundary rules mimic the U.S. six-wicket rules with just one subtle exception. In the nine-wicket game, a ball is considered out of bounds once it touches the line as opposed to six wicket where a ball would not be ruled out of bounds until half of the ball crosses the line.

My personal opinion is that ther are two reasons for this minor difference. First, the slower speed of the nine-wicket long grass fields means it's a little easier to roquet a boundary ball as it is less likely to roll out. Creating a smaller margin balances the lawn speed difference to a degree.

Secondly, you are more likely to see painted lines in nine-wicket as opposed to the thin string lines used in six-wicket play. From a practical standpoint, it is just much easier to judge out of bounds on a thick painted line at the moment the ball touches the line.

Again, I want to emphasize the above paragraphs are based on the rules used for advanced nine-wicket play. The base nine-wicket rules regarding boundaries are much more like Association Croquet played internationally. That means there is virtually no penalty for out of bounds and out of bounds balls are set in at 36 inches instead of the nine inches used in American rules for six-wicket and advance nine-wicket.

The Nine to Six Series (Highlighting Differences Between Nine-wicket and Six-wicket Croquet)

The Nine to Six Series (Highlighting Differences Between Nine-wicket and Six-wicket Croquet)

Part One -- Clearing Deadness
Part Two -- Post Roquet Options
Part Three -- Boundaries
Part Four -- Wiring
Part Five -- Rover Balls

More on this series: The series endeavors to describe changes that nine wicket players will encounter when they try out the U.S. rules six wicket game. There's a lot of quality information on six-wicket on the internet, but some of it seems pretty complex and is presented all at once. The aim here is to slice this into smaller concepts to allow players to absorb as needed. Also, I need to clarify that I have been playing the six-wicket game for just one-year and have not attended tournaments. So, more experienced players should feel welcome to chime in using the comments and clarify if I am leading people astray. I do think my inexperience is useful in that the concepts are fresh in my mind. Also, for players making the jump to six-wicket, I assume the basics of the game are understood.

Croquet News: More U.S. Open Coverage, ECF Flag and Nine-Wicket Date Change

The Arizona Croquet Club website has a great article with photos on the recent U.S. Open competition. Definitely worth checking out.

The Croquet World website has a nice write-up on the introduction of a new flag for the European Croquet Federation.

According to the USCA Calendar, the Nine-Wicket National tournament will once again be held in Shawnee, Kansas (Kansas City metro area) and the dates have been moved up one week. It's still listed as tentative, but that's a giant "woohoo" for me personally as I won't have to give up my KU football tickets for the weekend.

Another Solomon Trophy Follow-up article was posted on the MyDesert.com website. The website is the online presence for the The Desert Sun newspaper of Palm Springs, California. The posting also includes a couple of photos.