About Croquet

What is Croquet?


  • There are two main variations - Association Croquet (AC) and Golf Croquet (GC)
  • They both involve knocking 4 balls around a "court" which is an area of 28 x 35 yards on a lawn.
  • There are 6 hoops, only 1/16 of an inch wider than a ball (and sometimes narrower for competition) and a centre-peg
  • The balls are struck with a mallet - which can be a combination of wood, metal, plastic and carbon fibre



What we love about Croquet


  • It's Fun
  • Sociable - especially GC and doubles
  • You don't need to be sporty
  • Men and Women compete on equal terms
  • Young and Old can play together
  • Learners can compete with old hands thanks to handicapping scheme
  • You can take it as seriously as you want
  • Enjoy the weather
  • Internal Leagues and Competitions
  • External Competitions against other local(ish) teams
  • A nationwide calendar of competitions for the ambitious
  • You can play all year round

Association Croquet

  • The traditional form of the game
  • Basics are fairly simple, but there's a pretty steep learning curve
  • One turn can consist of many shots
  • Great satisfaction from the craft of break-building
  • The basis of intermediate AC is the 4-ball-break
  • Advanced croquet adds "lifts" and "leaves" as well as "peeling"
  • It can take a few hours to play a game of full AC
  • Short Croquet is much quicker - anything from 30 to 60 mins

Golf Croquet


  • Easy to learn
  • Hard to master
  • Players take turns, each of one shot only
  • Quick to play a game
  • Mostly about accuracy, but tactics also count
  • The most popular form of the game at our club

Croquet's governing body in the UK is The Croquet Association - now Croquet England


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