Notes by Peter Allan for AC Coaching at Caversham.

Session 1 – held on March 17th 2025.

A Cold day at Albert Road – but thanks to Peter all were thoroughly engaged.

Goals

What is your goal in croquet?

What do you want to achieve?

Improving at AC requires several steps

  • Learn something new
  • Practice it until you have achieved ‘unconscious competence’
  • Bank it
  • Move on to the next thing

Easy croquet

Some croquet strokes are easy; others are not. Try to play easy strokes.

A stroke might be ‘not easy’ for two reasons.

  1. It might be technically challenging, e.g. a pass roll from corner 4 sending your ball to hoop 5 and the croqueted ball to hoop 4. (No, I don’t know why you would want to do that either. I was just looking for a really difficult stoke to use as an example.)
  2. It might be an easy stroke to play, but it has a low probability of success (e.g. trying to roquet a ball in corner 2 when shooting from corner 1).

The usual way to ensure that a stroke is easy is to play the previous stroke correctly. Think Ahead!

Technique

Grip

Irish (both palms facing away from you)

  • Good for touch.
  • Bad for being able to make a long backswing.

Solomon (knuckles on both hands facing away from you)

  • Good for a long backswing.
  • Less good for touch.
  • A good balance of backswing and touch.

“Whatever works” (as long as it does work)

All top players have their hands together.

Swing

Let the mallet do the work. You do not need heave hard at the ball. The effort you put into a stroke should be in lifting the heavy mallet. Then just guide it on to the ball.

(Can sent a ball the full width of the lawn with a one-handed grip.)

Casting

This involves swinging the mallet over the ball before hitting it. I do recommend this for lining up your roquets. Whether you should keep swinging and then hit the ball is a matter of taste.

Standard (dominant hand at the top of the shaft, knuckles away, other hand below dominant hand, palm away)

Don’t say don’t

You may have been told “don’t look up when hitting the ball”. When doing a reverse take-off, there is a natural tendency to think “don’t leave it short”.  Unfortunately, your brain is surprisingly bad at processing the work “don’t”. So rather than think “don’t look up”, instead say “watch the mallet hit the ball”. This is a positive, and definite, thing to do. When doing a reverse take off, don’t think “don’t leave it short”. Rather pick a precise spot where you want your ball to land. Again, this is positive and definite.

SMOOOTH

Make your swing smooth. This really help you to achieve a consistent result. However, as we age, this is not always possible

Strokes

What are the different types of strokes?

  • Roquet
  • Rush
  • Positioning (not trying to hit another ball)
  • Drive
  • Stop shot
  • Roll (straight or split)
  • Run the hoop

Roquet

The object of this stroke is to hit another ball.

  • Stalk the ball
  • Line up your stroke
  • Swing smoothly
  • Follow through. It helps to keep the shot straight.

What is your critical distance? This is the distance for which you have a 50% chance of hitting the other ball. If the distance of the ball to be roqueted is greater than your critical distance, consider what will happen if you miss and consider getting close to the ball and using a bisque to continue.

Rush

The object of this stroke is to hit another ball and to move that ball to a specific position.

Practice rushing a specific distance. If the striker’s ball is sliding when it hits the other on, the rushed ball will go further than if the striker’s ball is rolling when it hits the other ball.

Rushing a ball that is over 1 yard away is difficult. Concentrate on hitting the ball dead centre. That is more effective than blasting away.

To rush a ball at an angle (cut rush), imagine placing a ball against the target ball lined up in the direction you want the rushed ball to go. Just as you would if you were playing a croquet stroke. Then play the stroke to get the striker’s ball into that exact position.

Positioning

Sometimes, your best cause of action is just to hit your ball to a specific position; often off the lawn. Check carefully that the position you are aiming at is indeed the position you intend. Remember that if the ball goes off the lawn, it will come back on 1 yard.

Croquet strokes in general

When playing a croquet stroke, have exact targets for where you want each ball to end up. Then give priority to one ball and trust your swing to send the other one to the correct place. The priority ball will depend on the stroke. If you are placing a pioneer, usually give priority to the position of the pioneer. When playing a hoop approach, give priority to the striker’s ball.

Line up your balls carefully. The croqueted ball will travel along the direction through the centres of the two balls, regardless of the stroke that you play.

Make sure that the two balls are in contact. Legally, they should be (although if they do fall apart, this is not a fault), but the main reason that is that if the balls are not touching, you will get an inconsistent result. This might mean treading on one or both of the balls. This is something you can do just as well as the world champion, so do it.

In a legal croquet stroke, the striker’s ball will never travel in the direction that the mallet is swinging unless this is a perfectly straight stroke. Even attempts at perfectly straight strokes rarely result in that outcome.

The drive

  • Line up your stroke
  • Swing smoothly
  • Follow through

What is your ratio for a drive? This is the ratio of the distances that the croqueted ball and the striker’s ball travel. It is typically somewhere between 3:1 and 4:1. It does not matter what your personal ratio is, but you should know what it is. Knowing your personal ratio will tell you if you should be playing a drive, a stop shot, or a roll.

A drive is the most accurate way of sending a pioneer to the next-but-one hoop.

The stop shot

The aim of a stop shot is to send the croqueted ball a certain distance while the striker’s ball moves much less far. The distance ratio will be larger than for a drive.

In playing a stop shot, the aim is to hit the striker’s ball, and then to stop the mallet with no follow through. The extent to which this can be achieved will depend on your technique and on how far the balls are travelling. It is possible to get a huge ratio if you are barely moving the striker’s ball.

There are (at least) two ways of playing a stop shot. You can swing the mallet and at the moment of impact with the striker’s ball, hit the heel of the mallet into the ground, thereby stopping further forward motion. Alternatively, you can swing the mallet, intending no follow through, and actively stop the mallet with the muscles in your hands. Which is better for you may depend on your grip, how well you can time hitting the heel of the mallet into the ground, and how strong your hands are.

A stop shot is the most accurate way of positioning the striker’s ball just in front of the hoop, ready to run the hoop in the next stroke.

The roll

The aim of a roll stroke is to send the two balls comparable distances. In order to achieve this you need to hit down on the striker’s ball with the face of the mallet tilted forwards.

There are several types of roll strokes.

Half roll

The ratio of the distances travelled is 2:1.

Put your upper hand at the top of the mallet shaft and the lower hand half way down. Take your stance so that you will hit down on the striker’s ball by standing closer to the ball than for a drive. Play the stroke with follow through.

Three-quarter roll

The ratio of the distances travelled is 3:2 (approx.).

Put your upper hand at the top of the mallet shaft and the lower hand at the bottom. Doing exactly this may be uncomfortable, so do what is practical. Take your stance so that you will hit down on the striker’s ball more than in the half roll. Play the stroke with follow through.

Full roll

The ratio of the distances travelled is 1:1.

Put your upper hand half way down the mallet shaft and the lower hand at the bottom. Take your stance so that you will hit down on the striker’s ball, again even more so than for the three-quarter roll. Play the stroke as a punch with follow through.

Pass roll

The striker’s ball will travel further than the croqueted ball. Consequently the two balls must travel in different directions.

Put both of your hands well down the mallet. Take your stance so that you will hit down on the striker’s ball, again even more so than for the full roll. It is hard to get a lot of distance with this stroke, but that can come with practice. Play the stroke as a punch with no follow through.

Split shots

Split shots are some of the most difficult strokes to get right. You want to move the two balls in very different directions.

The thin take-off

A thin take-off is where you move the striker’s ball while moving the croqueted ball hardly at all. It is important that the croqueted ball moves, so generally make the take off a little thicker so there is no danger off that ball not moving. The striker’s ball WILL move in the direction perpendicular to the line joining the two balls. In fact, counterintuitively, this is truer with a slightly thicker take off than with a very thin one.

Big splits

If you need to play a split sending the balls somewhere between 30 and 60 degrees to each other, then decide where the two balls should end up, draw an imaginary line between the two end positions, find the mid-point of that line, and that is the direction in which you should swing.

90 degree splits are hard to judge the distance since it is hard to judge the angle at which you should swing you mallet on the lawn. But there is one magic case. This is the 30 degree angle. Line up the top of the striker’s ball with the edge of the croqueted ball and swing on this line. This will result in you swinging at 30 degrees to the line through the balls. You can always judge this angle on the lawn, so make good use of this shot.

Running a hoop

Stalk the ball.

Line up your swing carefully. You MUST miss the near wire. No exceptions.

Swing smoothly. Jabbing at the ball is likely to send it in the wrong direction.

Make sure that your ball is rolling (and not skidding) when it reaches the hoop.

GOLF Croquet News for 2025.

Southern Croquet Federation Northern Leagues.

Our first Advantage League Matches are already booked (before we even have a team!). This season Caversham Blue will be playing 8 matches in total against Blewbury C & D, Eynsham, Harwell A, High Wycombe Kites and Phyllis Court C & D.

Caversham Blue will first play Phyllis Court C on Friday 25th April. Hopefully weekend dates at Blewbury in June will encourage some new players to sign up for the Team. Jane Probitts is once again organising this League for us, so please get in touch if you’d like to be on the team this year.

We have entered only 2 teams, Caversham Black & Red, in this year’s One Court League against Aldermaston, Aldershot A & B, Basingstoke Cavaliers, Roundheads & Levellers – so 7 matches for each of our teams, half of which will be played at home.  Jane will need some help from a Team Captain volunteer for each team – please step forward.

Champion of Champions Tournament at Hamptworth on Sunday April 13th.

Our winner of last year’s Club GC Singles Competition, Neil George, will be representing Caversham this year.

Top GC Tournament – SCF GC Championship. Sat May 31st at Phyllis Court, Henley.

This is for the 8 best ranked players in the Federation – typically with handicaps of 2 and better. So, a spectator event for Caversham players!

Hamptworth Croquet Club – Sat 8th & Sun 9th March 2025.

Level play GC singles with all standards of players welcome. Each day is a separate tournament with players in 2 Class Groups (lower and higher handicaps). There is a maximum of 2 players allowed per Club per Group and each player can expect to get 6 games (per day). There is a limit of 16 players per day and those interested should book with Richard Jenkins (m. 01722325410) on Richard.jenkins21@btinternet.com with £15 entry fee (per day) paid on the day.

Winter Lawns set up.

Neil and Timbo setting up the 2 half lawns.

Our Winter Lawn set up started on November 1st. It was decided not to reduce the lawn size to 6/7ths, as in previous years, but to keep the Full lawn divided into two half lawns, with the default of a half lawn being set up. It remains very important for us to routinely change the patterns of wear and tear on the lawn over winter and so you may find, when you come to play, that the half lawn in use is nearest the Car Park. The starting corner on either lawn may also vary from the Bowling Green side to the Tennis Court side – remember that Hoop 1 is the Blue Hoop and that you should in GC be playing clockwise from the corner towards it at the start.

Remember that Winter Rules now apply – so no jump shots allowed!

Other competitions for 2025

Croquet Competition Entry 2025

Club Competitions

The club organizes three competitions for our members; AC singles, GC singles and GC doubles. These are all played using ‘bisques’ (AC) or the ‘Advantage system’ (GC) to take account of differences in handicap. Entries for all competitions are made on an individual basis and pairings for the GC doubles trophy will be determined by the organizer to balance the handicaps (i.e. a high handicap player will be paired with a low handicap partner). Matches are played throughout the summer on a knockout basis. There is a fee of £5 per person per event for these tournaments.

You can find details of the draws on our Club Competitions on this link

Matches should be arranged in good time as the Finals need to be played before Members Day – for 2025, this is in August.

For the Winslow Cup – Association Croquet Handicap Singles.

For Golf Croquet Singles – GC Handicap singles.

For Golf Croquet Doubles – GC Handicap doubles.

Club Ladder. Caversham Climbers.

For the first time this year we are organising Club Ladders for both AC and GC Players. This is open to all members of any standard but is being run as an official club competition the results of which are to be entered on each player’s official handicap card.

You can play against anyone else on the ladder but can’t simply jump from the bottom to the top with one well-judged match-up.

So, progression will be as follows:

  • If the higher player (on the ladder) wins the game then they will continue to move up one position.
  • If the lower player wins, then it depends on how close they were on the ladder.
  • If they were within 5 positions then they still jump to just above their opponent.
  • If they started more than 5 positions below their opponent then they just move up two positions

Southern Croquet Federation Events

The Federation supports a variety of leagues and knockout tournaments to encourage competition between affiliated clubs. Matches are played in the summer months

There are two GC and two AC leagues relevant to smaller clubs such as Caversham. The Single Court League, restricted to clubs with one court, offers a good introduction to competitive team play for GC. The matches are played using the ‘Advantage system’ to take handicaps into account and give each player a fair chance of victory. For each match a team of 2 players will be chosen with each member playing a doubles game and two singles. Matches are played either at home or away on an annual rotating basis. Caversham have entered 2 teams into this league. There is another GC Advantage League that includes the larger clubs where more experienced players should take part. Here, Caversham enters one team with 4 players chosen for each match and each member plays against each opponent, so 4 games of singles each.

The AC league is also based on a team of 4 and uses ‘bisques’ to adjust for handicap. Caversham has one team in this league. Players are seeded according to their handicap and each player plays one 26 point game.

Games in the AC Short Croquet league are quicker than for standard AC so it is possible for each member of the 4 person team to play games against each opponent (hence 16 games in total).

There is no fee for members for participation in these leagues. (Costs are met by the club as part of our affiliation fee).

All England National Events

Countrywide AC and GC Handicap cups are organized by Croquet England. Local qualifying heats are held to identify a club nominee to enter regional heats and then the finals competition. The fee for these competitions is £8 per person per event (2023 rates, 2024 rates to be advised).

The All England Club also organizes an AC One Ball Cup to raise funds for charity. One ball is played, as the name suggests, with one ball for each player instead of two. This has the effect of minimizing breaks and makes for a much shorter game, allowing heats to be completed in one day. The fee for this competition is £10 per person.

Competition Rules.

AC Handicap Singles (Winslow Cup) rules

  • The Winslow Cup is a single life knock-out competition.
  • Matches are played using normal handicap rules. Results to go on handicap cards.
  • Matches are as defined on the draw sheet available in the clubhouse and distributed electronically.
  • Either player can arrange the match.
  • Matches are booked on Teamup using the Club events and competitions category and can be made up to 14 days in advance.
  • Matches before the semi-final will be shortened 14 point handicap games (see below) played on a full lawn over a maximum of 1 hour 50 minutes.
  • Semi-final and final matches, matches are 26 point handicap games played over 3 hours or 3¼ hours if double banked.
  • If neither player has pegged out both their balls in the time allotted for the game, the game is won by the player who has scored the greater number of points.
  • After the game, the winner’s name and score is written onto the sheet posted in the clubhouse and emailed to the organiser.

14 point croquet v 26 point croquet

  • 26 point croquet requires the winning side to make each of their balls score 12 hoop points and a peg point, a total of 26 points, before the other side.
  • 14 point croquet is a shortened game which consists of a single circuit of the 6 hoop points plus the peg point for each ball.
  • All the rules of association croquet apply to both versions.

Handicap play

  • Note that in all forms of handicap play, the striker may not peg out the striker’s ball unless the partner ball is a Rover or an adversary’s ball has been pegged out.
  • Because 14 point croquet is a shortened game, a reduced number of bisques apply. See Schedule 1: Schedule of Bisques, reproduced in part below.
26pt123456789101112
14pt½123456

Bisques Calculator (14-pt AC game with a base of 5)

This system is used to allow both players to have bisques for games between high handicap players (which is virtually all of us)

Your individual number of bisques will be the same for most games, and is calculated as your full bisque count for a 14-pt game, minus the base of 5.

When you play a player with a handicap below 9, then you will get extra bisques and they will get none – this should only apply when playing against Mike Kay (as shown here)

PlayerHCBisques
Against     Most PlayersAgainst Mike Kay
Jasmine24811
John Wakeford2279.5
Will2068.5
Neil163.56.5
Charles142.55.5
Gareth121.54.5
Bob1114
Brian902.5
Mike Kay40

GC Handicap competitions rules

  • The GC Handicap Singles and the GC Handicap Doubles Competitions are single-life knock-out competitions.
  • Matches are to be played on the full lawn.
  • Matches consist of a single 13 point game except the final which will be the best of three 13 point games.

Arranging matches

  • Matches to be played are defined on the draw sheet available in the clubhouse and distributed electronically.
  • Either player may contact their opponent to arrange the match.
  • Matches can be booked up to 14 days in advance on Teamup using the Club events and competitions label.
  • After the game, the winner’s name and score is written onto the sheet posted in the clubhouse and emailed to the organiser.
  • Results are to be written into handicap cards.

Advantage Handicap Rules.

All GC Competitions are to be played using the new Advantage Rules Handicap System and not the Extra Strokes System as in the past. Use the link to view the latest update from the Croquet Association on the Advantage System for use in Handicap play.

Timed games

  • If agreed in advance by both players, a game may be timed to a maximum of 50 minutes.
  • When time is called, an extension period of a further eight turns is played.
  • A timed game is won by the player who has scored the greater number of points when the extension period is completed.
  • If the scores are level, the game is continued until a point is scored.

The Results are in…

Tim Leverton says that he has never before won a sporting competition, so here he is holding the GC Doubles Plate having just won our GC Doubles Competition this year.

Tim and his Doubles Partner, Charles Briggs, made it through 3 tough Rounds, winning their first two, each 7-6 at the Golden Hoop, to go on to beat John Wakeford and Chris Barnard in the Final by 7-4, 2-7, 7-4.

In the GC Singles Competition Neil George beat Will Watson 2-0 in the best of 3 games Final, despite Will getting off to a good start at the first hoop.

In the AC Winslow Cup there was no stopping Will Watson who, after a slow start against Mike Reddy in the first round, romped through two more rounds to reach the Final in which he beat Chris Barnard by 15-4.

Trophies will be presented on members Day on Saturday August 24th.

A Winning Streak.

In our first AC League Match against Oxford University we finished 3-1 ahead. Here is the scoresheet.

Oxford University Charles Sharpe H10 26-3 v Gareth Hobby H12
Oxford University Danny Dawson H18 15-23 v Charles Briggs H14
Oxford University Josh Jackson H24 11- 18 v Neil George H16
Oxford University Sam Reynolds H24 7 -26 v Will Watson H20

Congratulations to Neil whose handicap has now come down to 14.

In the Advantage GC Handicap League Caversham Blue, Jane, Timbo, Chris and Charles, travelled to Winchester to secure an 11-5 victory.

Here is the scoresheet.

Hats Off! A Sunny Open Day on Saturday 25th May.

Judy (most colourful hat) and Mike Reddy hosted our annual Club Open Day in May, ably assisted by several other Club members. Anne Small even produced a children’s set for the very young!

Our Club coach Tim Small gave instruction to some of the 10 visitors who came on the day ably assisted by 2nd hat Tim Leverton.

Even our treasurer Chris Barnard (right hat) learned a thing or two from Timbo.

Hats off! Joan Crossman stands at ease and Linda Allan lends an ear!

Great to have had a sunny day and good interest from the public. We had ten visitors in all, which was four more than last year. So, well worth the effort and many thanks to all who helped promote our sport on the day. Our waiting list for membership has now been added to!

Match Update.

All our GC League teams have been in action during May. All matches were played at Caversham where the players enjoyed plenty of homemade cake to boost their energy. Thank you to all members who have played, helped prepare the lawn, provided refreshments and come along to support our players.

The One Court League saw Red V Yellow (12 May) with the Yellow team winning 4-1. Red represented by the two Tims (Small and Leverton)  and Liz Walker and Jane Probitts playing for Yellow. 

18 May – Yellow (Charles Briggs and Liz Walker) won 5-0 against Black (Pam Briggs and Mike Reddy)

23 May –  Black (Judy Reddy and Chris Barnard) won 4-1 against Red (Neil George making his debut appearance alongside Tim Small )

In the Advantage League our Blue team went to Phyllis Court for their opening match on 20 May. Two courts are required with 4 games of double banked singles. It was neck and neck at the half way stage after the first 8 games, but then home advantage for Phyllis Court gave them an 11-5 overall win. Well done to Tim Small, Pam and Charles Briggs and Liz Walker.  

Future matches are listed on TeamUp. 

You are on the ladder!

Welcome to May, and the start of our new Caversham Climbers croquet ladder competitions – organised by Gareth Hobby.

  • You can challenge anyone on the ladder within 5 places of you, up or down.
  • If the higher player wins then they advance one position up the ladder.
  • If the lower player wins then they advance to just above the higher player
  • Please adjust your positions on the ladder in the clubhouse, but also send all results to me (garethhobby@aol.com) and enter them in your handicap cards
  • You can only play each other person once per month, in each competition
  • The GC games are played using the Advantage system 
  • The AC games are 14 pt games with 1:45 timelimit, played using a base handicap of 5  

Starting positions have been drawn at random and the ladders have been set up as follows:

GC Ranked List
PositionNameHandicap
1Chris Barnard10
2Mark Keogh6
3Mike Parker10
4Maureen Stewart14
5Wil Watson8
6Kate Armitage12
7John Wakeford10
8Liz Walker10
9Tim Leverton8
10Brian Jamieson4
11Dave Murray10
12Mike Reddy7
13Linda Allen12
14Marjorie Tierney14
15Anne Small5
16Judy Reddy10
17Katherine Molyneux14
18Bill Runacre10
19Tim Small7
20Charles Briggs8
21Jane Probitts12
22Jill Murray12
23Pam Briggs8
24Carol Jamieson6
25Gareth Hobby7
26Stella Kendall11
27Neil George9
28Molly Anderson14
29Carol Hill10
30Pauline Fisher11
31Deanna Nield12
32Sally Judge12
Starting positions have been drawn at random
AC Ranked List
PositionNameHandicap
1Will Watson20
2Terry Marsh20
3John Wakeford22
4Mark Keogh16
5Chris Grieves16
6Michael Kay4
7Francis Brown20
8Carol Jamieson20
9Mike Reddy24
10Phil Sweeney24
11Bob Eales11
12Brian Jamieson9
13Gareth Hobby12
14Chris Barnard20
15Charles Briggs14
16Jasmine Marsh24
17Liz Walker24
18Neil George16
19Ben Hargreaves16
Starting positions have been drawn at random

If anyone who wants to play in the competition has been missed off the lists, then please let me know and I’ll add you to the bottom of the ladder.

If you don’t yet have a handicap then don’t let that stop you taking part – you can play off a handicap of 20 in AC or 10 in GC, but your scores won’t count towards handicap cards for you or your opponents.

Gareth will provide a separate sheet to illustrate how to calculate bisques for the AC games (to hopefully avoid confusion)

If you have any questions, please drop Gareth an email or a text on 07557 347420.

Ladder Rules

Starting positions on each ladder have been assigned at random.

You are allowed to challenge anyone on the board within 5 places, above or below.

You may only play each opponent once per month in each competition (once in AC and once in GC)

You can book the lawn as normal, up to 7 days in advance.

Please double-bank where possible (however AC and GC games should not play at the same time)

If the lower player wins, they move above the higher player, if not the higher player moves up one place 

Matches

Each game is a formal match, using your AC or GC handicap, and should be recorded on your handicap card(s)

AC games should be played to 14-pts with a time limit of 1:45  and a handicap base of 5

GC games should be standard 7-pt game using the Advantage system

At the end of your game, please adjust the relative position of your lollipops, update your handicap cards and email me your results (with date and time of match) 

Handicaps

You should use your current handicap from the start of that day.

Players without handicaps can still take part.  They will be assigned a temporary handicap for the purpose of the competition (AC:20 and GC:10) but matches they take part in will not count towards anyone’s handicap and should not be recorded on handicap cards by either player.

AC ‘Handicap base of 5’ explained:

  • if both players have a handicap greater than 9 then each player gets bisques, calculate their bisques as if they were playing a player of handicap 0, and then take off the base of 5
  • If either player has a handicap of 9 or below then handicaps are calculated as normal for a 14 pt game

Monthly Updates

Each month, I will check the order of the ladder and email out a set of results and an updated ladder position.

After two months, any player who has not played any games at all will be removed from the ladder. 

If they wish to rejoin at a later stage, then they are welcome to do so, and will do so at the bottom.

Good luck everyone and play well.

Rgds

Gareth

Many thanks to Gareth for volunteering to take on the organisation of this new initiative and thanks to Neil George for suggesting the ladder and actually making it!

Charity One Ball.

Follow the Money! Treasurer beats Chair.

A great sunny start to the Croquet season at Albert Road with our Charity 1 Ball Club Heat on Saturday 13th April raising £130 for British Heart Foundation – a great result for our Treasurer Chris Barnard who also won the day!

Semi finalists Will Watson, Charles Briggs, Chris Barnard and Brian Jamieson.

Twelve contestants battled it out in the First rounds – each playing 3 matches, first to peg out with 13 points but with a 40 minute time limit per game. With 3 players each winning all 3 of their games the 4th semi final position was between Brian and John, each with 2 wins but with Brian having a net hoop score of 9 and John with 5, Brian went through.

PlayerHandicapHoops runGames won
Brian Jamieson9362
Jasmine Marsh2023
Will Watson20393
Carol Jamieson15271
Heather Hanshaw2019
John Wakeford20312
Pam Briggs20311
Chris Barnard20363
Gareth Hobby12321
Neil George16361
Sarah Weeks20281
Charles Briggs14393
Anne Small entered but had to withdraw and we wish her a speedy recovery from her knee surgery.

Jasmine Marsh sees red! Drawn first to play against Brian!

Time for a chat – size up the opposition and eat lunch.

In the final rounds Chris beat Will by 10 hoops to 9 , Charles beat Brian by 13 hoops to 10 and then Chris beat Charles 13 hoops to 9. Thanks to Anne Small donating her entry fee we managed to exceed the £125 fund raising that allows us to qualify for 2 places in the Regional Finals. Unfortunately Chris is unable to make either of the scheduled dates and so it will be Charles and Will going to Surbiton on May 5th.