THE NEW GAME OF CROQUET,
WITH A FEW HINTS TO BEGINNERS, BY ONE OF THEM.
FIG. 1.—GOOD FORM.
Your editor, always with an eye to his readers’ pleasure and profit, asked me to make a few drawings illustrative of the new way of playing croquet, a game that has recently been revived with astonishing success all over the country; and also to write a short description of the game with a few general hints that may be of help to those taking up croquet for the first time. I am old enough to remember the introduction of the game, as played in the old way with wide hoops, light mallets, and light balls. Croquet became the rage, and for a few years monopolised the attention of lovers of outdoor recreation; then lawn tennis came in, and croquet was allowed to well-nigh drop out of existence. As played now it is certainly a far better game, and though more difficult is correspondingly the more interesting. It might be called lawn billiards, and with practice and some natural aptitude a player can become as certain of his strokes as in billiards, provided, of course, the lawn be a good one.
FIG. 2.—BAD FORM.
The chief differences in the new game as compared with the old are bigger and heavier mallets, heavier balls, narrower hoops placed much further apart, and therefore more difficult to negotiate, no croqueting with the foot, i.e., your own ball has to be placed against the ball you have hit, and the player strikes his own ball according to the distance and direction he wishes his own and the other ball to go, instead of keeping his foot on his own ball while he hits it. Those who have played the old game will realise what a difference this “loose” instead of tight croqueting makes to the play. Another important point in taking croquet is that if your own or the other ball is driven off the boundary line, the player loses the remainder of his turn. This law was introduced to prevent a player from running completely away from his opponent, which was likely to happen when a good player was well set.
The best game is that played between four players in partnership, as matters become more equalised as the play proceeds than in single games between two opponents, though where two players are fairly matched the single game allows of a greater exhibition of skill. Games frequently last a couple of hours and even longer in the four-handed game, and from an hour to an hour and a half in singles, and it is important that players should not feel “hung up” for time, for nothing is so calculated to put a player off than the feeling that he must hurry to catch a train. Good players proceed in a quiet determined fashion, well on the alert, but never in a hurry. On the other hand, too much calculation and deliberateness will often make a player fail to get through a hoop or roquet. You must sight your ball and get the direction, and then play boldly and with decision; hesitating play is fatal to good strokes. Brisk play is undoubtedly the thing both for the player and the others of the party, for if a game is dragged out it becomes tedious. I confess that I am by no means a good player, but an indifferent player can get a lot of enjoyment out of the game provided he gets players of about his own calibre to play with and against him. There is no doubt that to play well necessitates pretty constant practice, for without that one cannot be sure of either the direction and, what is of equal importance, the strength of his stroke. This latter is one of the great difficulties of the game, for upon hitting your ball the right distance depends your chance of a second stroke either by getting through a hoop or when you roquet. The distance a ball will travel will depend upon the nature of the lawn as well as upon the strength of your stroke.
A good lawn well drained, of closely cropped turf in good condition and true, will play faster than where the grass is poor and dampish. Weeds, like plantains and daisies, will quite spoil a stroke if the ball happens to slide upon them, and obviously holes or bare places are still worse. An ordinary lawn can be improved by sifting over it sandy road scrapings, and hollows filled in in this way early in the year and well rolled will become turf later on as the grass will grow through the soil. A poor lawn can be helped by sowing on this top dressing some good lawn seed, which can be had at any good seedsman’s. Birds are partial to it, and it is necessary to either net the lawn or stretch across it black thread at intervals.
A lawn which is weedy can only be improved with trouble and labour. Plantains, the worst pest, must be got up by their roots; there is a lawn weeder sold for the purpose. Dandelions must be carefully extracted or they will spring up again, as will docks. Daisies are a nuisance, and can only be got rid of by weeding; the lawn sand will do something to eradicate them. Constant rolling and cutting with a good lawn mower, provided with a hood to collect the cut grass, is necessary to preserve a lawn in good condition. An impoverished lawn should be dressed with road sweepings and bone dust, and moss in a lawn is a sure indication that this treatment is necessary. A lawn grown from seed will take some two or three years to form a turf; to hasten matters turfs should be put down, as if this be done in the autumn, and the lawn thus formed be top-dressed with sifted road-scrapings in the spring, it will be playable in the summer. If a lawn be damp there is only one cure—drainage, which means having pipes laid some two feet below the surface. A well drained lawn can be played on soon after a shower of rain, whereas a badly drained lawn is nearly always boggy. I give these few details about the lawn itself because, though many of us have to put up with what we have, we might as well make the best of it, and a little care and attention will do much to improve our turf, and the game is so much more enjoyable if the lawn we play upon is fairly good. Nothing is so annoying as having a good stroke spoilt because the ball is given a wrong bias by a weed or hole.
FIG. 3.—SIGHTING THE BALL.
It is not my purpose to give the rules of the game, as a capital shilling handbook by Mr. J. Jeffery is published by Dean and Son, Fleet Street, from which I take the three methods of arranging the hoops, and to which I refer the reader; but a few general hints which come to me through having played the game may not be de trop. It is useless playing a much better player on equal terms, and here comes in the question of handicapping. This can be done by giving the weaker player the start of a hoop or two, or by “bisques,” or extra strokes which can be taken at any period of the game. These extra strokes should be given by an umpire, and where one is not available hoops should be taken, though the weaker player can play to a certain hoop while the stronger player has to go right round the course. This latter arrangement is perhaps preferable. For single games a third ball called a “Jack” can be used, each player having the right of using this extra ball. The Jack can also be used by a player who elects to play two others in partnership. Three players generally play enemies, and can use a “Jack” or not as agreed upon. Where one player plays against two others, he should be the better player, and should play first, as it is an advantage for a weaker player to come after. In a four game the last player is manifestly in a better position than the others, as he has the three other balls to roquet. But there can be no question that double games, i.e., with four players in partnership, is the ideal game; the two stronger players should each take a weaker partner. In the double game generalship is most important, the chief rule to be observed being for the partners to play each other’s game, which means coming to each other’s rescue quite irrespective of getting through hoops. To make this clear, a player should go to the assistance of his partner at all costs, for if partners do not play together their chances of winning are much lessened. This may sound an arbitrary law, but experience will convince anyone that it is founded upon a knowledge of the game, as it is of the greatest help to have your partner’s ball to roquet, and you not only help yourself, but you can often put your partner’s through a hoop as well as your own. I have seen games where two players will each play his own game irrespective of the other, while their opponents play together, and as the game draws to a conclusion the advantage of playing in partnership in deed as well as in name is most marked. It is sometimes worth the while of a stronger player to become a “rover” when a game is well advanced, especially if his partner is a weak player, as then the rover can give more assistance to the partner than he could if he had to trouble about points himself. Another tactic which must not be lost sight of is, when you cannot come to your partner’s assistance, to make for the hoop your partner will go for next, which will materially assist him, as he can roquet your ball and “take two turns off.”
Six players can take part in a game, but it makes it long drawn out and tedious.
There is another point to be observed, and that is to carry the war into the enemies’ camp, especially if your two opponents are getting much ahead. By croqueting them out of position instead of getting through your own hoop you thwart them, thereby giving yourselves a chance. Some players carry this too far, never troubling to make points themselves, and as it is only by making points, that is, getting through hoops, that wins the game, the chief concern should be to make points, at the same time doing your best as occasion serves to prevent your opponents getting ahead.
Always notice where the ball of the player following you is before you make your final stroke, for it is certainly better to hit yourself out of his way (and if possible, to where your partner’s ball is) even at the loss of position than to give your opponent an easy roquet. All these matters come under the head of generalship, and it is well for partners to agree as to the course to be pursued, instead of each asserting his or her ego, and so bringing about divided councils, which can only end in disaster if your opponents play well together. It is to be feared—that is, on this subject of tactics—so much bad temper is shown, but that is not the fault of croquet, for there are players at every game who lose their temper as play goes against them. Play with all the keenness and persistence possible, never giving up trying while the issue is still undecided, but the “rigour of the game” certainly need not lead to ructions. There are days when one is “off” play, and when the easiest strokes are muffed. This is aggravating, of course, and if it annoys you much retire gracefully, but the old hand knows that there are times when one’s play is better than usual, and these occasions should make up for those other days when you are “off.” All match-games and tournaments are apt to try one by inducing a state of nervousness, which makes good play impossible. One knows that this comes from over-desire to win, by playing up to one’s best form. Any counsel is one of perfection on such a matter, but if one could only realise that more is done by quiet steady play, hanging on to your opponent’s heels and realising that the game is not lost until the last point is scored, some of this feverish excitement might be allayed.
I must just say a few words with regard to strokes, and here the illustrations, drawn from some photographs I took of a girl who is a particularly good player, may be helpful.
There are two classes of players, those who score points and pay little heed to the way they do this, and those who study “form,” that is, the way they play: a good style comes partly by practice and partly by an aptitude for the game. It is good form to hold your mallet somewhat like a cricket bat as in Fig. 1, and hit your ball with freedom and from the elbow, but beginners find it difficult to be certain of the direction the ball will travel, and prefer to hold the mallet in front of them as in Fig. 2, letting it swing like a pendulum. This sort of stroke enables the player to gauge the direction with greater certainty, but you can get no force into it, and the tyro should cultivate the freer stroke, if she wish to become a strong instead of a timid player.
In estimating direction, it is a good plan to look along the top of your mallet across to the object you aim at, and your partner can be of help here by looking from the object aimed at, on to your mallet, as the girl is doing in Fig. 3, to see that the direction is the right one. This I consider a very good hint, and one that I profited by myself, and it is of great assistance to one to have your partner’s criticism, especially when making a long shot. As regards strength of stroke, practice alone can gauge this. The modern mallets have one side faced with rubber for a particular class of strokes, where the ball is not to travel far, and it is important for the player to learn to use this side as well as the wooden one. Pushing or spooning is rigorously barred, and a hit to count must be heard distinctly.
No. 1. Eight-Hoop Setting.
No. 3. Six-Hoop Setting.
Used in Public Tournaments.
No. 2. Seven-Hoop Setting.
Clips are used by some, as by attaching one to the hoop that has next to be negotiated all discussion is avoided as to the play, as will sometimes happen in the middle of a game, but many players do not trouble to use them.
I give three diagrams as to the placing of the hoops marked with the distances taken from the book published by Dean and Son before referred to. A good game can be played on any fair-sized ground, but if too small the strokes become too easy, and the game suffers. The proper size is 40 yards long and 30 yards wide, and should not be less than 20 yards by 15 yards. The “dead boundary” should be marked all round with whiting, as in lawn tennis.
These are the three chief settings with the distances measured on a full-sized ground. Where the lawn is smaller the necessary allowances must be made. The eight hoop setting is a good one for beginners, as the distances to be negotiated are not so great as in the six hoop, which is the most difficult of the three.
No. 1.—Eight hoop.
Pegs 3 yards from boundary.
First and sixth hoops 4 yards from pegs.
Middle hoops midway and 4 yards from each other.
Corner hoops 5 yards from end of ground and 4 yards from side.
Starting spot opposite centre of same, and 2 feet in front.
No. 2.—Seven hoop.
Pegs in centre line of ground, 7 yards from nearest boundary.
Hoops up centre of ground, 5 yards from peg, and 5¼ yards apart.
Corner hoops 7 yards from centre, and in a line with pegs.
Starting spot 1½ yards from first hoop in centre line.
No. 3.—Six hoop.
As in No. 2, except that the middle-line hoops are 7 yards apart, and 7 yards from peg.
Starting spot opposite centre of left-hand corner hoop, and 1 foot from same. Corner hoops in a line with pegs.