| Four-Ball Break |
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There are three points in the break that I want to stress: first, the sending of the Pioneer to 6 after running 3; second, the sending of the Pioneer to 2-back after running 5; third, the sending of the Pioneer to 3-back, not from 1-back but from the right of 2-back. Study these, for on them hang all the law and the profits! (page 31-32)
A player that continually turns round to roquet the Pilot ball after running a hoop is either unable to acquire control or unappreciative of its importance. (page 37)
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| Stroke Production |
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I would point out the factors on which a properly hit ball depend. These are:
- Aim. It is not the mallet but the relation of the shoulders to the object that constitute aim. This is why 'stalking' your own ball is advised. Walk up from behind it in the line which you wish your ball to travel. If you do this your aim will be the stance you take up. Any attempt to correct the aim by altering the mallet will lead to failure. If you think your aim is incorrect, move away and take up your stance again.
- Eye on the ball. If you keep your eye on the back of the ball you will be seeing the centre of it, and it is very near there that you should hit!
- Body unmoved. This is vital. If the body is moved the accuracy of the shot in one way or another is inevitably affected.
- Swing. A rhythmical flat swing from the shoulders, with the arms and mallet forming a single unit, imparts the correct directional impulse that keeps the ball on the required line. (page 46-47)
A good rusher can pick up a break from any position and the opponent never feels safe. (page 50)
The cut is really only a recovery stroke, so that it is an indication of some previous imperfection. If you are really accurate in your stroke production you will put your shots where you won't need to use the cut. (page 50)
Remember, the hoop shot should be firm but not hit hard. (page 51)
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| Croquet Shots |
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There is one take-off approach that I want to warn you against. Suppose you have roqueted the pilot just over a yard to the right of 1 which is your hoop. Don't play a take-off in this position--it is sheer funk.You need the pilot north of the hoop and you know it. Be a man and play a split shot! (page 55)
To legislate for what is and what is not a fair croquet shot is extremely difficult, and I doubt whether the provisions of the law can stand before the revelation of the camera. For all that, the intention of the law is clear. The stroke must be one continuous movement and not consist of two distinct parts, first a hit and then an acceleration of the mallet to give push. Every good player, indeed every player within the meaning of the act, knows what shot is fair and what is foul. I must emphasize the following:
The fact that only one hit is audible is not in itself sufficient evidence that the croquet stroke is fair. There must be neither increase nor decrease in the speed of the mallet when in contact with the ball.
If the spirit of the last remarks is observed, we will eliminate not only double-taps but also 'shepherding', the revolting habit of letting the mallet, in the short croquet approach, personally conduct the ball to the hoop or sometimes (for Justice lives) beyond it. (page 56)
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| Tactics in Class A |
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For example, if you are in a nasty position with one ball at 2 and one at 3, while your opponent has a controlled rush to 1, your policy is to shoot if you consider that your opponent is a top-notcher. He has a certain three-ball break, which he is fully capable of controlling--are you going to forgo the chance of hitting in because you won't give him the fourth ball? He'll have it anyways in a few strokes. If however, your opponent is not quite in the front rank and is a weaker rusher, or has some other fault which might let him down with only three balls, then you would be wrong to shoot. (page 72-73)
Another tactic which is basically wrong is to have a rush into the court from corner IV after having made the first break. You usually force your opponent to take the short shot. The same consideration applies in this case. If your opponent is the better player you are justified in doing this, if not, it is a mistaken policy. (page 75)
It is clear that the more shots your opponent has the more likelihood there is of his hitting. For this reason, every chance of a break should be taken. Better to be the in-player with a slender break than the out-player with none. (page 75)
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| Triple Peel |
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The triple peel is inextricably bound up with the A-class play. The penalties for going beyond 4-back entailed by Law 44 make it almost universal practice to leave the clip on 4-back after the first break. At this point one's opponent has a lift, and if the shot is missed, it is obviously desirable to win the game in the next turn so that the opponent does not get another chance. That is the bare economics of the case. But beyond this there is incentive to do a triple--the artist in us should strive for what is as satisfying as a Grand Coup or a Squeeze to a Bridge player. The triple is a manoeuvre by which as one goes round with one's second ball, one peels the forward ball through its last three hoops and pegs it out, thus finishing the game. (page 79)
[Referring to the placement of the hoop 5 pioneer ball.] Blue runs 3 gently, probably roqueting Black in the process, and now Black is peeled by a simple split, and Blue leaves itself a rush on Red to 4. A stop shot sends red to 5--just to the side is best--and Blue roquets Yellow close to 4. The croquet stroke should put Yellow just to the left of the hoop, so that Blue after running it gently can rush Yellow back to the north boundary above 3. Yellow is croqueted near 6 while Blue gets a rush on Black to send this ball near 6. A take-off to red (we had put it at the side to avoid any chance of being wired at this point) and blue makes 5. (page 80)
I have come to the conclusion from experience that there is no position too difficult for a triple to be achieved, no position too easy for it to be missed--carelessness can always rear its ugly head. I am hoping one day to bring off the perfect triple by doing the third peel when I am doing 5, but I have not managed it yet. (page 84)
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| Sextuple Peel |
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This has a great deal more than mere academic interest, because it can be reduced to little more than a quadruple. It is part of a plan to finish the game in two breaks, without giving the opponent a lift at all. ... Anyhow, this is an excellent form of practice! (page 85-86)
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| Peeling |
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Angle of Peel. It is claimed that it is easier to peel at an angle with a split. This is true if you don't get the peeled ball near enough. I prefer to get the peeled ball within two feet in front of the hoop and use a stop shot. If you can't do this, you are not playing accurately and your peeling break is quite likely to fail. (page 86)
Delayed Peels. I consider that it is better to rely on a stop-shot peel, followed by an accurate rush, rather than a long split-roll peel. For example, if you are doing the 4-back peel when going to 1-back, it is better to have the pilot just N.W. of 4-back, so that a stop-shot peel leaves you a dead rush to 1-back. The other method of having the pioneer at 1-back and employing a split roll to peel runs the risk of sending the peeled ball off the boundary, or of failing to get it through the hoop in the anxiety to get to 1-back. (page 86)
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When partner ball [peelee] is on the same side of the hoop as my ball [striker] is going. |
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I aim at the far wire. |
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When partner ball [peelee] is on the opposite side of the hoop as my ball [striker] is going. |
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I aim at the inside of the near wire. |
The aiming is purely instinctive and is not attended with any precise and complicated measurements.
This method gives good results, but I am bound to admit that there are times, and I have noticed this in Solomon's case, too, when the ball, for no apparent reason, goes smack into the wire. This, I think, bears out what I have said, that it is the way we hit the ball that counts. I am so convinced that, if the balls do not touch, our shot is inevitably inaccurate.
After much study of this complicated subject, not only generally but specifically for this chapter, I have come to the conclusion that the safest way to deal with pull is to avoid it. Get the ball to be peeled near enough to the hoop and you can peel with impunity. (page 90)
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| Pegged-Out Game |
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If you are the player of the single ball, you should shoot whenever your opponent gives you an open shot, unless a miss is dangerous, and even, on occasions, when a miss is dangerous. It is better to have shot and lost than never to have shot at all. (page 104)
When the opposing balls are separated take any shot that offers at the rover ball. (page 105) |
CROQUET COACHING: Tackle Croquet This Way 