Maui Croquet Club CROQUET NEWS:  Croquet Club a Big Hit for Power Meetings

Corporations are discovering the National Croquet Center in West Palm Beach as a venue to unwind and get down to business at the same time.

Click to Visit24 October 2005
Miami, Florida, USA United States of America
by Jo Werne in The Miami Herald

A bit of croquet before your next corporate meeting? A little fresh air and exercise -- not to mention fun -- can sharpen minds before dealing with business matters.

More and more South Florida corporations are discovering the National Croquet Center in West Palm Beach. When business people meet there, they are treated to a lesson in the sport before settling down to an agenda.

  Croquet, Anyone?
  Croquet was born in England in the mid-19th century and soon spread to most other English-speaking countries. It is a lawn game played by knocking wooden balls through metal wickets with mallets. The goal is to drive away an opponent's ball by striking one's own when the two are in contact.

The website www.croquetnational.com tells how croquet went "from backyard game to world-class sport in the U.S."

Here, manufacturers popularized "a version of the sport that could be played on rough turf with lightweight, inexpensive equipment. It is this lightweight, scaled-down, toy version of croquet which most Americans have either seen or played."

The backyard game has been popular in the United States for more than 100 years. Six-wicket croquet, which requires golf-course-like lawns, was rarely seen here until the late 1970s.

"The United States Croquet Association was organized by Jack Osborn in 1977 with a nucleus of six East Coast clubs," the website says. "Osborn hammered out a codified set of rules for a uniquely American variety of six-wicket croquet. Today, as many as 10,000 men and women play this elegant and exacting sport on more than 600 greens in the U.S. and Canada."

''It's fun to see corporate people get on the field, roll their pants up, and roll the balls,'' says Tracy Tretola, program manager for Hello Florida, a corporate event planning company in Fort Lauderdale. ``It's always a great hit, and the guests have a good time.''

Though the National Croquet Center might not be the first place you'd think of to book a corporate gathering, the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches and The Human Resources Association of Palm Beach County are among the groups that have held events there.

''I visited a couple of times, and fell in love with it,'' says Karen Roberts, president of the Human Resources Association. ``It's a great place, very community-minded.''

In addition to fields that can accommodate 192 players at a time, the center also includes a 19,000-square-foot clubhouse with a ballroom on the second floor for big events. The bar room is outfitted like an English gentleman's club with overstuffed brown leather chairs and fine rugs on a hardwood floor.

The dining room -- open to the public for lunch, dinner some evenings and Sunday brunch -- is run by Continental Catering (also known as Peas and Carrots).

Still, the center ''is a well-kept secret,'' notes Don Corvette, account executive with Erno Laszlo Cosmetics in West Palm Beach. ``We hosted a group of women from a cosmetics school, told them to wear all white, and a croquet pro took them out for a lesson. We've had great meetings there.''

The average cost for corporate meetings ranges from $300 is $750, not including food and drink. Groups ranging from 20 people to 600 can be accommodated and the fee includes the facility rental and instruction in croquet if the group requests it. Nonprofits receive 25 percent off the meeting room rental fee -- and also croquet instruction if they desire.

The National Croquet Center came about because New York businessman Chuck Steuber loved to play croquet. When he retired to Boca Raton in the 1990s, he envisioned a center with a vast lawn of 12 contiguous courts with a multi-purpose clubhouse.

He found a nursery on a 10-acre plot just west of I-95 in West Palm Beach and started to raise funds to buy it. The playing course opened in December 2000, and the club house was completed in 2002.

Donations were sought from croquet players all over the country. There were a couple of $100,000 pledges, but Steuber, who is now recovering from a stroke, donated around $5 million. The total cost to build the facility was $7 million, according to Shereen Hayes, director of the United States Croquet Association, which is headquartered at the center. (The USCA was founded in 1977 to promote the development and govern the sport of croquet.)

FREE INSTRUCTION

The Croquet Foundation of America owns the center and charges its 300 members a yearly fee, but the general public may also play for $30 per person per visit. On Saturdays, free instruction is offered to the public from 10 a.m. to noon. Individuals can attend up to three of the free sessions to see if they like the game. Some become members.

White sportswear is mandatory for members, but the only requirement for visitors is that they wear flat-soled shoes; no spikes allowed. The pro shop sells croquet whites and professional playing equipment, including mallets ranging from $95 up to $485 for the Pidcock Manor House mallet made of titanium.

Yearly memberships range from $300 to $1,200 for an individual and from $450 to $1,725 for a couple. Student membership for ages 13 to 21 are $110 per person. Lifetime memberships range from $12,000 for singles to $18,000 for couples. Snowbirds can take advantage of a three-month membership for $350.

A DIFFERENT GAME

If you think the game played at the National Croquet Center is like the backyard croquet you played as a kid, think again.

''You played nine-wicket croquet,'' explains Ron Lloyd, in charge of membership until he recently moved to Pinehurst, N.C., to become a croquet master. ``We play six-wicket croquet. There are 21 feet between wickets. This sport requires the strategy of chess and the skill of golf.''

But the game can be played at a leisurely pace.

A 3,300-square-foot veranda stretches across the back of the clubhouse, overlooking the croquet courts. Dozens of brown wicker armchairs are lined up so members and visitors can watch the players.

SEVERAL TENTS

Since there can be a lot of waiting for a turn in this sport, the field has several tents where players can sit.

The center is also a hotbed of competitive croquet. Next Feb. 6-11, it will host its fourth annual tournament between a team from England and one from the United States.

There will be 100-plus players -- all wearing white, of course -- whacking blue, black, red and yellow balls through six wickets.

Average cost ranges from $300 to $750; a three-day meeting runs around $1,000, not including food or drink. This includes rental of the facility and instruction in croquet if the group requests it. Not all groups want to spend the time on the instruction.

The nonprofits also get a meeting room and instruction in croquet if they want it.