CROQUET NEWS:  Game of Psychology, Skill, Tactics and Theory Quietly Sweeps Across Nantucket

It's Croquet

20 June 2007
Westmoor Club, Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States of America
story by Steve Sheppard in The Nantucket Independent, Nantucket, MA, USA
photo by Michael Glavin in The Nantucket Independent, Nantucket, MA, USA

They're a hearty bunch, these croquet players. Neither rain nor fog nor strong winds will deter them, as was evident in the days leading up to last weekend's Nantucket Croquet Invitational at the Westmoor Club. There, on the lush lawn that was once the 'Field of Dreams' Little League diamond, players from up and down the east coast braved Thursday's winds before championship play began on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

A player lines up a shot during last weekend's Nantucket Invitational at the Westmoor Club.

Players like Rilice and Al Lefton of the Merion Cricket Club in Haverford, Pa. (home of the largest croquet tournament in the world) who also happen to live in 'Sconset when they're truly at home. The Leftons, in fact, began playing croquet on Betty Phillips' 'Sconset lawn, one of several courts on the island where the playing area is putting-green smooth and the wickets are tight — very tight.

This is not the croquet you recall from childhood, where the wickets were arched, the course meandered around bushes and trees and pleasure came from "sending" your opponent into the next zip code. The croquet that is practiced on Nantucket today is far removed from its freeform backyard cousin. Forget the image of croquet as rustic or suburban. The growing croquet movement on Nantucket is devoted to a game that encourages precision and skill.

	Well-manicured lawns are only part of the allure. As Sarah Strubel can attest while playing at Finn Murphy's, the wickets are considerably smaller than standard issue.

And it has more devotees than you'd think.

Take Finn Murphy, for example. When the former selectman first looked into 'real' croquet, fellow board member Michael Glowacki was already an aficionado. "Michael started playing first," Murphy acknowledged. "Independently of that, I started playing."

While the two may have had their differences politically, and didn't share a game while they both sat on the board, they have since found common ground on the croquet lawn. "Finn and I played in an impromptu tournament last year, the 'Fifth Wicket Tournament,' " Glowacki said. "We have gotten together a couple of times."

Christy Kickham ponders his strategy at Westmoor.

Well, maybe more than a couple of times. "Mike and I were playing three to four times a week through the fall," Murphy noted.

What is it about this game that can get even seasoned politicos to see eye to eye?

"It doesn't take as long as golf, you can't get hurt and it's very sociable," Murphy attests. "And there is no gender difference."

"It's one of the few sports where age and sex don't matter," Glowacki agrees. "When you go to tournaments there are people in their 80s and 90s playing."

Glowacki first got the croquet bug about 20 years ago, when he and his friends played the casual game that most people are familiar with. "It was just something to do hanging out in the backyard," he recalled. About six or eight years ago he discovered the more challenging version. "Somebody saw a video about the 'American Six-Wicket' version, what they call the new croquet — six wickets with a stake in the center. You have to cut the grass very close, like a putting green."

Murphy came to the game about two years ago. "I had a large expanse of grass and I was looking for something to do with it," he recalled. "I wanted something to do for a little relaxation." He, too, had played backyard croquet as a kid, but investigations on the Internet uncovered something a little more intriguing. "I went to the United States Croquet Association Web site," he said, "and I learned to play the proper game."

The biggest visible difference between backyard croquet and the new croquet is the size of the wickets. The game Murphy and Glowacki play features wickets that allow only 1/8th of an inch of leeway for the ball to go through.

You also don't "send" your opponents. You, instead, says the U. S. Croquet Association's Web site, "strik(e) the striker ball in such a way as to make both balls move."

It seems a lot more complicated than the old, nine wicket "guerilla croquet" we're used to.

"There is immense strategy involved," Murphy says, to which Glowacki adds: "It's a combination of billiards and chess played on grass. It is the ultimate comeback game — it doesn't matter what the score is until the game is over. It's just great fun."

Out at Westmoor, tennis pro Wayne Davies is also a relative newcomer to the sport. "When I arrived three years ago, the owner said, 'Right. There's a croquet lawn and you're going to teach people how to play.' "

Accepting the challenge, Davies studied up on the game, initiated the Nantucket Invitational and began practicing. The seven-time court tennis world champion took to it so well that he was named the 2006 Rookie of the Year by the U.S. Croquet Association.

"I find it fascinating," he says. "The playing area is 105 feet by 84 feet — that is big. To be able to control the ball to do what you want it to do takes a lot of skill. Any weekend of the year, there is a croquet tournament going on someplace."

And to what does he attribute croquet's surge in popularity?

"Oh, I would never call it popular," he laughed. "But on this island, there are probably a half-dozen croquet lawns."

Or, to be more precise, greenswards. "My greensward is a little bigger than half-court size," Glowacki said, tongue firmly planted in cheek. Come July, he says, he'll be ready to organize contests at his home again.

Murphy also hosts regular croquet matches at his half-size court, where the creeping bent grass is finally filling in perfectly after two years. The beauty of the lawn — excuse me, greensward — is part of the game's allure, and maintaining it part of the dedication the sport requires. Murphy has "a core group of 10" who play regularly, and up to eight can play at a time in doubles competition.

Murphy even has a custom-made mallet, with a heft that emphasizes its importance.

Like that other summer game — baseball — croquet heats up in Florida in the winter. The National Croquet Center is in West Palm Beach, where last winter Glowacki and Murphy traveled with family and friends to hone their skills. Davies has been there, too, of course, as have Rilice and Al Lefton.

Which takes us back to last weekend's tournament. In riveting play that drew 10 participants, it came down to four players: Murphy, Courtney Green from Topsfield, Mass., and Rilice and Al Lefton. In the final match, Murphy squared off against Al Lefton. And the winner?

"It was very close," Lefton said when it was over.

"It was a fight to the death," Murphy said. "You need nerves of steel in this game."

Ultimately, Murphy prevailed. After the toast, the players settled in for lunch; all very civilized, of course. "Any chance I get to wear white I do it," Green said.

It was the second Nantucket Invitational for Murphy who "didn't even place" last year.

"They'll all be gunning for me now."