Recent Events
2008 Southeast Regional Championships
The tournament was hosted by the Coastal Croquet Clubs on May 14-18, 2008. Playing venues included Dataw, Palmetto Bluff, Port Royal, Sun City & Wexford. Sixty two players participated in the tournament. Trophy winners are as follows:
Champion Flight Singles
1st - Ken Scoggins 2nd - Bill Berne 3rd - Bob Chilton
Championship Flight Doubles
1st - Bill Berne & Billie Jean Berne 2nd - Bill Escher & Keith Nelon
First Flight Singles
1st - Jack Chase 2nd - Marge Cramer 3rd - George Enochs
First Flight Doubles
1st –Marge Cramer & Jim Saunders 2nd - George Enoch & John Warlich
Second Flight Singles
1st - Harvey Geiger 2nd - Russ Hanson 3rd - Jim Creegan
Second Flight Doubles
1st - Harvey Geiger & Harry Moore 2nd - Bob Porter & Judy Porter
Third Flight Singles
1st - Ralph Heinz 2nd - Russ Rymer 3rd - Jo Abrahamson
Third Flight Doubles
1st- Jo Abrahamson & Dean Hewitt 2nd - Barbara Sommer & Tanis Crocitto
2008 Rules Clinic
The CCC Annual Rules Clinic took place during the week of March 10, 2008. Sixty (60) people participated in the Clinic. Classroom session were held at Sun City, Dataw and Port Royal. An On-the-Lawn Court Demonstration session was conducted at Palmetto Bluff. Almost fifty (50) people participated in 14-Point Six Wicket Croquet which took place immediately after the Demonstration session.
This year an alternate approach was taken for the Classroom sessions. A month before the classroom session a Study Guide was distributed to potential participants. The study guide consisted of 40 true/false general knowledge questions and 25 situation analysis questions. At the Classroom sessions participants were given a copy of the "answers" and the specific rules that apply to the question. Initial response to this approach has been very favorable. The CCC solicits additions comments regarding this years clinic. Reader can go to the Special Topics page to download the Study Guide and Answers.
Waterford Doubles
The CCC Waterford Doubles was held in February and here are your winners!
Championship Flight: Ken Scoggins 7 wins 54 net
Ken Anderson 6 wins 4 net
Stan Abrahamson 5 wins 22 net
Bill Bopp 5 wins 11 net
First Flight: Bill Crow 5 wins 26 net
Carole Crow 5 wins 21 net
Harvey Geiger 5 wins 17 net
Bill Vandergriff 5 wins -11 net
Second Flight: Jenny Herring 8 wins 38 net
Nancy Brinkman 6 wins 24 net
Walt Sommer 5 wins 25 netThe annual
2008 Annual Meeting
The annual meeting was held on January 26, 2008 at Dataw. Fifty-two (52) club members attended the meeting. Although it was a cold day, over 40 people participated in Golf Croquet and 14-Point Six Wicket croquet prior to the meeting. Special thanks to the Dataw Croquet Club for hosting the event.
New officers for the year 2008 are: Chairman, Stan Abrahamson; Vice-chair,Artie Heape; Secretary, Tanis Crocitto; and Treasure, Vic Brinkman. The Program Director, Avril Nicholson agreed to continue her position for another year.
2007 Fall Invitational
After the overwhelming success of the last couple of the Fall Invitationals, the tournament was planned with a certain amount of trepidation that the Fifth Annual Invitational could be better than or at least as successful as the past. However, this year the tournament had an “ace in the hole” that is; The Inn at Palmetto Bluff agreed to participate in the tournament and host both singles and doubles play. The Inn at Palmetto Bluff, an Auberge Resort, has received numerous awards and accolades from prestige magazines such as Conde Nast Traveler and Travel & Leisure as one of the premier resorts in the United States. The fact that it has two of the finest lawn courts on the east coast certainly is a factor in Palmetto Bluff recognition.
Dataw with its two courts and its ability to serve an unsurpassed lunch for the award presentation was selected as the venue for the tournament finals. Palmetto Bluff was the venue of choice for the semifinals. Other CCC member clubs: Cypress of Hilton Head, Port Royal, Sun City of Hilton Head, and Wexford were used for preliminary rounds and social events. In the past we have reported the play of the Championship Singles since they were excellent examples of how croquet is played at the championship level. But this year was especially unique since the caliber of play at all four levels was exemplary.
Everyone expected when Carole Crow and Diane Saunders were in the finals of the Third Flight Singles it would be a well played-close game. And these expectations came to fruition. Both Carole and Diane played what some might describe as a conservative game and others describe as a very wise game. Each would make a wicket or two ever few turns and return to the sideline to set up their partner ball and wait until their opponent made a significant error to permit an easy attack with a three or four ball break. But each played so well that these break opportunities didn’t materialize. The score was 12 to 12 with Carole near the red corner and Diane nearer the black corner when time ran out. Carole was first ball in last turn with her yellow ball. She recognized that she had several options. She decided to roquet red, split red downside of 1-back, score 1-back and then she would decide if she wanted to try to score additional wickets or to break up Diane’s blue and black balls. She made a very good split shot putting red downside of the wicket and positioning yellow in good, albeit not perfect, position. Carole took careful aim, but as luck would have it, hit the side of the wicket leg to eliminate scoring the wicket. In essence the game was over since Diane would take advantage of the situation and score three wickets before destroying Carole’s hot ball with the final score of 15 to 12. Second flight observers who watched this match known that they will have both Carole and Diane to contend with next year.
Ken Anderson and Glenn Bennett were combatants in the Second Flight. Ken took an early lead and was ahead 12 to 7 with about 30 minutes to play. In the next 45 minutes of play Ken played very well but also a little more conservatively in order not to give Glenn easy breaks. When time ran out Ken had score 17 wickets with red having scored 9 wickets, positioned on the sideline near the black corner. Yellow was the west center boundary. However, in the last 30 minutes Glenn played a deliberate game and had scored 12 wickets, seven by black and 5 by blue. Black was first in last turn. Black went to blue. Yellow decided to take a relatively long shot at black with the intent to go out of bounds on the north boundary if it missed black. Indeed this was the case, but yellow didn’t quite go out of bounds. With the score 17 to 12 Glenn realized that he had his work cut out for him. Through the use of his partner ball blue, he was able to score wickets 6 and 1-back. However, blue overran black which made it unfavorable for continuation of the two ball break. It would be necessary for blue to get yellow in the game. Glenn roqueted black and made a fantastic croquet shot which permitted blue to rush yellow in the direction of 2-back. Glenn continued to play the break masterfully. He made 2-back, roqueted black and on the continuation shot put blue in a good position to make 3-back. Glenn stopped for a moment to collect his thoughts. The score is 17 to 15, black and yellow are on the court and red is out of bounds on the nonplaying side of 4-back. In the mean time Ken is hovering near his red ball realizing that if Glenn makes the wicket he will really be in the “driver seat”. Glenn will have a number of options to take the lead and to prevent Ken’s from making another wicket. Glenn took a deep breath, a nice back swing and made contact with the blue ball. Ken was the first on the court to congratulate Glenn on a game well played and to acknowledge the superior last ball run since only one error was made-the blue ball got stuck in the jaws of 3-back. Spectators agreed it was a great job on both Ken & Glenn’s part.
Marge Cramer and Jim Saunders played in the finals for the First Flight Singles. Jim lead throughout most of the game. But Marge with her “what me worry” attitude continued to peck away at Jim’s lead. When time ran out Jim was ahead 20 to 19. Jim’s three-ball-dead red ball had scored 8 wickets and was on the east boundary near but not in position to score 3-back. The yellow ball which had scored 12 wickets was on the north boundary in front of 5-back. Marge’s’ three-ball-dead blue ball had scored 10 wickets and was near but not in scoring position for 5-back. As time ran out black which was to be the first ball in last turn was about to score 4-back. Black, now in last turn, scored 4-back to tie the game and then roqueted blue to a very favorable position in front of 5-back. Marge attempted to peel blue through 5-back. However, blue got stuck in the jaws so black had to be content with positioning itself behind blue. Jim decide to take a long shot at the only ball yellow was alive on, the black ball, and he made a great shot. Jim stopped for a moment and then hit the yellow ball up the court. Did Jim miscount the wixkwrs since he would have gone one ahead if he staked out his yellow ball out? Or did Jim realize that even if he went ahead by staking out the yellow his changes to win the game was very small so the gentleman thing to do would be to allow the opponent to seal the victory in its next shot? Marge shot the blue ball through wicket five to end the game at 21 for Marge and 20 for Jim. Both Jim and Marge were commended for playing another exciting match.
The Championship Singles match opponents were repeats of last year-Ken Scroggin and Bill Bopp. Bill, playing the blue and black balls, lead throughout most of the game. However, both were confident that the match would be determined in the last turn or two. Ken was playing yellow when time ran out. Yellow was making a run that started at wicket 5 and went all the way through the rover wicket, an 8 wicket run. After making the rover wicket, yellow roqueted blue and sent it about midway between 4 and 5 back. He then roqueted black and with the croquet positioned it behind 3-back. Yellow then went to his partner ball (red) which was on south boundary behind the rover wicket. With the end of yellows turn the score was tied, 20 to 20. Yellow had scored 12 wickets and red 8 wickets. Bill's (three ball dead) blue ball had scored 11 wickets and his (two ball & partner dead) black ball scored 9 wickets. Now Bill has to make a decision which ball to clear. Bill elected to clear the blue ball. Bill didn’t have a shot on the black ball. Bill paused for a moment to reflect upon how Ken last year made a fantastic shot to seal the victory. Would history repeat itself except Bill being on the winning side? Bill took a long shot, approximately 65 feet and roquets the the yellow ball without sending it out of bounds! The game is now in Bills hands; he scores two more wickets and destroys Ken’s last opportunity to score with his last ball red. The final score-Bill 22 and Ken 20.
Waterford Doubles Results
First Flight 1. Ken Scoggins 2. Bill Bopp 3. Stan Abrahamson
Second Flight 1. Diane Saunders 2. Carole Crow 3. Jim Creegan
Third Flight 1. Tanis Crocitto 2. Jo Abrahamson 3. Russ Rymer
Singles Results
Championship Flight 1. Bill Bopp 2. Ken Scoggins
First Flight 1. Marge Cramer 2. Jim Saunders
Second Flight 1. Ken Anderson 2. Glenn Bennett
Third Flight 1. Diane Saunders 2. Carole Crow
Spring 2007 Singles CCC Championship
Championship Flight: 1st Place Bill Escher - 2nd Place Bill McLaughlin - 3rd Place Bob Holtzmacker - 4th Place Henry Vaughn
1st Flight: 1st Place Ellen Corbett - 2nd Place Bill Vandergriff - 3rd Place Dick Schauman - 4th Place Gray Herring
2nd Flight: 1st Place - Ken Anderson - 2nd Place Bill Crow - 3rd Place Joan Dietz - 4th Place Barbara Titus
3rd Flight: 1st Place - Carole Crow - 2nd Place Vic Brinkman - 3rd Place Jenny Herring - 4th Place Nancy Brinkman
2007 Rules Clinic Week of March 19, 2007
Sixty three people participated in the 2007 Rules Clinic which was provided by the CCC referees. Emphasis was placed on the recent rule changes that went into effect in November 2006. Three "Classroom" sessions were held at Sun City, Dataw and Cypress. Thanks to the three clubs for hosting the sessions.
The "0n-The Lawn" session was held at Palmetto Bluff. Palmetto Bluff has two new (perfect!) lawn courts. After the Rules Clinic participants were privileged to be able to participate in a Golf Croquet Event. A special thanks to Palmetto Bluff for hosting the event.
Golf Croquet Results
Flight A: 1st Elise Schauman - 2nd Place Vic Brinkman - 3rd Place Dick Schauman - 4th Place Anne McLaughlin
Flight B: 1st Place - Margene Vandergriff - 2nd Place Sylvia Glabach - 3rd Place (Tie) Don Glabach, Joanne Foster, Phyllis Beauvais
Flight C: 1st Place: Artie Heape - 2nd Place Ethale Brown - 3rd Place Burnetta Graham - 4th Place Jean Crumlich
Sportsman Award: 1st Place - Walt Sommer for Recovery from knee surgery. 2nd Place - Barbara Sommer for forcing Walt to do his physical therapy. (May have these awards reversed!)
Waterford Doubles February 16-18 & February 23-25, 2007
The Waterford Doubles events were a big success. The Waterford Doubles formate has become a formate of choice for doubles events.
Tournament Results
Championship Flight: 1st Place Bill Bopp - 2nd Place Bill Escher- 3rd Place Otto Wahlrab
1st Flight: 1st Place Gray Herring - 2nd Place Jim Creegan - 3rd Place Henry Vaughan
2nd Flight: 1st Place: Bill Vandergriff - 2nd Place Dick Schauman - 3rd Place Henry Vaughan
3rd Flight: 1st Place Jim Hodges - 2nd Place Russ Rymer - 3rd Place Diane Saunders
4th Flight: 1st Place Barbara Sommer - 2nd Place Jenny Herring - 3rd Place Elise Schauman
2007 Annual Meeting/Golf Croquet January 27, 2007
The Dataw Croquet Club hosted the annual meeting and golf croquet event. Sixty seven members attended the event. The CCC was honored to have Gene Youg, USCA Southeast Region VicePresident, participate in the event.2006 Fall Invitation October 17-22, 2006
If one word could describe the 2006 Fall Invitational it would be “Perfect”.
The weather was excellent. It sprinkled a couple of time, but not enough for one to get well. A couple of people complained that it was too hot, well at least too hot for mid-October. Finally it rained on Sunday at about time the last trophies were being awarded. But since, this was done indoors noone seemed to mind.
Waterford doubles was used for pairing in doubles. This was very well received and certainly it will be considered for future tournaments.
Tournament Results :
Doubles:
1st Flight: Tie for 1st Place Stan Abrahamson & Ken Scoggins - 3rd Place Bill McLaughlin - 4th Place Avril Nicholson
2nd Flight: 1st Place Bill Vandergriff - 2nd Place Arlene Holbert - 3rd Place Jim Creegan - Tie for 4th Place Joan Dietz & Dick Schauman
3rd Flight: 1st Place Ken Anderson - 2nd Place Bill Crow - 3rd Place Walt Sommer - 4th Place Russ Rymer
Singles:
Championship Flight: 1st Place Ken Scroggins - 2nd Place Bill Bopp
1st Flight: 1st Place Otto Wahlrab - 2nd Place Jim Saunders
2nd Flight: 1st Place: Bill Vandergriff - 2nd Place Dick Schauman
3rd Flight: 1st Place Ken Anderson - 2nd Place Bill Crow
A Perfect Ending to a Perfect Tournament
The game start for each player was routine and not at all suggestive of the manner at which the game would end. However, Ken Scoggins missed scoring the first wicket with his black ball and Bill Bopp responded by hitting the black ball out of position with his yellow ball. Well over half of the match time passed with neither player able to position the black or yellow balls in a protected position that would permit scoring in a subsequent turn. Finally, Ken was able to position his black ball out of bound directly in front of the wicket. Bill took a long shot with his yellow ball that was just short of blocking the wicket.
In the mean time the blue ball completed one back and red ball scored the first six wickets. Ken scored the first wicket on his next turn with black. And Bill responded by scoring the wicket on his subsequent turn. . For players of this caliber, except for the last turns, the remainder of the matches was relatively routine. Both the blue and red balls scored the penultimate wicket. Ken scored seven wickets with his black ball and Bill two with his yellow ball.
The deadness board was quite colorful going into the last turn with Ken leading by five wickets. His balls were well separated, the blue ball on the north boundary about two feet from the black flag.and his three ball dead black ball on the south boundary not far from the blue flag. Red and yellow were at the red corner. Red was only alive on yellow and yellow alive on both blue and red. Bill was first ball in last turn with his red ball. He recognized that if yellow had a three ball break he could readily makeup or even surpass the five wicket deficiency. Red roqueted yellow. He made a “near perfect” shot on his croquet shot placing yellow in the black corner and red near yellows’ next wicket, wicket three.
Most spectators thought the game would be decided with yellows’ next turn. Ken recognized that his only realistic chance to maintain his lead was to block yellow with his black ball since yellow was dead on black. A wicket blocked black from a direct out of bounds shot between the yellow and blue balls. His only chance was to get to the corner without hitting yellow. How realistic was it to expect a 100 foot plus shot with only a few inches to spare to be successful? It would require a “perfect” shot. To assure their was no question if the black ball touched the yellow ball and exactly where it went out of bounds Ken asked a referee to watch the shot and to mark where it went out of bound. Ken shot was “perfect”, going out of bounds at the corner. Ken placed the black ball directly adjacent to Bill’s yellow ball thus precluding a roquet shot on either the blue or red ball.
The game was over. A perfect ending to a perfect tournament.
Beaufort Water Festival July 17-20, 2006
The annual Beaufort water festival took place as scheduled for the week of July 17-20, 2006. Newly laid sod make the lawn court more challenging than ever. Participants enjoyed playing in this fun event. CCC members did ecially well. In the open doubles Ann & Bill McLaughlin (PR&SC) took first place, Bill Escher (PR&SC) and Don Burrell (SC) second place, and Avril Nicholson (PR&SC) team with JoannDietz)(Dat) to take third place. In the coed double Bill & Ann McLaughlin placed second and Frank & Tanis Crocitto (PR&SC) placed third.
Croquet in July at Etowah/National Croquet Day Celebration July 9-12, 2006
The CCC, Etowah Valley Croquet Club and the Etowah Valley Country Club enjoyed celebrating National Croquet Day on Sunday, July 9, as the kick-off to the Croquet in July event which is becoming an annual event. Overall, 60 croquet players participated in the event. A Waterford doubles formate was used for the tournament. Although this was a "just for fun tournament", a playoff was held on the final day of play. In the high handicap division Artie Heape (PR) teamed with Roger Halweg (SC) to edge out Phyllis Beauvis and Barbara Sommer (SC). The low handicap winners were Marge Cramer (PR,SC&Etowah) and Stan Abrahamson (PR&SC). Second place went to the team of Curt Valentine (Etowah) and Malcolm Day (SC).
Croquet on the Beach June 24, 2006-Driessen Beach Park-Hilton Head Island
Croquet on the beach again proved to be one of the most delightful CCC events. The weather was perfect. Forty five people participated in the event. The coveted honor of first place went to the black team. However, the red, yellow and blue teams are contesting the results!
2006 Spring Singles Championship Tournament
The 2006 Spring Coastal Croquet Clubs Singles Championship Tournament was held on March 30-April 2, 2006. Results are as follows:
Fierce Competition:
Ladies and Gentlemen, for the Croquet championship of the Low Country; in this corner, Sun City's Bill Escher, Billy the Kid. In the other corner, from Dataw Island, Dapper Bill Bopp.
This is how it should have been announced at their championship match on April 2. Both men shared traits. In addition to their home clubs they are members of the Port Royal Croquet Club. They are small in stature (under 5'6"), big in heart, and fiercely competitive. But, their differences are more readily discernible. Billy the Kid, in his early 60s, the younger of the two, is a bundle of energy. His dress is croquet casual, white of course, but often with black sandals. He plays croquet low to the ground, bending over and grasping his mallet about half-way to the ground. His stroke is short. He plays quick and runs after the ball. Oh, and he is fearless in attacking his opponent. Dapper Bill, on the other hand, is in his mid 70s. A former 2 handicap golfer, he is always impeccable on the court. From his mini-afro shock of white hair to his shorts with over the calf socks he cuts quite a figure. Dapper Bill stands erect and grasps his three-foot mallet at the top, swinging his 3-pound mallet head in a long arch that hits balls with incredible accuracy. Dapper Bill plays deliberately and seldom runs.
For 20 minutes the two men sparred, going back and forth out of bounds in the corners, occasionally scoring a wicket. With all four balls going for the third wicket in the north end of the court, Billy the Kid kept moving from one corner of the north end to the other. Meanwhile Dapper Bill stayed in the south end going from corner to corner, 100 feet away from Billy the Kid. Both men made small mistakes, but none were fatal.
The crowd of 60 or so was getting anxious for something to happen. Finally, Billy the Kid used his black ball to rush his blue ball to the third wicket. It was a good rush, and with two shots to make his wicket, Billy the Kid felt comfortable that he could make the wicket and attack Dapper Bill in the south end where the fourth wicket stood. Was Billy the Kid impatient, or did he just make a bad shot? I don’t know. But Billy the Kid stuffed the third wicket leaving the black ball half way through and the blue ball 10 feet away, on the court. Experienced croquet players knew it was probably curtains for Billy the Kid.
Sure enough, Dapper Bill attacked. The third wicket was easy. From there on out Billy the Kid could do nothing but prowl the sidelines as Dapper Bill made wicket after wicket, seven perfect croquet shots between each wicket. Sixty-three perfect shots later Dapper Bill put Billy the Kid’s blue ball deep in the far south corner and sent the other three balls to the far north corner positioned so that his red ball could have a 3-ball break to make the third wicket and more.
The rest of the match was unremarkable. Dapper Bill won going away. But for those of us privileged to watch, it was classic croquet.
Postscript: In their preliminary match, Dapper Bill wasn’t as cautious in the beginning and Billy the Kid attacked him and won the match.
Submitted by Harry Moore-Wexford Croquet Club