Kingston Croquet Club

Great to have Meg at the club to see our new leaf blower in action. Meg played a few hoops and is a natural!

Congratulations to Tony Johnston of the Kingston Croquet Club who has been selected in the State Golf Croquet Team to replace the injured Tim Parker.

Interesting discussion here ....

📬 PART 1

The Future of Croquet: How Does Our Sport Stack Up in a Changing World?

🪓🔴🔵Hey Croquet Talk lovers! With over 1,240 of us here sharing our love for the game, I’ve been thinking a lot about the big picture of our sport.

The sporting landscape is changing rapidly. Today, people have more choices than ever when deciding where to spend their free time and hard-earned money.

From the explosive rise of pickleball to established favorites like lawn bowls and tennis, croquet is competing in a very crowded market.

Are our clubs keeping pace, or are we falling behind? Let’s look at the reality of the sport today:💰 The Financial Equation: What Are We Paying For?

Membership structures vary massively. Some clubs operate on a low-cost social model, while others charge premium annual fees ($150–$250+) alongside ongoing playing fees.When you compare this to neighboring sports, the value expectation shifts:Pickleball & Tennis: Often feature low annual association fees with affordable court hire, offering fast-paced, highly accessible action.

Lawn Bowls: Usually sits around $100–$150 a year for access to immaculately kept greens backed by commercial club facilities.If a croquet club is charging top-tier sports rates, the value needs to be on the grass. Because unlike sports played on hard courts, croquet relies entirely on the absolute precision of its playing surface.🌱 The Surface Standard: Why Lawns Are Make-or-BreakWhether you are playing the fast, tactical modern style of Golf Croquet (GC) or the deep, "chess on grass" strategy of Association Croquet (AC), the physics of the game dictate that the lawn must be pristine.

A neglected, uneven, or patchy lawn completely alters how the ball rolls. For an AC player trying to build a complex break, or a GC player aiming for a precision hoop-runner, a bad surface ruins the mechanics of the sport. Yet, too often, we see membership dues collected while the playing surfaces are left to deteriorate.

📱 The Tech Gap: Playing on Your Own Terms In a world driven by digital convenience, how we access facilities is changing. If you want to play tennis or pickleball, you can often hop online, check real-time availability via council-aided booking systems, and book a court instantly. You get to play when it suits your life, not just when a committee tells you that you are allowed to play.

Moving away from restricted club windows and physical diaries toward flexible, online booking systems is a massive hurdle that many croquet clubs are completely ignoring.

💬 Over to You, Croquet Talk Lovers! Every club operates a little differently, and we want to hear your unfiltered thoughts:What is your club doing to stand out, embrace technology, and compete in your local area?

What do you think is the fair "sweet spot" for fees versus the quality of lawns and facilities provided? Drop your thoughts, frustrations, or success stories in the comments below! 👇

Stay tuned for Part 2 Later on Croquet Talk Clubhouse , where we look at how progressive clubs are solving these exact issues to secure their future!



Stefan

Congratulations Steve!

TAS. golf croquet medals
Steve Stanton (pictured, Kingston CC) won the bronze medal , Brett Walker (New Town CC) was runner-up.
Phil Roach (Kingston CC) won the gold medal from Garry Munting (SBCC).

Another top performance from our players!

The Tasmanian Golf Croquet Medals were contested over the weekend.
The Gold Medal , held at Sandy Bay Croquet Club, was won by Phil Roach with runner up Garry Munting.

Congratulations Carol & John!

Despite a very wet week leading up to the Event a successful State Golf Croquet Mixed Doubles Championship was held at Northern Tasmania Croquet Centre at the weekend.
Fourteen pairs competed in sunny ( but slightly damp and frosty) weather with Carol Inches and John Colquhoun ( Eastern Shore) winning the title from Carol Hanigan and Malcolm Maney ( Sandy Bay/Latrobe)

Congratulations to the team and well done to the Kingston representatives!