Pictures of the eXtreme dirt Croquet court.
Last Updated 12/25/08.
Hits since 09/07/08:
So our version of
Golf Croquet is a little
different, there's no out of bounds to speak of because you can't get out of
bounds what with the walls and fences but you can sure lodge up against them (or
in a shed) so the first rule modification is the out of bounds rule becomes free
relief from the wall (or shed). But because the walls can be quite close to some
hoops it's got to be pretty minimal relief, just enough so you can swing the
mallet without bashing it into the wall. And no relief from trees and
sheds just because they're in your way, unless it's blocking your backswing or
you're going to break something on the follow through no
relief. Perhaps given the eXtremity of some other eXtreme Croquet (they do
after all play in forests and through creeks) and the fact that we bank shots
off the walls all the time we should call our game Carom Croquet after the
billiards game. An attempt at formalizing the relief
rule is here. And no, you can't pretend that you're aiming some place else just
to get relief...
So here's the view from corner IV, the
starting point towards hoop 1. We play a simultaneous start instead of a
coin toss and whoever winds up closest to hoop 1 goes first. Hoop 1 you
say? Where's that? Yeah, the first eccentricity of of the course
(beyond the lack of grass and so on) is that hoop 1's just around that corner
and you can only see half it in that picture (although when we bought nicer
hoops we've since moved it to foot off the corner of the shed, a much more
interesting location for it). Get a bit closer like below and you can see
better:
Yes, it looks a little rough (most of
what looks bad in this photo happens to be dead blossoms from the oleanders over
the wall) but it
really is surprising just how well the ball travels over that stuff. Given
all the walls here
plenty of bank shots tend to get played on this hoop, in fact that
was to be my favored starting shot when the hoop was where it is in that photo, a ricochet off that wall straight down the
line of the sheds and I was usually within a foot or three of the hoop.
With the new location (blue dots) I have to actually play a proper shot :( Oh
yeah, there's the clothes line pole in there too. Bit of a bitch some days
as it was right in line with the old hoop location even if it did only come into play infrequently.
Now that it's off to the side it comes into play a lot more often, go figure...
Having cleared hoop 1 you have a almost
normal shot down to hoop 2 under that nice Chinaberry tree. Gotta keep the
shot a little right as they break left into that bird of paradise plant on the
right (since removed, that was getting a little tedious):
The shot from hoop 2 to 3 looks straight
forward but hoop 3 actually sits on a little hill and lan' sakes can it be a
battle.
And of course from the left you can't see
hoop 4 at all, it's behind the palo verde tree off in the distance.
Here's the left approach to hoop 4.
Can't see it in the picture but there's a slab of concrete up against that fence
so you don't want to hit that ball too hard. But you can bank it off the
fence nicely which often leads to a very nice shot next to the hoop if not
actually right through it:
And here's hoop 4 from the right (with
the back of hoop 5 in the foreground). Nice and level this way but you
don't want to hit the palo verde.
Was real pain of a hoop till if you left
it short till I whacked hell out of the palo verde.
Kinda tough to see hoop 5 in this shot
but the yawning maw of the old tin shed sure isn't:
If you're too far to the right after hoop 4 is run you can always
smash the ball off the supports to the the wood shed there on the left.
The treated pine is a little dead compared to the cinder block walls so the
rebound is going to be more acute than you're initially bargaining for, but hey,
experience counts and you learn...
And surprisingly few shots actually wind
up in the shed, even given our tendencies to bank shots off the thing.
Hoop 6 would be straight forward and a
welcome relief from the eXtremities of the course but there's a depression there
on the left that just sucks balls into itself like no one's business. Not
to mention a bunch of sand so everything's rolling quite a bit slower, you could
almost call it a bunker. It's also almost superfluous having a post on our
court but the order colors gotta go somewhere, plus it's kinda nice to curl the
ball around the post using the break to make hoop 6:
Ah, but the shot from hoop 6 to 7, now
that's well defended:
Having completely removed the vegetation
along the wall on the left if the trees are blocking the shot you can now (like a lot of shots on this court)
just smash it off the wall and carom the ball in for a shot on hoop 7.
For the back hoops please see
the back hoop
page.
Should you really want to communicate you can eMail to:
jforster@someplace.spam.dont.go
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