Category: News

Owing to a few late withdrawals the field for GGCC’s Final tournament of the year was reduced to 12.  Lawn conditions were challenging after the prolonged drought, though there were signs of recovery.  Lawn speed estimated to be around 12 Plummers.  Players’ handicaps were hcp 0 (1), hcp 1 (2) hcp 2 (5) and hcp 3(4).  The format was all-play-all, meaning a relaxed 6 games on the first day and 5 on the second.

Fun fact #1:     All 12 players had surnames with initials between B (Bagni) and J (Johnson) What’s the chance of that happening?

Day 1 was played in perfect weather conditions.  Dry all day and neither too hot nor too breezy.  Play was brisk and results were clear cut

Fun fact #2:     In the 18 games played before lunch, there were NO 7-6 results and only 2 scores of 7-5.  Another one for the statisticians?

The afternoon session saw some closer games and a few front runners appearing:

Thomas Halliday (6 wins out of 6), John Gosden (5/6) and Chris Jackson (5/6) led the field overnight.

Day 2 dawned with clouds and a threat of possible storms.  Luckily, only one materialised, though it was enough to send players running for cover for five minutes.  It seemed that Thomas Halliday was going to walk away with the trophy until he had a reversal of fortune in round 8, being comprehensively beaten by Phil Davies.  John Gosden, meanwhile, won his seventh game on the trot leaving himself and Thomas tied on 7 wins out of 8.  Each of them won their next two games and set up a thrilling finish.  With one game to play, John and Thomas had identical records:  9 wins out of 10 and net hoops +27.  

John had to better Thomas’ result because John’s only loss had been to Thomas in Round 1.  

The stage was set.  Thomas playing Chris Jackson and John playing Helena Jansson.  It was nail biting stuff all the way.  At one point, Thomas was 4-6 down to Chris and John was in a tough battle against a very determined Helena.  Thomas then rallied and won 7-6.  At that point, John was trailing Helena by 3-5.  The only way he could win the tournament was by taking the last four hoops, and this proved to be one step too far.  It was an absorbing end to what I believe was a successful tournament, enjoyed by the competitors.

1. Thomas Halliday 10 wins/11
2. John Gosden 9/11
3. Ross Bagni 7/11 and net hoops +18
4. Chris Jackson 7/11 and net hoops +8       

Mike Huxley

Manager

It was another nail-biting finish for the GGCC AC team comprising John Gosden, Andrew Fewster, Peter Adams and Julie Tremble in our last SECF U-league match of the season. In the morning John & Julie won the doubles but we lost the two singles matches making us 1-2 down at lunch. In the afternoon Julie completed her game by pegging out and Peter was comfortably ahead in his match. John was also ahead with both balls on rover but his opponent was steadily catching up. Unfortunately his opponent managed to make 3 hoops in the last 5 minutes to pip him by one on time, resulting in a 3-4 match loss for GGCC.

The lawns were still like concrete, despite the odd shower, as we welcomed West Worthing for our last game in the SECF handicap league.

Our team, Peter Adams, Ian ”one-I” Taylor, John Bryson and Lynn Edge, had some convincing wins during the course of a very hot morning, culminating in an overall win of 5.5 to 3.5.

Everyone then retreated to the ever decreasing shade for a well deserved picnic lunch.

With 3 wins out of 4 this year, Team B have performed well, although are unlikely to win the league this time (we must give other clubs a chance!) .

Guildford and Godalming Croquet Club, hosted the much anticipated World Croquet Federation’s Golf Croquet World Team Championship Tier 3 2020  (that is correct, 2 years late due to covid).

The tournament was scheduled for 21-23 July 2022 with teams from Czech Republic, Iran, Mexico, and Portugal.  Shortly before the tournament was to start it became apparent visas for the Iran team would not arrive in time and only one person qualified for the team would be able to come. It was agreed Omied Hallam would captain the unofficial Iranian team, dubbed “Iran Plus”, and the remainder of the team would be drawn from GGCC members, John Gosden, Jan Honeysett, Andrea Huxley, Andrew Lockwood, Bernie Phillips, Stephen Stuart-Matthews, and Julie Tremble.

The Iranian Plus team did GGCC proud, drawing with Mexico.  The official outcome was Mexico gold, Portugal silver and Czech Republic bronze.

At the end of the tournament, the players voiced their appreciation to the club for the welcome, and hosting of the event.  It was deemed a success, enjoyed by players, volunteers and spectators alike, which would not have happened without the huge effort put in by GGCC volunteers.

For the second year GGCC hosted a team of 5 players from the Watford club as part of their annual tour. The challenging conditions of ultra-fast lawns resulted in the 9 games having very low scores with often the identity of the player leading changing in the closing moments of a game. The notable exception was Robert who pegged out in the morning and also won his afternoon game. One game failed to finish so with both teams each having 4 wins the fixture was declared a draw.  GGCC was represented by Hilary, Peter A, Andrew F, Ian F and Robert B.

An AC Team comprising Stephen Stuart-Matthews, John Gosden, Andrew Fewster and Ian Fugeman played away against Purley Bury in the SECF U League on 28^th July and achieved a close and successful result by winning 4:3.  The dry weather had created challenging lawns which often took both our and the home team players by surprise. An enjoyable day with an excellent lunch and hospitality.

Team B, (John Gosden, Charles Martin, Roseann Sullivan and Hilary Bird), played Dogmersfield at home today.

We had a pretty satisfactory win, 8-1, despite our lower handicap members having to give away many extra strokes (turns, in old money!).

Just one more match to go, home to West Worthing on 24th August.

A very pleasant day was had by all I think,  made all the more enjoyable by good hosts.

Unfortunately we were pipped at the post 4-3 with leads changing in the closing  minutes in a few games. 

The team were: John Gosden, Michael Clark, Robert Bateson, Stephen Stuart-Matthews

The 2^nd Round of the Longman Trophy, an AC national Handicap tournament, was played at home on Wednesday 13^th July against East Dorset but we lost 6:1.  Our opponents coped extremely well with the challenging conditions of the very fast lawns and the erratic movement of the ball when approaching the hoop. This resulted in low scoring games with only one pegged out. Despite the result of only one win, congratulations to Andrew Fewster, there were three games with close scores or where the lead was lost in the final moments. The GGCC team comprised Andrew Fewster, John Gosden , Robert Bateson and Ian Fugeman.

Our team of 4, comprising Roseann Sullivan, Janet Curtecka, Kirsty Bates and Hilary Bird, had a lovely day representing the club at Ladies Day in Southwick . The sun shone all day but there was a gentle breeze, ensuring that we didn’t overheat.

12 teams were playing and, while I’m unsure of the final placings , having won 3.5 matches out of 6 ( we drew with Surbiton who were the winners) I think we were probably 4th. Not bad at all, considering the change in tournament rules meant that we played teams with some players with handicaps as low as 3.

Special mention should go to Janet, taking part in her first competition – well done!