Official Ruling on the laws of Alternate Stroke Doubles

by James Death [Admin] [^]
13th November (CqE Official News)

The WCF AC.LC has issued an Official Ruling directing how the laws of Alternate Stroke Doubles are to be applied. This OR can be downloaded from the WCF website, link below.

https://worldcroquet.org/ac-rules-7th-edition-official-ruling-effective-1st-november-2025/

The Most Improved Player Awards 2025

by Christopher Roberts [^]
6th November (CqE Official News)

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The Croquet England Handicap Committee is pleased to announce the winners of the Most Improved Player Awards 2025:

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Also nominated were:

GC Female - Fiona Walker

GC Male - Joshua Wise (highly commended), Simon Bird, Euan Burridge, Colin Carver, David Dickins, David Drey, Jim Forster, Andrew Grant, Bobbo Piers, Ryan Ransom, David Skellern

AC Female -

AC Male - Gary Brice, Carl Brown, Colin Carver, David Dickins, Gabriel Furse, Philip Jay, Peter Rothwell, Stuart M Smith

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Chris Roberts,
Chairman of the Croquet England Handicap Committee

Changes to the Eligibility Criteria for Golf Croquet A-Level and B-Level Series Tournaments

by Christopher Roberts [^]
6th November (CqE Official News)

Purpose of the GC Series Tournaments

The Golf Croquet (GC) Series tournaments are designed to provide a clear and progressive pathway for competitive play, supporting players as their technical skills, tactical understanding, and overall experience develop.

Each Series consists of a number of tournaments hosted by clubs nationwide, leading to qualification for a National Final (*the exception is the Open Series, where the overall national winner is determined by accumulated points rather than a final).

In recent years, the GC Series have continued to evolve, reflecting the growing depth of ability across the player base.

This ongoing refinement ensures fair competition and a positive experience for all participants - offering the opportunity to compete against peers of similar ability, within tournaments that follow standardised and approved formats.

Transition from Handicap to Dynamic Grade

To continue this development, the Golf Croquet Tournaments Committee (GCTC) has agreed to replace the existing handicap-based eligibility criteria for the A-Level (0+) and B-Level (4+) Series tournaments with criteria based on Dynamic Grade (DG).

Dynamic Grades provide a more accurate and reliable measure of a player's current playing strength than handicaps.

Dynamic Grades are already used successfully in the Open Series and Premier (formerly Championship) Series tournaments for precisely this reason.

As the name suggests, Dynamic Grades are dynamic - they respond to a player's current form, being calculated from a holistic assessment of ranked game results.

By contrast, handicaps can be more volatile, are influenced by non-ranked games, and sometimes affected by human error or subjective adjustment.

Revised Tournament Definitions (Effective from the 2026 Season)

From the 2026 season, the A-Level (0+) Series and B-Level (4+) Series tournaments will be redefined and retitled as follows:

• Golf Croquet A-Level (DG<2000) Series Tournament
• Golf Croquet B-Level (DG<1700) Series Tournament

Eligibility will therefore be defined as:

• "Players with a Dynamic Grade below 2000 points" for the A-Level Series
• "Players with a Dynamic Grade below 1700 points" for the B-Level Series

Allocations for entry will be made using these Dynamic Grade criteria as of the allocation date.

As part of this change, we are removing the handicap reference from the A and B-Level Series titles.

Looking Ahead

The GCTC hopes that players at all levels will approach the 2026 season with renewed enthusiasm - motivated to develop their game, embrace new challenges, and continue their journey through the GC Series.

These updates are part of our ongoing commitment to fairness, consistency, and progression across the sport.

We look forward to supporting every player in becoming the very best they can be - both on and off the court.

Chris Roberts

Director of the Golf Croquet A, B, C & D-Level Series

For the Golf Croquet Tournaments Committee

(A fuller vesrsion of this news item, includes a 'formats and consistency' section, and will appear in the December printed Croquet Gazette)

Announcement of the 2026 edition of the GC European Clubs League

by James Death [Admin] [^]
28th October (International)

The ERC have announced the launch of the 2026 GC European Club Leagues.

They are looking for expressions of interest to host a heat or the final. To inform the ERC that your club is interested in hosting a heat (2 lawns required), please contact Ian Burridge (eclorganiser2026#gmail.com) before November 28th.

To apply to enter one of the heats, await instructions early next year once the hosting venues are sorted.

Hurlingham beat High Wycombe to win the Mary Rose 6-1

by Hurlingham at Hurlingham [^]
19 Oct (AC - Mary Rose)

Guy Hewitt & Andrew Wise beat Richard Peperell & David Cotton +7
Martin Read beat Gabriel Furse +8
Ludolph van Hasselt beat Ed Olhausen +1
Andrew Wise beat Richard Peperell +16
Guy Hewitt beat David Cotton +18
Martin Read beat Ed Olhausen +16
Ludolph van Hasselt lost to Gabriel Furse -21