How to Play: Rules, Coaching, Handicapping, Ranking, Refereeing
What is croquet all about - and why should you give it a try?
Croquet: six hoops, four balls, two mallets and a patch of grass.
Sounds easy enough.
Croquet is a game of skill and strategy, angles, tactics, and guile. A bit like snooker on grass. Will your balls get through the hoops and peg out before your opponent's? It is played on equal terms by men and women and between young and old.
Croquet offers sport, friendships, fun, competition and a whole lot more.
To see what we mean, please watch the adjacent short video.
With over 200 croquet clubs nationwide to choose from, look up your nearest club to find out more about the outdoor sport that keeps you physically and mentally fit, providing a competitive yet sociable environment. Clubs belong to regional Federations.
Croquet is played on a 35 x 28 yards completely flat and closely-mown fine grass court.
Six cast-iron hoops and a peg set firmly into the ground, four balls weighing one pound (in top-class competition 1/32" smaller than a hoop), and mallets weighing around three pounds are used to play at club to international level.
Golf Croquet and Association Croquet are the two main variants of the game played in the UK:
- Golf Croquet - one stroke per turn and when a hoop is scored all players move on to the next
- Association Croquet - score many hoop points in a single turn by playing breaks
- Short Croquet - a handicap version of Association Croquet played on half-size lawns
- Garden Croquet - simplified Association Croquet suitable for playing in the garden
- Just-for-fun games you can play on a croquet lawn
- For background, see the introduction to croquet
The Coaching section will get you started through to international champion.
The Refereeing section tells you how to become or be a better referee.
The Handicapping system allows competitive games between players of different abilities.
The Ranking System ranks all croquet players in the world.
The Tournaments section tells you all about the competitive scene.
The Technical section tells everything else!
Coming Up
Where are the top players?
September
- 19-20: Nottingham
The GC English National Singles Championship (GC) - 25-27: Compton (Eastbourne) The AC South of England Championship (AC)
- 11-13: Carrickmines The Golf Croquet Championship of Ireland 2026 (GC)
- 26: TBA The GC Inter-Club Championship Tier 1 (GC)
What's on?
- 10-13: Cheltenham AC Second Eight (The Chairman's Salver) (AC)
- 10-13: East Dorset AC First Eight (The President's Cup) (AC)
- 10-14: Colchester AC Fourth Eight (The Treasurer's Tankard) (AC)
- 10-14: Ramsgate AC Third Eight (The Spencer Ell Cup) (AC)
- 11-13: Guildford The AC Selectors' Weekend (AC)
- 12-13: Nottingham AC Handicap Weekend (AC)
- 12-13: Wrest Park September Handicap (AC) Tournament (AC)
- 15: Camerton & Peasedown Open Doubles Tournament (GC Level Play) (GC)
- 19-20: Compton (Eastbourne) Golf Croquet D-Level (10+) Series National Final (GC)
- 19-20: Pendle & Craven Golf Croquet B-Level (DG<1700) Series National Final (GC)
- 19-20: Budleigh BSCC AC Class Weekend Tournament (AC)
- 19-20: Cheltenham Daniels Cup Handicap (AC) Tournament (AC)
- 19-20: Wrest Park The AC All-England Handicap Final (AC)
- 24: Cheltenham The GC Inter-Club Championship Tier 2 (Murphy Shield) (GC)
- 26: TBA The GC Inter-Club Championship Tier 3 (Bowl) (GC)
- 26: TBA The AC Inter-Club Championship Tier 2 (Mary Rose) (AC)
- 26: TBA The AC Inter-Club Handicap Championship (Longman Trophies) (AC)
- 26: TBA The Short Croquet Inter-Club Competition (AC)
Using this website
