Exploiting Corner Balls in SC: Digging Out a Corner Ball

The more compact Short Croquet lawn lends itself to the three-ball break. So, with a corner ball lodged in, say, Corner 3, the secret is to think of the corner ball as a misplaced pivot, and to play a three-ball break up to hoop 3 before picking it up.

Prepare well ahead, by placing a pioneer, say Blue, at hoop 2 before running hoop 1. Use the standard manoeuvre of sending the hoop 1 reception ball to the next hoop but one as a hoop 3 pioneer, with your own ball finishing within easy reach of Blue at hoop 2. This shot is easier if, when emerging from hoop 1, you are able to engineer a rush north, nearer hoop 2 but down the west boundary: it makes the croquet shot shorter and rather straighter, and so more straightforward to manage. Again the compact lawn lends itself well to the sequence of moves.

As you prepare to run hoop 2, it's helpful if, again, you can place Blue as the reception ball so as to engineer a rush along the north boundary. Don't worry if the rush doesn't come off as you'd hoped; any advance across the lawn across the north boundary, however small, makes the next shot that bit easier.

The key now is a croquet shot that provides a pioneer at the next hoop but one, hoop 4, with your own ball finishing within reach of the corner ball. Send the corner ball into the central rectangle, landing near the ball which is already at hoop 3. The corner ball becomes a good pivot and you have a well-laid four ball break.