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Sun 13 June 2004
Three Nailsea pairs entered the South West Federation Golf Croquet Doubles.
In the first two rounds JIM GREGORY & POLLY REYNOLDS and PETER DYKE & MARY BARNES both beat LINDA SHAW & TOM ROYLANCE 7-2.
In the final defending champions, PETER & MARY won the toss and put JIM & POLLY in first.
POLLY started with a perfect shot in front of hoop 1 which PETER & MARY were unable to move so the challengers gained the first hoop and JIM ran the second, putting them 2-nil ahead.
MARY ran the third hoop and POLLY got good position in front of the fourth which PETER shot at and missed. POLLY ran into the jaws of the hoop so PETER took a 6½-yard shot from the boundary, which cleared POLLY’S ball from the hoop and his ball went through the hoop into a good hoop running position. PETER levelled the score at 2-all.
Poor hoop-running by the defending champions and good hoop-running by the challengers gave JIM & POLLY a one hoop advantage at every other hoop. At hoop 7 JIM’S ball stuck in the jaws. Neither PETER nor MARY were in a position to clear it from the hoop so PETER advised MARY to ricochet off POLLY’S ball down to hoop 8. MARY attempted this and got about half way to hoop 8. JIM ran hoop 7 hard and finished in a hoop-running position in front of hoop 8. However, MARY managed to block JIM. In his attempt to clear MARY’S ball from in front of the hoop he accidentally knocked her ball through the hoop, giving her the point and the score was now 4-all.
MARY was next to play and took control of hoop 9 and ran it to put the defending champions in the lead for the first time in the game. JIM ran hoop 10 to level the scores again and MARY took position in front of hoop 11, with JIM’S ball in a threatening position. PETER shot at JIM’S ball to move it further away and ricocheted to a position in front of hoop 12. JIM shot at MARY’S ball, but missed, but MARY failed to run the hoop JIM and POLLY took control of the hoop and ran it to take the lead again. PETER took the next hoop to level the scores at 6-all.
JIM then took position in front of the deciding hoop. POLLY and MARY joined him, but did not gain such good positions. PETER shot at JIM’S ball, but missed, but for the first time in the game JIM’S ball hit the wire and bounced off to the side of the hoop. After consulting his partner PETER decided to try to run his ball into the jaws of the hoop from the boundary, which he did successfully. JIM and POLLY were unable to remove PETER’S ball from the hoop and in his next turn he finished running the hoop to snatch a 7-6 victory.
This was a most entertaining game of golf croquet with the challengers having the edge for most of the game and the defending champions were extremely fortunate not to lose.
PETER and MARY will compete in the Finals at Nailsea in September.
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Back to Journal Index | 2004 Calendar |
| updated 14 June, 2004 |