The final of the internal GC (Golf Croquet) tournament was played in blustery and chilly conditions between defending champion, Steve Edney, and last year’s losing finalist, Hugh Stephenson. Would Hugh get revenge having lost last year on a golden hoop?
NO!!!
Steve won the two games played 7-4 to retain his trophy. Well done, Steve.
Both games followed the same pattern. Hugh wins the first hoop, Steve the second, then Hugh the next two, then Steve drawing level after six hoops. Steve goes into the lead on 1-back, Hugh levels, but then Steve wins three in a row to clinch victory.
There were some very good hoop runs by both players. Steve attempted one jump shot but the ball came down on Hugh’s ball in the jaws, pushing it through for Hugh’s hoop. Steve tended to judge the distances a bit better, particularly on the long shots, and that may have been the difference.
Here are some statistics:
- there were 190 shots played, 100 in the first game and 90 in the second;
- there were 36 attempts at running hoops, of which 16 missed, including Steve’s failed jump shot;
- 60% of all shots were for position, that is trying to get near the hoop in order to run the hoop next shot
- 35 shots were played to rush the opponent’s ball out of the way, of which 20 were played by Hugh, and 15 by Steve
- On two occasions, Steve promoted his other ball into better positions, whereas Hugh did not play this type of shot at all
- Each hoop took an average of nine shots to win, the highest number of shots to win a hoop was 22 on the eleventh hoop in the first game, and the lowest number of shots taken was 5 on five separate occasions.
Ember is traditionally an AC (Association Croquet) club but we are taking GC far more seriously these days, and once COVID is out of the way (here’s hoping), we will reach out to other clubs to learn more about tactical play. In the meantime, it’s very much simpler to learn and more inclusive than AC, so if anyone out there wants to start to play croquet, come and join in!
