It's always good to welcome visitors to our club.  At today's GC Winter tournament, we were able to say hello to five people from 'elsewhere' -- more than half the contestants.  "I always enjoy coming here'" was one of their comments I heard as I wandered around the courts. So, we must be doing something right!  Even on a misty, very cool day.

With winter day lengths shortening, keeping to time becomes ever more important at these events. People responded well and delays were few.  But some pairings of players inevitably lead to longer matches if their tactics involve repeated clearances. It was therefore interesting to test out the approved method of putting a time limit on Advantage GC games without unfairly treating the low handicap player who needs time to overtake their opponent.    By comparing how far each player has progressed along their allotted journey (= hoops run divided by the number of hoops needed to be run at the start) the winner can be easily identified, and this worked well.

Congratulations to Liz Walker from Caversham who took home the prize bottle of fizz.  Thanks also to Martin Dock (assistant manager) and James Gamon for all their help on the day .

​Chris Webbley     

At yesterday's GC Winter Tournament (Level Play for handicaps of 5 and higher) Patricia Mulcahy got off to a great start by running Hoop 1 and 2 simultaneously, Nigel Clogg played a beautiful long hoop from the side of Hoop 7 through Hoop 8 and Nigel Moore played a brilliant long shot at Hoop 12 to win his game.

Long hoops and great tactics were watched in abundance and the quality of play was very impressive.  

After winning 4 games in a row Nigel Moore was in the Final but sadly his luck ran out on his fifth game as he was beaten by Patricia Mulcahy who started and ended the tournament on great form.  But a consolation thankyou goes to Nigel for assisting me on the day.

Thank you to everyone else who competed including Brian Jamieson who kindly agreed to be our Referee, Wendy Kingon, Kay Vickery, Liz Walker and Carol Wadsworth.

Sharon Clark

... but simply the worms I gathered up off Lawn 1 the other morning.  I was intrigued by the colour variation -- some primaries, some secondaries!

​Richard Peperell  

High Wycombe's autumn / winter series of Level Play GC tournaments got under way yesterday, with a competition for players with handicap of 5 and higher.  Three clubs were represented, which always adds to the interest for HWCC players.

Despite the range of handicaps (5 to 12), fifteen of the twenty games in the day went to  7-5 or 7-6.  Indeed, the final was played between Pat on 7 and Liz on 12 and was a tight match, finishing 7-5 to Pat.  Congratulations to them both.

Thanks for their help before and after the event to Martin Dock (Assistant Manager) and Nigel Clogg.

Chris Webbley       

To help solve the problem of bald or warn patches of grass, we've purchased a 'Turf Doctor' here shown being used by our 'Swing Doctor'. The device cuts out the damaged patch to replace it with a healthy patch (cut from off the lawn, of course!)

Richard Peperell 

I’m a despondent little Kestrel
I play Croquet for my team.
The basic trouble being
I play well only when I dream
 
I miss my targets fair and square
(Though sometimes very close).
I’ve attended Ian’s classes,
A very worthy coach.
 
I try so hard to stalk and cast
And even follow through
But when I strike that wretched ball
Even that won’t do
 
Nothing seems to work somehow
Whenever I play a match
My jump shots are erratic
And that’s another catch.
 
The opposition take their chance
And win by hoops galore
And when the game is finished
I hate that final score.
 
I’m sorry for the Kestrels, 
With no league win in their sights;
And so, to help them perhaps next year 
I’ll switch 
And play for Kites
 
​Anon

Today saw the first match in our autumn tournaments.  Played in delightful sunshine, the Advantage GC day gave eight people from HWCC and two other clubs the chance to enjoy out-of-season croquet and keep their skills fresh.

Everyone enjoyed the sweet taste of victory, and there were some close finishes.  But in the end the prize bottle of fine bubbly was won by Liz Walker from Caversham.  This was a double pleasure as she told us it was the first time she had won anything, and came after a heavily delayed and diverted morning journey.  Congratulations to her, and thanks as usual to everyone who helped set up and take down.

There are still a few places available for future events.  If you are interested to know more, please contact me on 07850 899 447 or chris.webbley@btinternet.com

Chris Webbley    

Yesterday, Sunday 16th Oct, the final of the AC level advanced (EV1) was played in glorious autumn sunshine watched initially by Ian Shore and latterly by Jane Gloster and Jenny Leach from the other lawn.  Last year’s winner, Mike Porter (-0.5) was playing Richard Peperell (2.5). Richard started well getting to hoop 10 (4-back) but made a mess of his leave which allowed Mike to equalise the scores. Richard continued his cautious play to win 26-10 and joins Duncan Reeve (2020 Champ) and Raouf Allim (2018 Champ) as club AC Champ.

Both Jane and Jenny became quite alarmed at one stage as they witnessed Richard laying prostate on the ground but all was well once it was explained this is standard tactic in AC when ‘Pegging Out’, the finish of the match...thus the common expression (but hopefully not for Richard!)

Keith Pound HWCC Competitions Manager