GC Golf Croquet

Friendly The club is repeating last year's popular short Tour, but this year it will instead involve visits in East Anglia. It will take place over three days, at Hunstanton on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th May and Bury St. Edmunds on Monday 21st May.

Tour organiser Ron Drew.

See also the AC Tour.

Tour results by year:
Date Opponents Venue Results
Sat 19 -
Sun 20 May		 Hunstanton Away

LOST 42-54
Mon 21 May Bury St. Edmunds Away

WON

19-20 May: Hunstanton

The annual migration to Hunstanton came a bit earlier than usual this year, with more than 20 Watford players descending on the North Norfolk town. We were all met with smiles and handshakes. For some of the Watford players it was the first time playing at Hunstanton and finding lawns that were in superb condition must have made a pleasant and welcome sight.

Hunstanton had organised a Ryder Cup style doubles friendly. There were to be a total of 6 rounds, each consisting of 8 matches with a 40min time limit, best of 13 hoops. It was 2 points = Win, 1 point = draw.

The first round was an utter disaster for Watford as they tried to come to terms with the Home team's solid hoops, only gaining 4 points compared with the Home team total of 12. In the second round Hunstanton increased their lead with some good impressive wins. Watford lost out in some tight, low scoring games, and Hunstanton only lost 2 matches to win the second round 12pts to 4pts.

So Watford needed to make some headway and turn the tide if they were going to keep up. Round 3 saw them do just that. The Away side saw their most productive points haul of the match so far with 8 points to match their hosts. Round 4 had the home team's lead pegged back just a little with Watford having come to terms with the hoops and the pace of the lawns, Watford winning this round 9 - 7. A little ray of hope for the Away team. Still a long way to go.

Round 5 was another tight affair with neither side giving away any easy points. Both sides ended the round with 8 point each, and so ended any chance of a Watford win. The final round saw Watford have the last word in a wonderful day of Croquet, coming out ahead 9 - 7.

So the final score was Hunstanton 54pts, Watford 42pts. Whilst the weather was cold for May the warm and welcoming atmosphere made up for the lack of sun. Everyone had a great time, and despite the result for the visitors it was an extremely competitive Friendly match.

Report by Nick Archer

21 May: Bury St. Edmunds

At Bury St Edmunds we played progressive doubles, and the two highest hoop scorers from Watford (Robert Archer & Janet Lewis) and Bury played a final, which Watford won.

Report by Janet Lewis