Internal Club Competitions

The club runs 10 season long competitions, 9 One-Day tournaments, including the annual CA Charity tournament and 1 Three-Day event. Members compete in Association or Golf or both formats.  Members' handicaps cover the whole range: Association -  24 to minus 3 and Golf 20 to minus 5. The club competitions cater for all. The Calendar page contains listings for these as well as other events.

Regionally

The club is affiliated to the South West Federation of Croquet Clubs (SWF). We enter teams who compete throughout the season, both at home and away, in all of the various leagues:

    Association Croquet                                                             Golf Croquet

     Advanced Level Play [Parkstone Trophy]                             Level

     Federation                                                                            Handicap                                                                   Intermediate                                                                         High Handicap [Not 2022] 

     B League   [Not 2022]                                          

     Short Croquet

     Short Croquet - Restricted [Not 2022]                                Open Short Croquet                             

    The SWF

      Fixture list for all league matches can be found here

      Results may be found here

      Also check the News page and often in Cuttings.

Croquet Association [CA] Tournaments

Many clubs, including Sidmouth, run tournaments for other Croquet Association members to compete in and the CA sponsors several major tournaments which clubs host on a rotational basis. The CA's A5 handbook 'The Fixtures  List' runs to 200 pages and a player can find tournaments to match his handicap and preferred code of play the length and breadth of the country.  These events maybe weekends or as long as a week.

International Tournaments

If the bug really bites you can travel far and wide playing croquet.  Club members have played in Austria, Ireland, Greece, Corfu, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand and America. Warmer climes are quite popular in winter, and America plays both modern croquet and an older version.  One things for certain - you will be made very welcome  wherever you play.

Handicaps

See article below on how to complete your handicap card

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A Rough Guide to Handicap Changes

[Copied from SWF Cygnet - Editor Stephen Custance-Baker]

Pay no attention to the actual handicaps – it is the procedure and when to change that is important

Players do get confused by when handicap changes occur and this is the reason we ask members to check any change with a Handicap Committee Member.

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This is not a full description of the handicapping system, but it is intended to answer some of the questions I have received in the last few months. It applies equally to AC, GC or Short Croquet handicaps.

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The handicap system is designed to equalise play between players of different levels so that each player has an equal chance of winning. In AC and GC handicap games, the index changes by +/-10 and in Short Croquet by +/-1. This is different in AC and GC level play and the CA has produced tables to show the points exchanged in Level Play games.

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When a handicap changes, either because of the Automatic Handicap System (AHS) or because a handicapper has changed it, it will not change again unless the player has a series of wins or losses.

For example, a player with an AC handicap of 3 loses a game and their index drops to 1650. This is the trigger point for 3½, and their handicap therefore changes to 3½. The next day they win a game, and their index increases to 1660 but their handicap remains at 3½. It will not change again until their index rises to 1700 (the trigger point for 3) or drops to 1600 (the trigger point for 4).

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Remember that the trigger point for your current handicap is irrelevant. You can cross it in both directions for years without any effect on your handicap. The trigger points that matter are the ones for the next handicaps up and down.

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The AHS causes a handicap to change when it reaches a trigger point, not when it passes it.

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For example, a GC player with a handicap of 4 has an index of 1501 and loses a Level Play game against a minus 2-handicapper. This costs them 1 point; their index becomes 1500 and their handicap becomes 5. Another GC 4-handicapper with an index of 1699 wins a Level Play game against a 14-handicapper and gains 1 point. Their index is now 1700 and their handicap becomes 3.

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Generally, the handicap changes at the end of the day for club play and inter-club matches, and at the end of the tournament for multi-day tournaments. (There are a few very long tournaments in which different rules apply.)

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If a player has such a good tournament that their index passes not only one but two trigger points then, under the AHS, they can skip past a specific handicap.

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For example, an AC player with a handicap of 8 and an index of 1345, plays 5 games in a 2-day Advanced tournament, beating a 3, a 4 and two 6’s, then losing to a 1. Their index changes by 17+16+12+12-1 and therefore increases to 1401. Their handicap will then change to 6, by-passing 7.

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The same could be true in a handicap tournament if a player who was near a trigger point won 6 games without a loss.

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Club Handicappers, Federation Handicappers and CA Handicappers can make changes to a player’s handicap if it becomes clear that their game is:

Ø improving too rapidly for the AHS to cope.

Ø deteriorating too rapidly for the AHS to cope.

Ø significantly affected by a medical condition when they return to play after a lay-off.

The amount of the change that can be made is subject to limits set by the CA. It is best if any such change is discussed with the player and agreed before the change is made.

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