England won the first GC Home Internationals, held in fair weather at Carrickmines last weekend.. Fears that we might run out of light so late in the year proved unfounded and the lawns were easy but the Irish team (Clingan, Fitzgerald, Williams and Stephens) could only scrape into second place, with a win over the Scots and a draw against Wales before succumbing 5.5 - 0.5 against England on Sunday. A full weekend of GC requires a lot of concentration and this is turn needs practice at tournaments

The Trinity Open will be held in New Square, Trinity College Dublin on Saturday 14th October 2017 from 10am to 5pm. This is an open event in both Golf and Association Croquet. The format will be a doubles competition.  All are welcome to compete.   The entry fee is  5€  and light refreshments will be available..Further information, if required, can be had from Liam Byrne whose email is lobroin@tcd.ie.

 GOLF CROQUET HISTORY BEING MADE - BE THERE!!!

For many years the four Home Nations have got together to play each other over the course of a weekend in the Home Internationals. This has always been an AC event but this year, for the first time ever, there is also to be a Golf Croquet event and it will be held at Carrickmines over the weekend of 30 September and 1st October. 

The Irish Team consists of Jack Clingan (C), Patsy Fitzgerald (the newly crowned Irish Champion), Simon Williams and Mark Stephens.

Come and support your country and watch some thrilling play.

Patsy Fitzgerand won the Irish Open Golf Championship at the 13th hoop in a thrilling and close final beating Charlie von Schmieder. See photo below of Charlie's Jump shot at the 13th which would have won the title.

The weather conditions were very changeable from cold heavy rain to warm sunshine. Nevertheless it was a very enjoyable competition. Photos and results below.

Results:

Championship Winner: Patsy FitzGerald. Runner Up: Charlie von Schmieder.

The CAI has been trying out a handicap system for playing Golf Croquet. This was used in the summer of 2017 and provided challenging games between players of all levels.  It is intended that this will be proposed for formal adoption by the CAI and a description of the system can be found in this document. Comments on the system would be very welcome by Simon Williams.

Croquet will be represented among 300 other activities of every kind at the annual Transition Year Expo at Punchestown Racecourse next Monday and Tuesday, 11th and 12th September. The Exhibition is open from 10 to 3.30 each day.

The CAI team (Nathaniel Healy, Jane Morrison, Sandy Greig, Gerard Osborne Burke, Alan Looney and Dave McGrath) came up short in their attempt to win the McWeeney for the third time in succession in their annual match against the English CA.

The Irish Golf Croquet Championships will be held at Carrickmines Croquet and Lawn Tenis Club on 8th to 10th Septemper 2017. An entry form may be downloaded from a link on the left and entry fee can be paid by Paypal or by cheque in advance.

The 2017 Croquet Championships of Ireland were played at Carrickmines between the 5th and 12th of August. The winners and runners-up of the 8 events were as follows:

Singles Championship of Ireland
Winner:       Andrew Johnston
Runner Up: Danny Johnston

Doubles Championships
Winners:        Andrew Johnston and Danny Johnston
Runners Up:  David Bent (USA) and Nathaniel Healy

The new full gallery of photographs of the Irish Open Championships has been added to the Carousel at the bottom of this page and under the 'Latest Gallery' block in the right hand column..Contact photocai@croquetireland.com if you would like higher resolution copies or access to a larger collection.