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NELSON BAY CROQUET CLUB
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Nelson Bay Croquet Club has been established for 28 years. It is located in the Blue Water Paradise of Port Stephens, just north of Newcastle, NSW. Membership is open to all who are interested in the game, and visitors are warmly welcomed.
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Members play all the three internationally recognised forms of Croquet – Golf, Ricochet and Association. The Club plays both social and competitive games five days each week on four professionally maintained full sized courts and has a small clubhouse on-site. We also have an active program of social events.
Playing schedule available here:
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
CHRISTMAS/PRESENTATION LUNCH
The annual Christmas/Presentation Lunch will be held at 10:00am on Sunday 15th December at the clubhouse. BYO your meat for the BBQ, salads and dessert provided by the Club.
COURT RENOVATION
The annual court renovation is scheduled for Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th December - the courts will be closed for both this days.
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For 4 weeks after 17th December, until Tuesday 18th January 2025, only Courts 1 and 2 will be available for play.
LATEST NEWS
PRESIDENT'S CUP
Sunday 8th December 2024
The President’s Cup is the final championship of the year - Golf Croquet level-play singles open to all members of the club but limited to 16 players. Players are seeded into 4 blocks with the winners of each block contesting semi-finals and final - 13-point games with no time limit with a 19-point final.
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Peter Gordon, Greg Long and Rob Batho shared 2 wins each in Block A with Peter finishing top on hoop count-back (+10 to Greg’s +4 and Rob’s +1). Brenda-Lee Peet won Block B with 3 wins ahead of Marty Quirke. Chris Cox won Block C with 3 wins ahead of Faby Batho. Rod Peet won Block D with 3 wins ahead of David Wilson, Col Bailey and Jane Scorer each with 1 win. Each block was won by the top seed in that block.
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In the semi-finals, Peter Gordon beat Rod Peet 7-4 and Chris Cox beat Brenda-Lee Peet 7-4. In an entertaining and close final decided by a narrowly missed hoop or clearance, Peter triumphed 10-7 over Chris.
The championship featured some great croquet and was a fitting end to the competitive club program for 2024.
President's Cup Semi-Finalists
(l to r) Peter, Rod, Chris, Brenda-Lee
Rod congratulates Peter after their semi-final
Play from the semi-finals
RICOCHET HANDICAP SINGLES KNOCK-OUT
August - December 2024
9 players entered the annual Nelson Bay Croquet Club Ricochet Knock-out Competition. The handicap competition was played from August to December, 26-point games with a 2-hour time limit.
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The semi-finals saw 2023 champion David Wilson play Rae Uptin and 2021 champion Peter Gordon play Gary Allen. Rae used her 6 handicap shots effectively to beat David 20-14 while Peter prevailed 17-12 over Gary, despite Gary having 5 handicap shots.
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The final was a close affair with Peter running-out the 17-15 winner. Peter’s ability to make long roquets overcame Rae’s 6 handicap shots.
Peter Gordon
Knock-out Ricochet Champion 2024
NSW GC CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS
Friday 29th November – Sunday 1st December 2024
Cooks River Croquet Club, Tempe
Pamela Barnwell won the Thompson Trophy A Grade competition in August 2024 to qualify for the NSW 2024 GC Champion of Champions on behalf of Nelson Bay.
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13 clubs were represented: Canberra, Chatswood, Coogee, Cooks River, Coutts Crossing, Maitland, Marrickville, Newcastle NP, Queanbeyan, Port Macquarie, Royal Sydney Golf Club, Sutherland and Wagga Wagga. The tournament was played in trying weather conditions with torrential rain on Friday, drizzling rain on Saturday but then hot and humid on Sunday.
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The 13 players played a qualifying round-robin block of 13-point games with a 1-hour time limit, the top 6 qualifying for the knock-out play-offs. Pamela won 10 of 12 games to finish 2nd in the qualifying block to Derek Bull (Newcastle National Park) also with 10 wins but a slightly better hoop difference +28 to +22. Finishing 1st and 2nd meant they moved straight to the best-of-three semi-finals. Derek beat Peter Freer (Canberra) 7-6 7-4 and Pamela beat Darren McLoughlin (Wagga Wagga) 7-3 7-3, before Pamela beat Derek 7-6 4-7 7-5 in the final.
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A great result for Pamela, winning the Champion of Champions for the 2nd year running.
Pamela receives the trophy
Derek congratulates Pamela
NSW RICOCHET HANDICAP SINGLES
Saturday 23rd – Monday 25th November 2024
Toronto Croquet Club
Peter Gordon was one of 10 players contesting the Ricochet Handicap Singles State Championship. The competition was played in two blocks of 5 players, 26-point games with a 2-hour time limit limit.
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Peter topped his block with 3 wins from 4 games, just ahead of Ken Green (Maitland) on hoop difference (+37 to +30).
The top 2 from each block played a best-of-three semi-final and final. Peter lost to David Scott (Ballina Cherry Street) 12-15 / 8-21 before losing to Maurice Aplin (Orange City) 20-12 / 15-17 / 14-17 to finish 4th in the State Championship.
Ken Green won the Championship beating David Scott 18-11 / 14-13 in the final.
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Peter in action during the Championship
CHRISTMAS BUSH CARNIVAL 2024
Sunday 6th October 2024
The Club hosted the 3rd annual Christmas Bush Carnival at Tomaree Sports Complex from Friday 15th to Monday 18th November 2024. 64 players from around the state travelled to Nelson Bay for the carnival of golf croquet doubles – late withdrawals meant that 6 Nelson Bay members were required to play. Players were seeded into 4 blocks of 8 doubles pairs with each block playing a double round-robin of 7 games of level play and 7 games of handicap play – 13-point games with a time limit of 1 hour.
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In Block A, Liz Friend & Chris Cox (Nelson Bay) topped the block with 10 wins and Lyn Baker & Ken Green (Maitland) finished runners-up with 9 wins, just ahead of Ted Lyng & Peter Saunders (Toronto) on hoop difference (+9 to +7).
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In Block B, Jan & Keith Brodie (Coutts Crossing) finished first with 10 wins ahead of Liz & Phillipe McDonald (Toronto) with 9 wins.
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In Block C, Najette Scerri & Di Williams (Maitland) just pipped Carolyn McNamara & Frank Berg (EDSACC) both with 9 wins but a hoop difference of +19 to +13.
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In Block D, Karen & Warren Wilson (Toronto) topped the block with 11 wins ahead of Anne & Peter Newling (Toronto) with 10 wins.
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The presentation on Monday 18th November were made by Philippa Brooks from platinum sponsor PRD.
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Faby Batho and her canteen crew (Marion Graff, Julie Harrison. Kathy Orton and Rosemary Taylor) did a great job of providing lunches and all day refreshments to the players and volunteers.
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An excellent four days of top level croquet.
The courts look excellent
The Block presentations by Philippa Brooks
Play during the carnival
