NEWCASTLE Doubles Carnival

Nelson Bay had a strong presence at the Golf Croquet Doubles Carnival run by Newcastle National Park Croquet Club on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd July 2023 – 14 of the 48 players came from Nelson Bay.

The 24 pairs were seeded into 4 blocks based on each pair’s combined handicap, with the pairs with the lowest combined handicap in Block A and those with the highest in Block D. The carnival was played as a double round-robin with each pair playing 5 games of level play on 1st July and 5 games of handicap play on 2nd July. Prizes were awarded to the winners and runners-up of each block. Each game was 13-point play with a 50-minute time limit.

Players from Nelson Bay enjoyed reasonable success. Les Guzowski & Greg Long topped Block D winning 9 of 10 games – a tremendous effort. In Block C, Faby Batho & Brenda-Lee Peet finished joint top with 8 wins from 10 games, as did Margaret Myers & Martin Wooster (Toronto) – they both had a hoop difference of +23 but Margaret & Martin were declared winners as they won the handicap game between them – a close call in Block C. Blocks A and B were both won by local pairs playing on their home courts – a big advantage. In Block A, Karen Lilly & David Wilson finished tied in 2nd place with 5 wins from 10 games, but the runner-up prize was awarded to Lyn Baker & Ken Green (Maitland) on hoop difference (+4) with Karen & David 3rd (-1) and Dianne Cheetham (Maitland) & Brenda Wild (Mount Sugarloaf) 4th (-7).

A great weekend of croquet under blue skies and in good conditions, apart from rather cold starts each day.

By David WILSON