Golf Croquet Rules

The Scoring and Rules of Golf Croquet

The court layout and croquet equipment required to play golf croquet are identical to that of American-style six-wicket croquet. As illustrated, the court should be 105 feet long and 84 feet wide, and the croquet wickets set up as two opposing triangles with a stake in between. But unlike in six-wicket croquet, where balls begin play just three feet south of wicket #1, golf croquet balls enter play nine inches in from the north boundary line, anywhere from the northeast corner to the court's midpoint. This area is called the baulk line.

Scoring

Golf croquet can be played to seven points (6 wickets plus stake), 13 points (12 wickets plus stake), or 19 points (18 wickets plus stake). In 19-point golf croquet, players follow the illustrated circuit and then replay the first six wickets.

The order of play is blue, red, black, yellow, with blue/black and red/yellow as opposing teams. Choice of color is determined by a coin toss. Each player tries to score the same wicket until one succeeds, thus earning the point for that wicket. Once a wicket has been scored by any player/team, all players must then try to score the next wicket. When a player/team reaches a winning point total (e.g. four points in a seven-point game), the game is over.

A ball must run the wicket in the proper direction to score a point. A ball that clears a wicket after striking another ball or being struck by a striker's ball counts as a point. If two balls go through the wicket, the point goes to the ball that was closer to the wicket at the start of the turn.

Wickets must be run in order, but a player might choose to gain position on the next wicket if his/her teammate is likely to win the current wicket. However, after a scoring shot, any ball that is more than halfway to the next wicket and was not involved in the scoring shot is considered offside and can be moved to a penalty spot by the opposing team. The penalty spots are the points on the east and west boundary lines directly even with the stake.

Game Play

Each player takes one shot per turn only. There are no bonus or continuation shots in golf croquet, and no roquet or croquet shots. However, that doesn't mean players can't use their shots to knock their opponents' balls out of bounds. If a ball goes past the boundary line, it is placed on the boundary in the approximate spot where it exited the court.

Jump shots are not permitted in golf croquet. If a struck ball leaves the ground, the striking player/team can't score on the play, and the opposing team may choose to replace any balls that have been moved because of the shot.

Playing a ball out of order results in forfeiture of the turn and replacement of any affected balls.