THE BASIC RULES OF GOLF CROQUET

Outline of the Game

The Turn

Hoop Point

Balls Played Out of Sequence or by the Wrong Player

Playing for the Next Hoop

Faults

1. The sides are Blue and Black versus Red and Yellow. Singles or Doubles can be played. In Singles the player plays both balls of that side in alternate turns whilst in Doubles each player plays one ball only.

2. Play progresses in strict colour order; blue, red, black, yellow – the order of the colours on the peg, then back to blue again.

3. Each turn consists of one stroke only. There are never any extra strokes for running hoops or hitting other balls.

4. The game starts by playing the balls in order from a position within three feet of the corner flag as illustrated below.

5. All players try in successive turns to run hoop 1. As soon as the hoop is run a point is scored for that side. All players then move on from where their balls currently lie to contest hoop 2, and so on around the court. Each hoop is scored only once for one side or the other.

6. The hoops are run in the order and direction shown in the diagram below. The game is usually played as a “best of 13 points” game and stops once one player/pair has scored 7. If points are level after running the 12th hoop, the game is decided by contesting hoop 3 again. The peg plays no part other than as an obstacle and a reminder of colour order.

8. A turn consists of a single stroke. A stroke is played when the striker hits the correct ball with their mallet and causes it to move or commits a fault. A player may not deem a stroke to be played.

9. When a ball leaves the court it is placed on the boundary where it went off. If when the boundary ball comes to be played there is insufficient space outside the boundary to allow the striker to play the ball freely then the ball may be moved by the minimum amount required to allow an unhampered stroke.

10. If a boundary ball obstructs the playing of another ball, the boundary ball may be temporarily removed. If replacement of a ball on the boundary is prevented by the presence of another ball which will be played first, then the ball is replaced after the obstructing ball has been played. Otherwise, the obstructing ball is temporarily removed to allow the stroke to be played.

11. A ball may be jumped over another ball provided that the lawn surface is not damaged by the mallet.


12. The ball scores a hoop point by passing through the next hoop in the order and direction illustrated.

13. A ball begins to run a hoop when any part of it first emerges from the back (non-playing side) of the hoop and finishes doing so when the whole of it finally enters the front of the hoop (playing side), provided that it does not come back past this point later in the stroke. See diagram below.

14 A ball may take more than one turn to complete the running of a hoop.

15. If a ball other than the striker’s ball is knocked through the next hoop in order then that hoop is scored for the side owning that ball. If more than one ball runs a hoop in the same stroke, then the ball which was closest to the hoop at the start of the stroke is deemed to have scored the point.

16. If a ball runs two hoops in the same stroke then both hoop points are scored.

17. If the striker plays the wrong ball of their side in singles, or the striker’s partner plays their own ball instead of the striker playing the correct ball in doubles, then the balls are replaced to their positions before the stroke in error, and play continues by the right person playing the correct ball, without penalty. However, if the striker or their partner plays any ball other than their own, or if another player plays, then play is stopped and no points scored. The opponent chooses whether to have all the balls that were moved left as they are or replaced where they were before the error, then re-starts the sequence with either of their balls.  Players are encouraged to stop play if they see the striker about to play any sort of wrong ball.


18. Players may play towards the hoop after the one being contested if desired but may not go more than halfway – otherwise it becomes an “offside ball”. Immediately after the hoop in order is scored, the opponent of any ball beyond the halfway line between the hoop just run and the next hoop in order may choose to have the offside ball placed on one of the two penalty spots unless one of the exceptions in paragraph 20 applies.

19. The penalty spots are the half-way points on the long boundaries, marked by flags.

20. Balls are not offside if they reached their position as a result of:

  • the stroke just played, or

  • a stroke, wrong ball play or fault by an opponent, or

  • contact with an opponent’s ball, or

  • being directed to a penalty spot.

21. The striker must hold the mallet by its shaft and swing it to attempt to hit the ball cleanly with an end face of its head. A fault is committed if when playing a stroke the striker:

  • touches any ball other than their own, or

  • hits their own ball more than once, or

  • squeezes their ball against a hoop or the peg, or

  • plays a stroke in which their mallet causes actual damage to the court.

22. If a fault is committed the striker’s turn ends, no points are scored in the stroke and the opponent chooses whether the balls are left as they lie or replaced to their earlier positions.