New to croquet

Nottingham Croquet Club welcomes new members of all ages and backgrounds, including people who are completely new to croquet. We offer a range of activities and support to help you try out, learn, enjoy and master this fascinating, engaging sport, and participate in the life of the club. It can take a while to get to grips with croquet skills, rules and tactics, but the rewards are tremendous.

The best way to start is to come to one of our popular free Open Days or a Taster session and then if you would like to take it further, join the club and – if places are available – follow it up with our flagship Learn to Play course and comprehensive follow-on support programme. This – especially if you begin in early season, and stick with it – is our tried and tested route to quickly attain confidence and skills at croquet.

An alternative option, if you are keen to explore further but not ready or able to take up membership, is to sign up for one of our Croquet Experience weekends. These are available to non-members and provide a fun and sociable introduction to some of the croquet skills and games.

New members who  are unable to attend a Learn to Play course will be offered a shorter series of three mallet introductory sessions during club roll-up on Tuesday evenings. Our membership secretary will provide relevant members with full details by email.

GC-only players

For a variety of reasons, we have some members who never had the opportunity to do a full Learn to Play course, or who didn’t complete it, and have continued to enjoy Golf Croquet but not had the opportunity to experience Association Croquet, and would like to give AC a try with a view to becoming all-rounders and able to enjoy all that croquet has to offer. A new four week course is planned from Wednesday 8th – 29th May, 10.30am-12.30pm with Derek Blow as Lead Coach.   If you’re not sure whether this is for you, do contact Derek. You may book places using the Lawn Booking system.

Experienced Players

We aim to provide quality coaching free of charge in all mainstream forms of croquet to members at every level of proficiency. The club has qualified and experienced coaches who volunteer their time for this purpose.

Do check out the coaching link under the Enjoy menu for more detail.

We love to welcome visitors who wish to enjoy our grounds when play is on, to watch and learn about croquet, or perhaps to have a go at this fascinating, skilful, tactical, enjoyable and non-arduous sport. Our playing season is usually early April to early October. If you’d like to come either individually or as a group, check out the menu links under Visit for different formats and arrangements, including some free of charge playing options. (There is never a charge for spectators).

Alternatively drop in any time, and if there are members and lawns free we can arrange a free taster session (for people who’ve never tried club croquet) or a lawn fee visit. To avoid possible disappointment (we have no staff) it’s best to book online, or come on a Tuesday after 2pm when we will have a friendly volunteer to welcome public visitors. 

The Club calendar lists formal events when there will always be croquet to watch but may or may not be an opportunity to play. At other times it is less predictable. It’s always best to contact us first to avoid possible disappointment, though we accommodate ad hoc requests from passers-by when we can.

If you would like to have a go, we provide all croquet equipment, but to avoid damage to our fine turf you must wear flat-soled footwear (e.g. trainers). Dress in a way which you will find comfortable for an outdoor activity in the expected weather conditions.

If you would like to explore the game in more depth, it’s best to come to one of our free Open Days or even book on to a Croquet Experience Weekend and then perhaps join a Learn to play course. 

Comprehensive information on getting to the club is provided here.