Recently played was the Association Briginshaw Trophy which is for 18 to 20 Handicap. The play was exciting to watch  and the scores were quite close in a number of the games. The winner, Peter Coles and runner up, Jenny Baldwin are new to the game of association and being their first competition, they did extremely well. 

Mid North Coast Croquet Council (MNCCC) competitions between Port Macquarie, Taree, Forster and Gloucester are underway with Forster competing against Taree on April 4 in golf croquet in Forster. 

The association MNCCC Forster vs Port Macquarie was played in Forster on March 15. Forster played two great games but was unfortunately outplayed by Port four to two. Better luck next time. 

The Cedar Bat is the first major event for golf croquet for the year and a competition for members with handicaps of 8 to 12.  The golf captain, Fred Smith-White reported on the game as follows:

Eight players entered the competition this year - a disappointing field in view of the number of new players eligible.

These eight were divided into two blocks and each player in each block played each other. The winners of each block then played off for the cedar bat.  

Play commenced on time with Robyn Thomas and Sue Smith-White each winning their first two games in block two and meeting each other in the last game.  Robyn was victorious and went through to the final.

Block one was not that simple. Pat Adams, Sandra Christenson and Bob Baldwin each finished with two wins.  Their scores for and against were identical and each one had beaten the other so they could not be split.

A decision was made to come back on Wednesday morning and play off again against each other.

The playing order was drawn from a hat and Sandra and Pat lead off.  Sandra proved too strong on the day and then faced off against Bob.  As she was again the winner there was no need to play the final game.

Sandra and Robyn played off in the final.  A slow start by Robyn saw Sandra take a healthy lead but Robyn slowly pegged her back. Some engrossing golf croquet ensued and was watched by a large crowd. Eventually, Sandra prevailed and became a very worthy winner of the 2014 Cedar Bat.

Sandra thanked all the members for their sportsmanship and friendship. For more information contact Sadra Christenson on 0427 545669 or club president Neville Milne on 6555 3298.

Sandra Christenson