Croquet Is on Rebound as Serious Sport

Once a leisurely pastime for the rich and famous in places like Palm Beach, Fla., the serious sport of croquet is grabbing the attention and dollars of America’s young professionals.

The upturn on the economic side of the sport is the latest twist in what has been croquet’s multimillion-dollar double life in the United States.

The sport’s blue-collar existence has centered around the American backyard during holiday gatherings. A rusting croquet set, usually costing between $25 and $50, is rolled out of the garage and set up in a haphazard way. No one ever seems to know the rules, but the sport provides several hours of pre-barbecue entertainment.

Elite Play Too

That is recreational croquet, snubbed by the cognoscenti.

Croquet’s elite life revolves around the manicured lawns of private clubs, where proper attire, rules and bloodlines are strictly followed. It is a place where a single mallet may cost as much as $185 and the wickets weigh six pounds a piece.

The serious game of croquet is played on a lawn 25 yards by 28 yards. The six wickets are placed at precise coordinates. The winner is the first player to make it around the course.

It was on such private club croquet greens that “friendly” matches were played for wagers of thousands of dollars during the 1930s, pitting the East Coast literary Establishment against upstart Hollywood moguls. Even today, large wagers are known to change hands on a single match.

“The true beauty of the sport is its diversity,” said Jack R. Osborne, president of the U.S. Croquet Assn. “Anyone can play. Whether you are 6 or 70, rich or poor, it’s truly a womb-to-tomb sport.”

Industry sources said sales figures so far this year indicate that the sport will move more than the 300,000 croquet sets sold in 1985. There is, however, no breakdown available on which sales are backyard sets and which are professional-caliber sets.

“We sold a lot more croquet sets in the last year or so than in the previous years,” said Ben Mawhinney, a spokesman for General Sports Craft, a New Jersey-based sporting goods distributor. “I think it is partially because of the new housing starts. Lawn sports as a whole did not sell well up until a little over a year ago. That’s where the (sport’s) volume growth is. The percentage growth is in the high end where a guy will pay over $100 for a single mallet.”

Osborne said the sport’s growth has also been the result of there being more places for the serious player to play.

“We are also seeing a tremendous growth of private clubs,” he said. “Over the next 12 months, our figures show that over 100 new clubs will be open. But I want to point out that they do not have to be croquet-only clubs. They are country clubs or resorts putting in croquet greens.”

The sport--which was more popular than tennis in the 1890s--also has caught on at college campuses throughout the country and with the young professional set. From UCLA to the hallowed halls of Harvard University, croquet has become a popular pastime away from the books.

“The sport seems to have captured the College Belt,” said Dick Corbin, president of Forster Manufacturing of Wilton, Me., the only domestic croquet equipment maker. “I think it has also caught on with the--I don’t like to use the word--Yuppies.”

Corbin said Forster, a privately held company, has numerous plants in Maine. Croquet is not the company’s only market. Forster also is a leading maker of wooden clothes pins, toothpicks and plastic picnic items.

Big Part of Business

“We don’t release any sales figures, but croquet is a major part of our business,” Corbin said. “Our products are marketed in a variety of ways. We are distributed through mass marketers like K mart and Sears. We also have sets sold in sporting good stores.”

Although Corbin did not disclose his company’s figures for last year, industry sources place the firm’s sales at about $5 million last year on between 250,000 and 300,000 sets.

Forster is capturing much of the blue-collar market, but the pros will only buy their equipment from one company: John Jacques & Sons Ltd. of London.

Jacques makes the Solomon, the Louisville Slugger of croquet mallets. The square-headed mallet sells for $185 and is custom-made of a lignum vitae, a hard wood used in marine and machine bearings, casters and pulleys. The mallet weighs between three and four pounds and has a 36-inch shaft. The backyard sets generally have shafts of 18 inches.

“A serious croquet player usually carries around about $500 worth of mallets to his match,” Osborne said. “He’s just like a golfer.”

However, unlike golf, players can use only one mallet in each match.

The U.S. Croquet Assn. holds one of the American distributorships for Jacques. Osborne said Jacques--which commands the international croquet market--saw its American sales rise 20% to 25% to about $200,000 last year. This year, Osborne said, early figures show another substantial sales increase.

The sport also is drawing the attention of advertising executives.

“It’s inevitable that there will be a professional version of the sport,” Osborne said. “We already have had some serious inquiries from several businesses to sponsor events. Rolex has signed on to become our official watch. It’s only a matter of time before others come aboard.”

Not Ready for Commercial TV

However, Osborne does not think croquet is ready to rival Monday Night Football for big-money commercial television exposure.

“We’ve been on ABC’s ‘Wide World of Sports’ and spot shows like the ‘Today Show,’ ” he said. “But I think cable will televise the sport (on a daily basis during a tournament) before commercial television comes in.”

The croquet association is also trying to promote the sport by taking its national championship on the road. For the first time in the group’s 10-year history, the championship will not be held in New York City’s Central Park. Instead, a field of more than 80 top players will vie for the coveted title in California’s Napa Valley this month.