Croquet mallets and balls in Manchester
The short answer: players in Manchester, Bowdon and the rest of Trafford can order an Invictus mallet or Invictus X balls online for delivery to their door. Given how often Greater Manchester lawns are wet and slow, we usually point people to the Invictus Rise first.
Croquet in Manchester and Bowdon
Bowdon Croquet Club plays off St Mary's Road in Bowdon, Altrincham. Croquet here goes back to 1873, when the Bowdon Bowling and Croquet Club was founded at Winton Road; it is thought to be the seventh oldest croquet club in the country. When those members voted in 1907 to turn their croquet lawns into tennis courts, a breakaway group set up the present Bowdon Croquet Club on its current ground in 1911. A Bowdon member won the British Open Championship in 1937, and the club has staged international test matches against the United States in 1996 and again in August 2010 as part of the MacRobertson Shield.
What Manchester's lawns and weather mean for your mallet
Manchester's reputation for rain is well earned: Atlantic weather that crosses the Cheshire plain keeps lawns soft for much of spring and autumn, and a shower mid-game can turn a quick court heavy within the hour. Dry summer weeks bring the pace back. You want a mallet that keeps the ball rolling through damp grass yet stays controllable when the surface firms up.
Which Invictus mallet suits Manchester players
Invictus Rise, £525. Our best-selling mallet. About 3 lb of aluminium in the head carries the ball through soft grass, and a slightly bigger sweet spot gives a little more control when a stroke is not quite centred. We tend to recommend it with an 11 inch head.
RF Pro, £975. The flagship, which World Champion Robert Fletcher helped develop. 3D printing shapes its aluminium head, which then takes brass weighting and a pair of composite faces; the total is roughly 2 lb 12 oz, so it is lighter and very precise.
Both are built to order: you give us your handle length and pick an 11 or a 12 inch head. Graphite Black is included; Deep Purple, NRA Blue, Rose Gold and Snow White are £89 extra. The weight of each model is set and cannot be chosen. See the fitting guide and compare mallets.
Balls for Manchester clubs
Invictus X: championship approved by the World Croquet Federation, 450 g, made entirely in Australia, £479 per set. A sensible guide is one set in first colours and one in second colours for each lawn. See choosing balls for a club.
Delivery to Manchester
Work on each mallet starts when the order arrives, and it is then sent to the UK. The usual span is 4 to 8 weeks from order to delivery; treat that as an estimate. Ball sets come with the delivered price settled before you pay.
Questions Manchester players ask
Does a heavier head help on wet Cheshire lawns? It helps the ball travel without a longer swing, which is why the 3 lb Rise is our usual suggestion here.
Can I play with it before committing? Yes. The free satisfaction guarantee gives you 30 days.
Does rain damage the faces? No. Towel them dry after a wet session; there is more in product care.
Other English towns: see our England listing.
Designed in Queensland, made in Australia.