How to choose croquet balls for a club

Balls are the one piece of equipment every player at a club shares. A mallet is personal; the balls belong to the lawn. When they are worn, mismatched or inconsistent, every shot on that lawn is a little less true, and nobody can tell whether a miss was the player or the ball.

This guide is for the committee member who has been handed the job of replacing them.

What matters in a club ball

Consistency from ball to ball. A set is only as good as its worst ball. All four should weigh the same, be the same size and bounce the same, so a player gets the same result from the same shot whichever ball they are given.

Know what you have. Start by checking the stamp on the ball, which identifies the manufacturer and the ball series. If you are unsure what a stamp means, Oxford Croquet's ball identification guide is the best reference: https://www.oxfordcroquet.com/tech/balltypes/

How long they stay that way. A ball that plays well new but goes out of round or loses its surface in two seasons costs the club more than a dearer ball that lasts. Most clubs can expect a set of Invictus X balls to last about five years. Under international play, allow three to five years, depending on wear to the milling.

Approval. For tournament play, balls must be on the World Croquet Federation's approved list. Invictus X balls are championship approved by the World Croquet Federation. If your club hosts, or hopes to host, association or federation events, buy approved balls.

What you can ignore

The upfront price, on its own. Invictus X balls cost more to buy, but they don't break the way other balls do, so over their life they are much better value.

How many to buy

One set is four balls. Most clubs run one set of first colours and one set of second colours on each lawn, so two games can share a lawn. There is a separate guide to working out the number for your club: "How many sets a club needs per lawn".

Replacing a few at a time or all at once

For lawns used for tournament play, we recommend that all the sets are the same age, so every ball plays the same. For club and social lawns, replacing one or two lawns at a time is fine.

Before you order

Tell us how many lawns you have and whether any are used as half-size courts, and we'll send back exactly which sets you need and a delivered price, with no obligation.