Green Gables  Croquet Club

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2021 NJ Championship

Two beautiful days of competition at the 2021 NJ Championship hosted by the Rumson Country Club. Weather was perfect. The competitors had dinner on the club veranda overlooking the courts. Players came from New Jersey, New York, Delaware, and even Connecticut. 

Tom Cooper had stiff competition including Stuart Lawrence (-3 HC) and Tim Rapuano (-1.5 HC). Tom won the final match 19-18 in a nail-biting final match against Stuart. 

Lawns Committee in Action!!

In late September, your lawns committee members did a major annual maintenance project to keep the lawns healthy. This included aeration, cleaning up the leftover plugs, seeding, sanding and watering for two weeks. 

We were able to do the project for half cost thanks to our late consultant Mark Martini and the expertise of member Jim Daniels.

Many thanks to “the crew”

USCA Mid-Atlantic Regional, Sept 27-29

After a hiatus for the coronavirus pandemic, the Mid-Atlantic Regional returned to the Green Gables Croquet Club in 2021.  Fourteen players with -1.5 to 12 handicaps from Florida to Massachusetts enjoyed 6 to 9 singles matches over 3 days in late August, 2021 at the beautiful lawns near the Jersey Shore.

Players were divided into two flights for block play.  The Championship Flight had 6 players ranging from -1.5 to 7 handicaps.  The first and second flights were combined into a single first flight for block play because the field consisted of six 10 handicapped players accompanied by 8 and 12 players.  All block games would take place over the days of Friday and Saturday

After block play all championship flight players would be seeded by block standings into a single elimination knockout (KO) ladder starting on Sunday morning.  Likewise, all combined first and second flight players would also begin a KO but all losers from the first flight quarterfinals would go on to second flight semifinals. 

The first day Friday, September 27, there was literally no place to hide.  The sun was strong all day until the end when there was a lightning warning.  After players bathed themselves in sunblock, pulled on wide brimmed hats or slipped on their favorite golf gloves, the tournament commenced with a great series of games.  Double banking was a rare sight although it did occur occasionally.  Once the lightning warning was sounded current games were pegged down and rescheduled to play at 8am on Saturday

Continued.......

Link to Full Post and Pictures (link)

Sharif Abdelwahab earns his Golden Jacket for Winning the 2021 Golf Croquet Pro Tour Championship

Sherif Abdelwahab (kneeling on far left) earns his Professional Croquet Association Golden Jacket and $2000 by winning the 2021 PCA Golf Croquet Tour Championship at Green Gables earlier this month.

27 top players faced off in the Pro Tour event.  12 were tour qualified pro's who started play on Friday and 15 were not yet qualified players who started play  Thursday in an attempt to play into the pro tournament and qualify for the tour.  When the dust settled Thursday evening, 9 new players had earned a spot on the PCA Pro Tour.  These new tour qualified players (in Golf Croquet) are:

• Justin Fields

• Ned Sperry

• Marc Stearns

• Tate Russack

• Phil Emond

• Dennis Leddy <-----

• Carl Archiniaco

• Karen Leoncavallo <----

• Sue Emond

These players earned a tour card and will remain eligible for GC Tour play for a minimum of 4 years.

The money round knockout started on Friday with a few surprises. Ned Sperry defeated Tate Russack, Ahab Dincer and Justin Berbig only to loose to Bo Prillaman in the semi finals.  New-comer Dennis Leddy was a powerful player, defeating Marc Stearns two straight and taking Macey White to the third game where Macey pulled out a narrow victory with a clean hoop shot on the tie-breaker from the boundary.  White lost to Sherif Abdelwahab in a well contested match with battles at most hoops featuring many long clearing shots.  Bo Prillaman and Sherif Abdelwahab faced off in the finals in the rain on Sunday.  The sidelines were full of fellow tournament players who stayed for the finals and local players who came in to see the great players duel it out.  In the end, Sherif Abdelwahab prevailed with a 7-4, 7-1 victory to take the title, the Golden Jacket and $2000 first prize.  Bo Prillaman won $1000 for second.  Everyone in the tournament went home with prize money, even if in some cases it was only $1.

Ahab Dincer, Cami Russack, Marc Stearns and Cheryl Bromley faced off in the plate semis.  Ahab defeated Marc 7-3, 7-4 and Cheryl defeated Cami 7-4, 7-5.  Ahab Dincer defeated Cheryl Bromley in the plate finals 7-5, 7-1.

Special thanks go to Tom Cooper and the Green Gables club who hosted this event.

The PCA is now working on the 2022 Pro Tour schedule.  We all look for an exciting PCA Pro tour in 2022.

Macey White, PCA President

Pictures below. Click picture or link for all 12 Pictures. Photos by Richard Ricciardi . 

Rumson Country Club and Green Gables Mixer

Congratulations to Karen Leoncavallo, Tournament Director and the other members who pitched in with food and time to make this event a resounding success.

Sad News, Dick Nelson

May 4, 2020

Dear Green Gables family,

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, it is with great sorrow that I share with you the passing of Dick Nelson on Thursday, April 30 after a long illness. Dick was an integral member of Green Gables, always sharing his talents and generosity with the club. He was an avid player until his illness interfered with his regular matches, yet he tried his best to get out when he could. We have put together a tribute, as we will not be able to be with Barbara and her family during his funeral. Perhaps we will all be able to join the Nelson family in celebrating our dear friend at a later date.

Link to Dick Nelson Eulogy 

Chuck Reynolds - 4 Ball Break - Watch Out

In late September at Wicket Wednesday, I had the great pleasure to watch Chuck Reynolds play the most awesome end game last ball to come from behind and tie up the game, surprising me and my partner.  

Behind by five wickets, his partner scored his wicket then shot Chuck an opponent ball and lined up as a pioneer.  Chuck breezed through wicket 4, roqued his opponent, sent it to one-back, rushed a second opponent ball as a pivot and made wicket 5 with his partner ball.  He then skated to six and one-back tying up the game.  

Chuck has the 4 ball break in his pocket, so opponents beware!

By Karen Leoncavallo

Tom Cooper at AC Nationals Tournament, and Camping!

The Association Laws Nationals recently took place in Hartfield, VA for 7 long days of croquet. Most days we played at least 3 matches of 2.5 to 3 hours each. Some days were longer.

There were 26 contestants in four blocks to start. I had Matthew Essick, #2 in the World in my block, plus Danny Huneycutt who many of you know as a professional instructor and tournament director.

There were 26 contestants in four blocks to start. I had Matthew Essick, #2 in the World in my block, plus Danny Huneycutt who many of you know as a professional instructor and tournament director. Needless to say, it was tough going. I was very fortunate to get two wins which made me #16 out of the 16 players to make the play-offs where I met Zack Watson of North Carolina (pictured with me here). Zack ended up winning the doubles, came in 3rd in singles and sent me packing to go play in the plate, which is a competition for those knocked out before the semi-finals. I can honestly say, probably due to the many Saturdays at Green Gables playing with the very tough G-Men, that I was very much in each match. While it’s not at all unusual to lose 26-0, I was able to have a chance to win in each match and only lost to Matthew 26-22 with a chance to win late in the game.

A word about Covid. Although the USCA, our national organization, has cancelled several major events for the Fall, Club tournaments are still being scheduled. In the case of last week’s Nationals, everyone was masked unless they were playing on the lawn. Masks were strictly enforced, and people sat apart during lunch. I think everyone did a very good job holding to the rules. There were no dinners or large gatherings so things were not quite as elegant as in the past but there was plenty of comradery around the club.

I was proud to fly the Green Gables flag outside the tent through rain and shine, having a great time with a terrific group of players from all over the country. I highly recommend traveling to compete at any level. You meet wonderful people and gain new insights into playing the great game of croquet.

Tom Cooper

Blog post (link)

Richard's Jump Shot!! (link)

Sad News, Ann Ix

Please see link to eulogy (link)

Come and Celebrate National Croquet Day 

Sunday, June 7, starting at 5 PM

Invite Interested and Interesting People. No Guest Fees!! 

The Courts Are Open!!!

No better to way to open the new season than to hammer in the first wicket with your brand new mallet! Photo credit Tom Cooper. 

Attention Green Gables Croquet Club Members!

Exciting News! Gov. Murphy's Executive Order 148 issued Friday May 22, 2020 opens up our courts for limited use, with a ** updated maximum of 25 players ** on the courts at any one time, in line with widely practiced social distancing steps already in practice in many aspects of our lives. The previous Executive Order 147 set a 10-person maximum. Please read the order below and stay tuned for additional directives from your Board concerning the date the courts will be playable, following a cleanup Sunday , and procedures for maintaining the health and safety of members.

*** We are all keenly aware that we and all groups will be observed closely to ensure that we are operating in step with State guidelines and with the health of our members foremost in mind. ***

Thank you for your support during these trying times, The GGCC Board of Trustees