What we do

We run four Club sessions a week at our Scarcroft Road lawns.  Club members are free to come to any or all of them.  In addition Club members can book a lawn at any time one is free.  We play Association Croquet for pleasure in attractive surroundings and count ourselves lucky to have the finest croquet lawns in Yorkshire.

York Croquet Club offers four introductory courses each year.  These are scheduled towards the beginning of the season.  All of them provide a good introduction to the technique, strategy and rules of the game. Some of them involve four or six evenings, and others a sequence of day-time sessions; there is also a one-day course for experienced golf croquet players wishing to take up Association Croquet.  An introductory course is the ideal way to learn the game: for details and dates please see the next section of this website.

We also offer free drop-in taster sessions on various weekends through the playing season.  Then, towards the end of the season, Play-in-a-Day offers a one-day mix of guidance and play.  Details and dates of taster sessions and Play-in-a-Day are in the next section of this website.

We also run refresher sessions early in the season for those who would like to revisit the technique, rules and strategy of the game.

We host coaching courses run by nationally recognised coaches.  These are for more experienced players wishing to advance their game. We are delighted to have been asked by the Croquet Association to become a national centre for croquet coaching under the title Northern Croquet Academy: the Academy launched in 2017 and has received excellent feedback for friendliness, organisation and the quality of coaching.

York Croquet Club also hosts weekend tournaments organised by the Yorkshire Croquet Federation, one for short lawn croquet and one for full lawn croquet.

We also host our own national tournaments –  the Heart of Yorkshire early in the season for middle-ability players; the mid-season Advanced Rules weekend, the White Rose; and, towards the end of the season, the Viking Challenge short lawn tournament for all comers.

York Croquet Club - picture of bisques
Game on – two bisques down, five to go

Weaker players are entitled to extra turns (called bisques – see picture). These can be taken at any time and help to ensure that, whoever your opponent, the game can be both enjoyable and satisfying.

Other Club members are content simply to enjoy the delights of this engaging game by playing against different opponents at club sessions.