Croquet is a popular game that can be dressed up by adding elements from miniature golf to become the perfect activity for a warm summer afternoon. Here's how to do it:
Start by setting a mower on a low setting and wander around the backyard, cutting a meandering path for the game.
Using scraps of old wood, hammer together signs and obstacles similar to what are seen in any miniature golf course. Here are a few examples from our latest course:
This bridge
provides double duty. Players first have to go under it, then work
their way around a loop to go over it.
If they don't
hit the ball hard enough and it falls through the gap in the middle,
they have to go back around the loop.
The Cliffs of
Insanity were taken from the movie The Princess
Bride.
Choke points
like this give last-place players a chance to catch up.
Here we have a
series of traditional croquet wickets or hoops.
Up to this
point, players take turns. This is the one spot
in this game
where they get an extra turn each time
they make it
through a hoop.
This is a
trap. Most players think they can speed around Deadman's Curve
by ricocheting
off the side boards. In fact it much faster to
ignore them
and make a simple two-stroke turn.
After the
surprising difficulty of getting around Deadman's Curve,
players are
rewarded by the easy and fun Teeter Totter of Doom.
It's piece of
rain gutter screwed to a short length of 2-inch PVC pipe.
Set the pipe
slightly past the midpoint so the entry point is always down.
Calling this
game "Monster Croquet" is a bit of a misnomer because there
aren't any monsters.
But at least
there's a zombie. My granddaughters thought the idea of a
girl zombie
wearing a poodle dress was funny.
The final hole
is a typical feature in miniature gold courses: the mole hill. What's
great about it is that
like the
Cliffs of Insanity, it slows the leaders down so the tail-enders have
a chance to catch up.
And that's it! The paint and balloons are optional, but don't take long and really brighten things up. Our grandchildren range from seven to thirteen and they all enjoyed it. In fact, the adults had a lot of fun with it too. I hope this page gives you some ideas for building your own combined croquet and miniature gold course, which we still prefer calling MONSTER CROQUET!
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