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NELSON BAY CROQUET CLUB
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Nelson Bay Croquet Club has been established for 30 years. It is located in the Blue Water Paradise of Port Stephens, just north of Newcastle, NSW. Membership is open to all who are interested in the game, and visitors are warmly welcomed.
Members play two the three internationally recognised forms of Croquet – Golf and Ricochet - at present, there are no regular Association games. The Club plays both social and competitive games five days each week on four professionally maintained full sized courts and has a small clubhouse on-site. We also have an active program of social events.
Playing schedule available here:
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
CLUB COMPETITIONS 2026
Sunday 25th October
President’s Cup
COACHING DATES 2026
Regular Coaching Sessions
Monday afternoons – all, content as required
State Pennants – as requested by teams
To be confirmed – beginner coaching
HUNTER ZONE HUB ACTIVITIES 2026
Thursday 8th October
Thursday 5th November
Ricochet Friendship Day @ 9am
Gateball Come-and-Try
Hunter Zone Hub activities are for all players – if you are interested contact Nancy Ainsworth to register your interest.
Email: nancyainsworth146@bigpond.com
Mobile: 0418 472 087
All activities are scheduled at Lake Macquarie Croquet Centre, Glendale (Toronto Croquet Club).
LATEST NEWS
NSW DIVISION 3 GC SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP
Newcastle National Park Croquet Club
Sunday 11th to Tuesday 13th September 2026
The NSW Division 3 GC (handicap 9 and above) Singles Championship was held at Newcastle National Park CC from Sunday 11th to Tuesday 13th October.
10 players from around the State entered and the qualifying round was played as a single block round-robin of 9 games each. Bryce Petterson topped the block with 7 wins.
In the best-of-three knock-out semi-final, Bryce beat Jurek Moczydlowski (Toronto CC) 5-6 7-5 7-5, before beating Virginia Hodge (Southern Highlands) 7-5 7-5 to be crowned the Division 3 State Champion.
Bryce Patterson with Champions Trophy
Bryce Patterson receives the trophy
BBQ & SOCIAL CROQUET
Saturday 10th October 2026
With Day Light Saving starting on Sunday 4th October, the club's social events made a welcome return with a BBQ and evening social croquet.
COME-AND-TRY DAY
Sunday 27th September 2026
A Port Stephens Council Community Support Fund 2025/26 grant supported the running of a Come-and-Try Day to attract new members. The event was advertised in both NOTA and PSE in addition to coverage on PSFM and on Facebook together with a stand on 2 days at Salamander Bay Shopping Centre. Unfortunately, the fine weather of the weeks preceding the day gave way to rain; despite this, 27 people turned out to find out about croquet. 7 have already followed-up expressing interest in taking further lessons.
The volunteers for the stand were Barbara Burgess & Col Bailey, Geoff & Nada Yonge (twice), Julia Harrison, John Townsend, Prue & Bryce Patterson, Kath Orton, Gail Brabant, Jan Puckeridge, Iris Maartensz, and Liz Friend. Faby & Rob Batho and Gail Brabant covered the catering.
Thank you to all who made this a success.
Trevor Black covering the basics
Rob & Faby on the BBQ
Learning the basics
NSW GC GOLD BROOCH (DOUBLES)
Chatswood Croquet Club
Friday 18th to Sunday 20th September 2026
The NSW Golf Croquet Gold Brooch (Doubles) was hosted by Chatswood Croquet Club from Friday 18th to Sunday 20th September 2026. The Brooch tournaments provide competition across usual division boundaries – the Gold Brooch (Doubles) pairs a Division 1 player (handicaps -6 to 4) with a Division 2 player (5-8).
10 pairs entered with 5 players from Nelson Bay: Faby Batho & Sandy Tawa, Liz Friend (playing with Lance Howes of Marrickville Croquet Club) and Sherry Gordon & Rob Batho. The qualifying round was played as a one block round-robin of 9 games. Sherry & Rob performed best of the Nelson Bay contingent with 5 wins in the qualifying round but none made the 4-team final play-off and all played in the Plate competition.
Liz & Lance took out the Plate competition winning 4 of 5 games. Faby & Sandy were one of 3 pairs with 3 wins but were relegated to 4th place on hoop countback.
The Gold Brooch was won by Jan & Keith Brodie (Coutts Crossing Croquet Club) who won the best-of-three final 7-1 7-6.
Sherry & Rob in action
Sherry plays a shot
Faby & Sandy in action
BLOWES SHIELD
Monday 14th September 2026
The Blowes Shield is the Club’s annual Golf Croquet Doubles Championship played under the target advantage handicap system. 10 doubles pairs entered the 2026 competition played on Monday 14th September. The pairs were seeded into 2 blocks of 5 pairs with the winners of each block playing a final.
In Block A, Faby Batho & Sherry Gordon were unbeaten with 4 wins ahead of Barbara Burgess & Col Bailey with 3 wins. In Block B, Frank Orton & Bryce Patterson were also unbeaten with 4 wins ahead of Kath Orton & Prue Patterson 2nd and Julia & Ralph Harrison 3rd, both with 2 wins.
Despite being a handicap game, the final proved to be somewhat one-sided with Faby & Sherry beating Frank & Bryce 7-1.
The finalists: Faby, Sherry, Bryce, Frank
Players relaxing between games