HOWICK Croquet Club
With the selection of Bob Jackson for the Golf
Croquet World's being run this month Howick
Croquet Club Inc. thought it a good opportunity
to get into one of the local papers.
The Howick Times and Daniel Silverton have
given permission to reprint the article and
photo
By Daniel Silverton
ONE of the most experienced croquet players in
New Zealand, if not the world, is lining up for a
tilt at another title.
Dannemora’s Bob Jackson is competing in the
world golf croquet championships, starting later
this week in Bay of Plenty.
Golf croquet is a simplified and faster version of
the sport’s original international format,
association croquet.
Jackson, who is a member of Howick Croquet
Club, has been playing association croquet since
1971 and golf croquet for the past 12 years.
He has the most New
Zealand titles as a 14time national singles
champion in association
croquet, the first in 1975
and last in 2003, with
two three-peats in 198284 and 1997-99. He has
won the NZ doubles title
10 times.
Since adding golf
croquet to his playing
schedule, which involves
about five sessions a
week, Jackson has become the national singles
and doubles champion three times each.
On the international stage, he was a doubles
world champion with Joseph Hogan at the 1989
tournament held in England, and came third in
the singles at Rhode Island, United States, in
1992.
Widely renowned as one of the best players in
the world in the late 1970s and 1980s, he was the
first to perform an extremely rare move called
an octuple peel in competitive play, and did it
twice in consecutive matches.
He was inducted into the World Croquet
Federation Hall of Fame in 2008, with the
inscription: “[ R.Jackson] developed a style of
play which revolved around his strength at
single ball shots which he hit with considerable
power and accuracy. “
“His example encouraged others to take a more
aggressive approach by shooting rather than
finessing to gain the innings. “
As if his feats in croquet weren’t enough, he is
also a former New Zealand table tennis
champion.
This will be Jackson’s second world golf croquet
championships, after making the quarter-finals
in Hawke’s Bay in 2006.
The field features 80 men and women from
more than 10 countries, who will play at clubs
in Mt Maunganui, Rotorua, Whakatane and
Katikati.
The biggest name would be the holder of the
title, Reg Bamford, from South Africa, says
Jackson.
There are some other big names from England
and a lot of top players from Egypt, which used
to be the top country for golf croquet.
He’s one of 18 Kiwis nominated to compete by
Croquet New Zealand, based on his national
ranking of 11.
The draw is split into eight pools of 10 players,
who will play each other once to the best of
three matches. The top four in each pool will
then go through to post-section play.
The main thing is to try and qualify and get
through to the last 32, says Jackson, of his goals
for the tournament.
I didn’t expect to get to the final or anything like
that.
Getting into the top four will be quite difficult,
you can’t take anybody easily.
If I get through to the knockout I’ll be quite
happy. After that it gets pretty tough.