I’ve been playing croquet for 25 years and I’ve played all of the major versions of the sport on some of the best courts in the US. More importantly, I’ve spent the majority of my croquet playing time on all sorts of non-court areas — including backyards, parks, horse pens, golf course driving range tees, baseball outfields (including some dirt infield experimentation) and soccer fields. Though I enjoy my time on the finely manicured club courts, backyard croquet has been and still is a big part of my life. And from that perspective, I think I have a good feel for what works in a croquet set.
So, for starters, when you begin the purchase process, it’s important to understand that any “croquet set” by definition is recreational because top-line croquet equipment is generally purchased in individual components (mallet, balls, wickets, etc.). Still, for folks just getting into the sport, a croquet set is a great way to get started.
Based on my experience, there are only three good options for sourcing croquet sets or croquet equipment and they are basically online options:
Oakley Woods which is also known as CroquetStore.com and is located in Canada.
Jaques London located in the UK.
Amazon, noting that they sell a lot of useless sets. Stick to the ones recommended below.
To be clear, you are very unlikely to find a local resource for a good croquet sets. Any set currently sold by Target, Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Academy Sports, Scheels, REI and Modells DOES NOT QUALIFY as a good option. It’s sad that these entities continue to peddle these decorative sets, but that’s how it lays out. Don’t waste your money.
Online distributors, Garden Games and Uber Games offer some intriguing sets and gear, but right now both are still a relative unknown from my perspective.
FOUR CROQUETS SETS ACTUALLY WORTH BUYING
#1. Extreme Croquet Set (6-Player) — Oakley Woods
#1. Extreme Croquet Set (6-Player) — Oakley Woods
$479 (as of published date)
The 6 Player Extreme Croquet Set has the advantage of mallets that are strong enough to get you through several seasons. We actually still have three of these around that are more than 15 years old and still get use each year. The sport pegs are nice as well and can be a resource as you progress in the sport. The weaknesses of the set are that balls are recreational and the wickets are wide and not super sturdy. But in both cases, they are far superior to what you’ll get in box store set and should last.
#2. Kensington Croquet Set (4-Player) — Oakley Woods
#2. Kensington Croquet Set (4-Player) — Oakley Woods
$549 (as of published date)
Oakley Woods goes up two steps from their Extreme line with the Kensington 4-player Croquet Set that offers upgraded balls and the best available recreational hoops (wickets). Starting with the balls, the set includes the four traditional colors at the regulation 16 oz. weight and 3-5/8 inch diameter. That’s great if you ever want to graduate to court play. Plus, the heavier balls tend to jump a little less on a rough backyard lawn. For the hoops, the Kensington offers 7/16” diameter steel and a 4” opening. Still pretty wide but acceptable for backyard play. At 17” height overall, the assumed 5” into the ground *allowing 12” above ground) doesn’t provide a lot of stability, but again this is the best available for recreational play. Still, it would be nice to see a 20” inch version.
In theory, the mallets are also an upgrade as they offer heavier wooden heads, a handle wrap on the ash shafts and probably most importantly a 9” inch head, which is really the minimum practical head size from a rules standpoint. The Extreme set heads are bizarrely set at 8.5” which is under the nine wicket rules requirement of 9” inbounds placement from boundaries plus the available distance from a roqueted ball.
The flags and clips are really nice accessories and the clips, in particular, are invaluable for tracking game progress.
WHY ONLY FOUR BALLS AND MALLETS? Most folks in the US are used to the six-player game with six mallets and balls, so a four-player set is a bit of a mystery. Effectively, the next level up from that six-ball game is a head-to-head battle with blue and black pitted against red and yellow. Next up is the Kensington 6-player option.
#3. Kensington Croquet Set (6-Player) — Oakley Woods
$699 (as of published date)
For the traditional six-ball croquet players looking for blue, red, black, yellow, green and orange with six mallets, the Kensington set is offered with all of the same gear — and adds in the extra two mallets and the green and orange balls. It’s just a step up in price.
#4. Sport Croquet Set (6-Player) — Oakley Woods
$549 (as of published date)
Oakley Woods does offer another wood mallet 6-player set that comes in under the Kensington 6-player set, but above the Extreme set. Compared to the Kensington, the Sport set doesn’t include the corner flags and the wickets are the same as the Extreme set. However, the mallets have 9” inch wooden heads. The heads are ash though, so not quite as heavy as the Kensington mallets. The Sport set does include clips, which is a nice upgrade. Overall, the Sport set is a good option priced in between the Kensington and the Extreme sets.
BUT, I REALLY DO NEED A CHEAP CROQUET SET.
I can find plenty of folks that will spend a couple of grand on a set of golf clubs or say $4,000 on a road bike, but are somehow challenged to understand why you can’t get a good croquet set for under $300. If you are dead set on going that way, here’s one option to get you started in the sport
Uber Games Professional 4-player Set
UBER GAMES 4-PLAYER PROFESSIONAL
On Amazon, Uber Games appear to have their professional and championship sets stocked with some of the standard manufactured components that we’ve seen in other sets. No matter what, the flags, clips and stakes are going to come in handy. The balls are claimed to be regulation at 3-5/8” diameter and 16 oz weight. The hoops look like the “challenger” style hoops in the Kensington Oakley Woods sets. I’ve used these mallets from another manufacturer and they work for casual play. Over 11 years, four of the six have survived. From this Amazon Cart avoid the “family sets.” They are of no value.