Come and Try Croquet: What Actually Happens on Your First Day

The first thing most people do when they arrive for a Come and Try session is sit in the car for a moment with the engine off. They look through the windscreen at the lawns. They check their phone. They wonder whether they have brought the right thing, worn the right thing, chosen the right Wednesday morning in their life to turn up somewhere where they know absolutely nobody. Then they get out. Within ten minutes, a club member in a polo shirt has introduced herself, put a mallet in their hand, and pointed at a hoop. The worrying stops there.

That sequence plays out at croquet clubs across Queensland almost every week of the year. I have watched it happen enough times to recognise the pattern. The hard part is always the car park. Everything after that is easier than newcomers expect.

This page is for the person who has never touched a mallet and is trying to work out whether a Come and Try day is worth the drive. The honest answer is yes, and the reasons are more specific than they look.

What a Come and Try day actually is

A Come and Try day is a free or low-cost session that a Queensland croquet club runs specifically for newcomers. Clubs set aside time, put volunteers on the roster, and arrange the lawns so that someone who has never played before can turn up, learn the basics, and leave without having signed anything.

There is no equipment to bring. The club provides mallets, balls, hoops, the lot. There is no commitment at the end. You will not be handed a membership form. Most clubs run the session for roughly two hours, though a fair few visitors end up staying longer because the tea is good and nobody is in a hurry to leave.

Almost every Come and Try day teaches Golf Croquet rather than the longer Association version. Golf Croquet is the simpler of the two codes. One stroke per turn, and both sides race each other to the next hoop. You can learn the rules in about ten minutes and play a real game on your first morning. That is the whole reason clubs use it for introductions.

What you will actually do in your first session

The session follows a rhythm that has been sharpened over hundreds of Wednesday mornings. It usually looks something like this.

• Arrive and find your host. Park at the club, walk towards the lawns, and look for the clubhouse. Someone is expecting you. Their job that morning is to make sure you are not left standing around.
• Get a mallet put in your hand. The club keeps a range of beginner mallets. Your host will find one that suits your height and weight. It is not a permanent decision.
• Learn the basic stroke. Before any game, you spend time just hitting balls. No score. No pressure. The first ball usually goes sideways. Everybody laughs. That is part of the script.
• Play a simplified game. Once the stroke feels vaguely under control, your host will walk you through a short Golf Croquet game. They will explain things as they happen, rather than lecturing you beforehand.
• Stop for morning tea. Roughly midway through, the club stops for tea. This is not a pause in the session. It is half the point of the session. You sit down, you drink something warm, and you meet the people who make the place work.
• Play a little more, then leave. After tea, you might play a short game or keep practising. When you leave, someone will let you know when the next session runs. No hard sell.

What to wear

Dress as if you were going for a morning walk with the dog. Specifically:

• Flat-soled shoes. Sneakers, canvas shoes, soft-soled slip-ons. No stilettos and no studded sports boots. The club lawn is carefully maintained and studs damage it.
• Comfortable clothes. Whatever you would wear on a long walk. Some clubs have white dress codes for competition play, but not for Come and Try.
• A hat and sunscreen. Queensland sun is Queensland sun. Even in the cooler months, two hours on an open lawn adds up.
• A water bottle. Most clubhouses have taps, but bring your own so you are not chasing refills.

What you do not need

The list of things you genuinely do not need is longer than the list of things you do.

• Any equipment. The club owns everything you will use.
• Any previous sport experience.
• Any knowledge of the rules. You are meant to arrive knowing nothing.
• Any particular level of fitness beyond being able to walk comfortably on grass. There is no running, no jumping, and no heavy lifting.
• Anyone to come with you. Roughly half of first-session visitors turn up alone, and the club is set up for that.

Who actually turns up

It is fair to ask this honestly. Most Come and Try visitors are over fifty. A decent share are newly retired or approaching retirement, and a noticeable number are people whose knees or backs have retired them from other sports. That is the biggest cohort.

It is not the only one. Clubs regularly host people in their thirties and forties, the occasional family with teenagers, and at the other end a healthy share of players well into their eighties. The sport genuinely suits a wider age range than its reputation suggests. If you are worried about being the odd one out, the pattern I have seen is that nobody is treated as the odd one out.

What most people actually feel on the lawn

The common first reactions are usually the same, and they usually surprise people.

• It is harder than it looks. The lawn is faster than you expect and the ball responds to small differences in how you hold the mallet. Missing your first few hoops is normal.
• It is more strategic than you expected. Golf Croquet is simple to learn and surprisingly layered to play. You start spotting angles and blocks within the first game.
• It is physically gentler than you expected. Walking, standing, swinging a light mallet. That is the physical load. People who have been avoiding sport because of a dodgy knee often find they can manage it fine.
• The social atmosphere is warmer than expected. This is the one that catches people off guard. Clubs are small and friendly, and morning tea is where you notice it.

Will I be any good at it?

Probably not on day one. I am being straight with you. You will hit the ball, you will miss some hoops, you will run one or two, and you will feel a private and slightly disproportionate thrill the first time a ball goes where you aimed it. That is the point of a first session. Competence arrives later, across several visits, and the learning curve is genuinely enjoyable rather than punishing.

How to find a Come and Try day in Queensland

Queensland has clubs across Brisbane, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, and a long list of regional centres. Three practical ways to find a session:

1. The CAQ club directory. The Croquet Association of Queensland maintains a full list of member clubs at croquetqld.org, with contact details for each one.
2. Individual club websites and Facebook pages. Most clubs advertise upcoming Come and Try days on their own channels. A short phone call or email is usually enough to book a slot.
3. comeandtrycroquet.com. The CAQ is rolling out a single Queensland-wide Come and Try site that matches your postcode to your nearest participating club. If you are reading this, it is the fastest way to find a session near you.

What happens after your first visit

Nothing forced. No sales pitch. No follow-up call trying to convert you. If you liked it, your host will tell you when the next session runs, and many clubs are happy for you to attend two or three free or low-cost sessions before any conversation about membership. If you did not like it, you do not come back, and nothing awkward happens.

The honest truth is that most people come back. Not because of a clever funnel, and not because of the croquet exactly. Because the lawn smelled of cut grass, the tea was hot, and someone they had never met that morning knew their name by the end of it.

Your practical next step

Pick one club within thirty minutes of where you live. Visit croquetqld.org or comeandtrycroquet.com, find its contact details, and send a short email or make a short phone call saying you would like to try a session. That is the entire barrier to entry. Put on flat shoes, bring a hat, and turn up. The rest of the morning has been organised for you already.