Equipment

We started off with store-bought sets from Sportcraft and the like, but during the course of play, we broke too many mallets and balls. 'Dirty Harry' Hochsteter addressed that problem by customizing the mallets. He started off with long-handled wooden mallets found in the nicer, wood-box sets. Then, he purchased some medium-softness rubber hammer heads, cut off one of the factory mallet heads, and then screwed the rubber hammer head into the wood. The result was a two-sided mallet, one with a wooden side for short to medium range shots and one with a rubber side for long distance drives. Though these two-sided mallets are still available, most of the players have started using specially-designed extreme croquet mallets, with virtually unbreakable plastic heads and long, stout wooden handles. Nasty purchased an all wooden mallet with a square head that he calls "mjolnir", after Thor's hammer. Loosely translated, it means "crusher". We also stopped buying the smooth-faced plastic balls, as they have a thin outer layer that cracked or split in half easily, especially in cold conditions. We now use ridged plastic balls, which seem to be more durable.