Extreme Croquet
PENN TWP — Wide-eyed by the surroundings, Donna Otto managed a weak smile as she spoke.
"When I think of croquet, I think of a cute little lawn," the Pittsburgh resident said.
Not anymore.
Extreme croquet has come to Butler County.
"They should have advertised this as an endurance course," one of Otto's teammates muttered.
"A lesson in frustration," said another.
A more challenging version of the traditional lawn game was introduced June 19 as a fundraiser for the Succop Conservancy in Penn Township.
Four nine-wicket courses have been set up on the 50-acre grounds of the environmental and cultural education center on West Airport Road.Balls have to be hit through a barn on one course. Two other courses play alongside ponds, which swallowed a few wayward shots on this day. Balls were chipped over puddles and played through woods and weeds."I think it's delightful," Otto said after touring her course. "But I'll tell you how many blisters I've got when I'm through."Extreme croquet is the first official fundraiser in the eight-year history of the conservancy. It is the brainchild of facility director Nancy Lawry, who used to live in the New England states."She heard of extreme croquet in Connecticut and brought the idea here," said Kristin Olexsak, promotions coordinator of the conservancy. "The contour and terrain we have here ... It's the perfect fit."The conservancy is owned by the Butler County Community College Foundation. The game is designed to have a two-pronged effect."No. 1, it's a different type of fundraiser that will be an annual event here," BC3 president Nick Neupauer said."No. 2, it gets people out here on the grounds. While people play, they're noticing a piece of nature they never realized was here before."As for extreme croquet, Neupauer said: "It's nothing like golf. Hit one of these balls in this grass and you never know where it's going to go."
It would be like golf — if miniature golf obstacles grew out of the ground on the golf course.Foundation board member Tom Succop said Frisbee was considered as a fundraising game, "but we didn't think it'd be a good idea to have dozens of discs flying all over the place with people walking around."The idea is to get people to walk the trails, enjoy the wildlife, the flora and fauna. Croquet is ideal."Extreme croquet is even better."We're just using what nature gives us," Succop said.Preparation for the facility's debut of extreme croquet took months. Ryan Stauffer, a blacksmith on the grounds, handcrafted 100 wooden mallets.Each mallet took an hour to put together. The wood — which all came from fallen trees on conservancy grounds — was soaked in oil for a month to prevent cracking.
Special croquet balls, lighter than those used in a traditional lawn game, were ordered from a company in Canada."We needed to get balls that are indestructible — and these are," Stauffer said.Juliette Jones, a Slippery Rock University graduate this spring who was serving an internship at the conservancy, was called upon to design the four courses."My background is in environmental education, and they needed somebody to do the job," she said."I worked on this project for a couple of months. There was snow on the ground when I was walking around the trails, getting an idea of what I wanted to do."Obstacles include trees and tree roots. Some wickets were placed on top of slight slopes or right next to the base of a tree.
Some of the "fairways" are thin and run parallel to ponds. Fairways are anywhere from 20 to 150 yards long."We wanted to use all natural obstacles and highlight the unique ecosystem that's here," Jones said."The No. 5 hole on my course ... you can either hit the ball over a ditch of water or across an access road," Jim Cook of Edinboro said. "The wicket is on the side of a hill, facing the wrong way — it's diabolical."There were 30 three-person teams on hand to play in the fundraiser. Many of the players came from outside the area to support the conservancy.Three such players — Bill Covert of Saranac Lake, N.Y., Amy Succop Millin of Baltimore and Anne Succop Covert of Brookline, Mass. — donned shirts with their "team" logo designed by Bill Covert."I used sheep in the logo because our first initials spell out BAA. There's two mallets crossing each other with the red barn in the background," he explained."My grandfather's farm used to be here. I spent a lot of time here growing up."
"We support the conservancy because it's in the family," Anne Covert said. "These wickets are hard to get to, but the game is fun to play."Winning isn't everything in extreme croquet. Surviving the course with croquet ball intact can be just as satisfying.Cook completed his course in just under an hour and was the first player to do so. Jones estimates the average time to play a nine-wicket course is 90 minutes."I just got lucky," Cook said. "When your ball hits someone else's, you get another shot right away. That happened a few times."Hit it short, stay out of trouble. That's my golf philosophy as well. Hey, it worked."Placement of the wickets resulted in some frustrating shots for players. A ball would seemingly be set to come to rest directly in front of a wicket, only to roll down a slight slope."Wickets were placed by trees, over roots, on top of slopes," said Ethan West, who joined Nico Atkins and Adelaide Byrum as the first team to complete the green course. "I guess that's why they call it extreme."Matt Pruitt, a student at Purdue University serving an internship at PNC Bank, was playing because his company was one of the event's corporate sponsors.
"I've played croquet before ... but not to the extreme," he said. "The weeds and the woods definitely add some intrigue."The only strategy I've discovered out here is that if you're going downhill, don't hit the ball too hard."This is a unique way to spend the day and a great way to meet people," Pruitt added.One of the rules in croquet is if one's ball comes to rest against another, the player can place a foot on his ball to hold it in place while knocking the other ball well off course.No one seemed to have the heart to do such a thing on this day.Tracy Taylor, one of the Butler residents experiencing the game for the first time, said she'd play it again."It's unique; it's fun ... I thought it'd be easier," she said. "I'm still feeling my way through this."Others interested in exploring extreme croquet should call 724-586-2591 or visit succopconservancy.org for detailed information, schedules and rates.
