World’s Largest Croquet Center in West Palm Beach
The National Croquet Center in West Palm Beach is the largest croquet facility internationally. The National Croquet Center is located at 700 Florida Mango Road, West Palm Beach. It consists of four acres of lawns, croquet courts and a 19,000-square-foot clubhouse. The facility can accommodate as many as 600 players and their mallets. The uniqueness of the sport and lovely facilities are a great option for gatherings.
The origins of croquet are a little cloudy. A woman, known as Miss McNaughton, observed what she referred to as “peasants” in France playing a game. The was with hoops made of willow rods and mallets of broomsticks inserted into pieces of wood. She brought the concept of the game and introduced it in Ireland. From Ireland the game traveled to England around 1851.
The game evolved from paille-maille, a French game in which running a mallet-driven ball through a hoop or hoops to touch a peg as a goal. The game of croquet is a somewhat more complicated than paille-maille in that it involves a series of six or more hoops laid out in a pattern, which had to be run in a specified order. It became a popular American backyard game. Croquet was, and still is, one of the few outdoor sports where men and women compete on an equal footing.
Give croquet a try. If you want to learn to play croquet at the National Croquet Center, you can go up to two times (total) for free “Golf Croquet” lessons. Lessons are offered at the facility every Saturday morning at 10:00 AM. For more information please call the National Croquet Center at (561) 478-2300.
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