In search of the perfect mallet
Fenwick Elliott Mallets
www.insearchoftheperfectmallet.comNews
Soft Shaft
For most of us, the very direct, rigid, feel of our graphite shaft is one of the main reasons why we like them.But some players suffer from tennis elbow, or other conditions causing tender wrists or arms as a result of vibration. Our standard graphite shaft delivers much less "whallop" than a traditional wooden shaft, but does transmit more shock than a thin fishing rod style of shaft, as fitted to an RPM. And so we used to recommend that people with exceptional sensitivity should use an RPM shaft.
But there was rumbling out on the lawns. There were those who wanted it all: the benefits of a profiled shaft as well as the comfort of a soft shaft.
Enter the resouceful Po-Wei Liao, whose company helps us with our manufacturing, and who also has huge experience with other sporting equipment. He suggested using the same technology as is now used in composite baseball bats to reduce shock transmission, by changing the direction of the fibres between impact point and grip point. So we tried making prototypes, using a softer glass fibre instead of our usual carbon fibres, and tested them. It works. And so the first batch of soft shafts is on order, and will be available very soon. The new shafts will look just like the regular ones, but will have an "S" mark on the them. They are the same price as the regular ones.
For those who like a rigid feel, these shafts will feel pretty floppy. For those with sensitive wrists or arms, it will be like slipping into a pair of sheepskin slippers after a day in ski-boots.
The Last Three Hoops
Here is a video of Alix's last three hoops, by kind permission of Chris Clarke.
Alix said
First World Championship
Well done to Alix Verge, who has just won the Women's Golf Croquet Championship, using her Fenwick Elliott mallet, in Victoria.
This photograph, and the one on our welcome page, by kind permission of Ken Payne,
Mornington VIC.This is our first world championship. Perfect.
Australian Open
The Australian Open has just finished here in Adelaide. Our team was out in force: Robert, Gavin and Wayne were all playing. Wayne made the cut, and did well until being very narrowly beaten 2-1 by a do or die 30 yard roquet from Miranda Morgan. Gavin did well in the plate: Robert having been too busy to get in much practice at all, did not. It was gratifying to go the Hutt Road (the South Australian Croquet Association's equivalent of Twickenham) and see that of the 12 players in action on the lawns at that time, half of them were using our mallets. Which was a lot more than any other marque.
Win in Belgium
Congratulations to John Swabey, for winning the Croquet Federation of Begium golf croquet tournament at Bergkoning with his Series 4 mallet at the end of July.
13th August 2009
Perfect Mallets in Japan
It is good to see croquet being enjoyed in Japan, especially when players are using perfect mallets. Here are Shinichi Abe and Koji Moriyama with their recently aquired mallets.
18th June 2009
Mallet Head Covers
We
now have some neoprene mallet head covers for sale; see accessories.
1st June 2009
The World Championships
Several
of our mallets have been out on the lawns at the World Championships in
Florida. We wish all the players well, but especially the
ones
with perfect mallets.
14th May 2009
Super Advanced
The Brits are trialling a super advanced variation of the rules, which involved adding an additional lift hoop (4), and additional "super lift" and banning the superstart opening. The new rules are here.
Adelaide
will be an early runner - the first Australian invitation event using
the new rules starts at Norwood Croquet club on Saturday evening this
week.
23rd March 2009.
John Riches and Wayne Davies Croquet Booklets
We are now distributing the
excellent croquet booklets by John Riches and Wayne Davies; see booklets
page.
- 12th January 2009
Captain Bow
Congratulations to Gavin Bow, our General Manager, for his appointment as captain of the South Australian Golf Croquet Team.
27th August 2008
Wayne Davies appointed as US Agent
Wayne Davies, the former real tennis world champion and now pro at the Westmoor Club in Nantucket, has been appointed as our agent for USA and Canada. Some stock is on its way to him, and he will be able to supply American customers more promptly, and without any customs intervention.
See Wayne explain the rudiments of the game on video.
24th June 2008
Ian Plummer Comments
Dr Ian Plummer, author of the Oxford Croquet site, has been testing the Series 4. His comments are on the What they say page.
The World Championships
Congratulations to
Chris Clarke, for winning the World Championship for the second time.
And also to Michael Wright, who followed up his recent 4th in the recent NZ Opens (see the What they say... page) with a final 16 performance, using his recently acquired Series 4 mallet. Michael's recent scalps thus now include Reg Bamford, Aaron Westerby, Bruce Fleming and Peter Landrebe.
11th February 2008
Eels
Mark
Oliver Everett, leader of the Eels, has the right sort of attitude for
a rock star. He was quoted the other day as saying, “I hate sport –
except croquet. That’s a real man’s sport.”
15th January 2008
A New General Manager
We are really sorry to say that Bryan Ewart-Searle, who has done a great job as General Manager over the last year or so, has been forced to give up the role in face of the weight of his other commitments. Thanks, Bryan, for all your hard work.
Happily, Gavin Bow has agreed to
take over, and has already started taking over the task of keeping the
wheels turning.
3rd December 2007
O-rings
One or two people have found that the alignment spline has not been enough to keep the shaft in line with the head, and maybe have been wrestling with their Allen keys a bit hard! We have started supplying 0-rings, which you slip over the shank before the head, and that seems to fix the problem. Contact us if you would like one.
28th November 2007
A Where On Earth page
We are selling into yet more countries. For a list see a new page.
15th November 2007
A Quotes Page
We thought it might be helpful to include some comments from people who have been using our mallets, so see the new What they say page.
If you are prepared to share your experience, please email us. We will try to be reasonably balanced, but that does not mean, Mrs Trellis, that we will automatically include anything you say... It may well be tempting fate to launch this page on Fireworks Night, but hey ho.
5th November 2007
Production humming along...
We are pleased to say that the production delays which plagued us in the early days seem to be behind us; we have stock and can supply pretty much anywhere in the world - expect delivery within about a week. So far, we have delivered to Australia, Canada, England, Monaco, New Zealand, Spain and the USA.
30th October 2007
End caps
The original end caps we supplied were designed to sit inside the shaft, and maybe the material was a shade brittle, since one or two people found that they cracked. The ones we now supply fit around the outside of the shaft, and the material is a bit softer.
If anyone has got one of the cracked old ones, and would like it replace, please contact us: we will replace it free of charge.
30th October 2007
Caps
We
have some FEM baseball caps for sale; see the Accessories page for
details of these caps, and also some news on where we are going on some
other accessories.
15th October 2007
At long last!
We are really pleased to say that, after what seems like an eternity, production is now rolling out. The first consignment promptly sold out, the second has arrived and is now mostly sold, and the third is on order.
So far the feedback has been pretty much universally positive, and the early teething problems seem all to be fixed.
Orders may be placed with Gavin Bow; see contacts page.
All this new production is of the narrower 2¼ inch head, see the specification.
5th September 2007
A roll grip?
We made the fatal error on our specification pages of remarking that no one had ever found the need for a roll grip, including the fate-inducing remark, "Bring it on Mrs Trellis".
There is a user who has since remarked on the Nottingham List that he has put some grip tape around the lower part of the shaft.
Well, there you go. One of the many merits of the croquet world is its well-cultured anarchy! We still do not recommend it; we think it is like fitting leather bonnet straps onto a modern sports-car.
1st September 2007
3rd July...
A production shipment including shafts and 20 heads is due to be shipped to Adelaide on 3rd July, with the balance of heads on 10th July. These initial runs should hopefully be enough to supply all those of you who have been so patiently waiting.
27th June 2007
Nearly there...
Our
production team said today:
"We have been going smoothly on the shafts"
and are working on out urgent request for 5 sets by way of final sample
"We will push the heads when the new sample is tested to be ok and send those 5 sets out asap. So please hold on."
2nd February 2007
Production News
Production is still not quite there.
The prototype Series 4 heads were approved a while ago. We are happy that they work as designed, and the early reliability problems seem to be well sorted. The shafts likewise work well without any significant hitches.
Our heads are certainly rather more complex than anything else on the market, and the materials used in them are relatively expensive. This means that, in order to produce them at a price that is not significantly greater than any other mallet, we have gone for production in South East Asia. The facility chosen is based in Taiwan, with a factory in PRC, and they have been working hard with out R&D people to fine tune their production methods to match the prototypes. This fine tuning includes shifting from a foam core to a pre-preg pressure bag system of manufacture that is quicker, more efficient and more exact (which is good, since it means that shaft weight and chassis weight can be reduced even further) but it has been taking longer than expected - much longer than expected - to iron out the production methodology issues. They say that they are nearly there now...
Meanwhile, the prototypes are still winning
Tim Murphy has won his ACA Bronze medal with his reworked short-run Series 4 mallet, and so will be representing NSW in the next Australian Gold Medal. Meanwhile, he has kept his hand in by winning the Z knockout at the Australian Open Singles in Sydney, leaving more than one MacRob Player in his wake.
In South Australia, Harley Watts has won the CB Sharpe Gold Medal with his now well-used prototype Series 4, joining the ranks of the successful competition sextuple players in the process.
14th November 2006
And elsewhere...
Bill
Grimsdale
has won Masters First Flight singles and also the combined
First
Flight doubles at the The Seniors & Masters in
See also News Archive
