Fenwick Elliott Mallets

I am absolutely delighted with the new head. Two tournaments have tried it out and I am now nearly adjusted to the different playing style. I finished 3rd and 2nd in each tournament, losing to only Kevin Beard, Simon Watkins, Ian Bassett and Rod Kirk. These losses were either by only one hoop, or two hoops, or in 2 cases I made a good nine but my opponent hit, then tripled, or made 9 but I missed the leave. I finished a triple in this weekend tournament- at last! Last weekend I completed 3 peels but missed at 3 back.
I love having a stopshot! Breaks are so much easier when most of the croquet shots are drives or stopshots. It is also easier to load hoop 2 while holding the rush on the hoop 4 ball for hoop 1 after the 2-4 leave is missed. Everyone is interested in the mallet...Thank you, thank you for suggesting I try the new head.

Tricia Devlin, Victorian State Team

2nd June 2008

I just received my replacement mallet...the heaviest model, which is still noticeably lighter than my previous mallet...and I had the opportunity to compare them side by side yesterday for about an hour or so. It was a rare chance to give a fair comparison, as I had played with the old one for a couple of weeks exclusively, then played solely with the previous mallet for another 2 weeks.

There is little doubt to me that, at least for the way I hit, the clear winner is the Elliott. The lighter one was great, but the heavier one is even better as I can now do rolls much easier without sacrificing the roquet at all. This is what I determined

• using a pendulum swing from the shoulders, firm wrists on the back-swing, and striving to follow through flat and low in the line of the object ball

o Elliott model stays unbelievably straight. The mallet head did not waver at all, either before or after hitting the ball...which is the most noticeable thing that I have found (what I am saying here is that I automatically can keep the mallet head straighter...why I don't know..perhaps it is also due to a 12" head)

o upon contact, you can slightly "loosen" the left hand...which allows the mallet to follow through much lower using a Solomon grip. With the previous mallet this same thing causes disaster, as any slight miss-hit causes the mallet head to move a lot. Also, this technique usually makes the right hand dominate too much, causing the ball to go to the left. Not at all with the Elliott.

• The previous mallet better for long rolls as you would expect...but only significant for the Hogan and 4th corner cannons

• My split shot technique was exactly the same for both mallets. With the lighter Elliott I had to allow for a wider angle

• Stop shot was only slightly better with the Elliott, again as I would have expected

All in all, as long as this mallet stays in one piece, I will be using it!

Wayne Davies, Professional, The Westmoor Club, Nantucket

1st June, 2008

1). Firstly the narrower head looks good - the previous wide head was different but did not seem to offer any merit unless it was a strength issue.   

2). The stylish contouring of the sides of the Series Four head makes foot sliding awkward, since the contour could allow the mallet to slip as part of the shoe entered the voids.  Fortunately the new Laws (http://www.oxfordcroquet.com/laws/6th/full/6th-amended.htm, due to take effect on 15th March 2008 in the UK) will ban foot sliding: 

 "28. FAULTS DEFINITIONS Subject to Law 28(d), a fault is committed if, during the striking period, the striker: touches the head of the mallet with his hand, or slides the mallet along his foot or leg to guide it;" 

3). I think I have mentioned before that I like to put one knee on the head of the mallet when sighting peels using parallax. This was no problem on the flat ends of the mallet and the force to the head is not great - it is just to stop kneeling in the mud! 

4). The head does make a clack when striking the ball but I found after a few strokes I did not notice it.  It likely has more effect on the opponents! 

5). Head quality - the finish is fine, no rattle!  I did for a time wonder how parallel and square the faces were, due to an accident of resting a face on a non-flat surface and noting a rocking.  I have long been amazed at the capability of the human body to hit a remote ball lying within a 1/10 degree cone (well, if you are Reg or Robert!)  With the mallets I made, I milled the faces after assembly to ensure that they were right and square.  Using what I have available I could not detect any deviation in the flatness of the Series 4 faces. 

6).  Face material.  I was pleased with the faces.  Although there is some ancient anecdotal evidence of putting water, honey and oil (private communication) on mallet faces to see if the surface friction had any effect on croquet strokes, I have direct evidence from my own experience. I had a prototype Pidcock square wooden head with brass faces and found it impossible to play pass rolls. With a near identical mallet with Tufnell/fibreglass face plates - no problem.  I resolved the issue by asking Alan for some fibreglass faces and glued them to the brass.  I regained my pass roll.  I note that the rules say that you cannot use anything which gives you an advantage over wood - it says nothing about the converse. 

7). The shaft was stiff and gave a light sting to the hands on hard shots.  There was no noticeable twang as with whippy wooden shafts. 

It was comfortable to hold and, after an initial novelty, the square area at its base was fine for roll shots.  I still have to experience holding the bare shaft when it is wet. The sting could be alleviated by using a foam tape rather than leather wrap.  I am intrigued by your idea of using an O-ring between the shaft and the head. I can see this giving a small amount of nodding to the head, but would be surprised if the effect was major.  I do recall other manufacturers putting a plastic collar between the shaft and the head for the same reason.  The square plastic plug at the top of my shaft for some reason fractured, 10 o´clock to 6 o´clock, but responded to a dab of superglue. 

8). Head weight.  Recall, I moved from a medium to a heavy head. This certainly suited me on the slow (9 Plummer) lawns at Surbiton and assisted my hitting-in (my weak point).  I need to develop my hard hitting since currently I am only accurate with light shots and hence suffer on indifferent and slow terrains.  I will also have to see what stop-shot production is like on a fast lawn with the heavy head.  I had no difficulty executing the full range of croquet strokes and the only complication was knowing how much `pass´ on a roll to expect. 

Well, in summary a fine mallet as evinced by me completing a triple in my first practice of the year - being watched by some higher handicap players.  They probably thought that four attempts at getting the penult peel was normal! 

Dr. Ian Plummer, Balliol College, Oxford University,  author of the Oxford Croquet site

8th March 2008

Thanks for the O-rings you sent me a couple of weeks ago. They certainly did the trick! No more mallet head rotation while I play.

The Malliot performed perfectly during the NZ Open, chalking up wins over Reg Bamford and Aaron Westerby. I stumbled at the last fence (Robert Fulford) but managed 4th overall for my first Malliot-equipped opens.

Michael Wright

23rd January 2008

Since Robert started making mallets I have been testing them for him and have found that the newest model is the best one so far, hopefully he will develop them more until he comes up with a mallet that you just can't miss with.

I have found that with my mallet, I need less effort to hit your ball the length of the court, and I generally hit a bit straighter when I don’t quite middle the ball.

There haven’t been many shots that I have played where there is jarring, mostly when I miss hit the ball, which can be a problem for other mallets with rigid shafts.

After using my RFE mallet for the last 2-3 years, I can't see myself ever using any of my old mallets again.

Harley Watts, Australian MacRobertson Shield Player

28th November 2007

The Fenwick Elliott is certainly the best mallet I've ever used. I credit my new Fenwick Elliott mallet with helping me recently win a quite significant tournament and lower my handicap. I recommend them to players at all levels, because mine has certainly helped improve my results. In fact I recommend them even to the beginners I coach as it's a false economy to start with a cheap but inferior mallet. Established players should at least try one; I found mine improved my game significantly.

Bill Lawson, SACA-accredited Coach, Norwood Croquet Club, Australia

28th November 2007

"I am very excited to have one of your mallets as a part of our club. Just great news.... I personally believe that your series 4 is an excellent mallet for the taller players."

Doug Moore, President New York Croquet Club

13th November 2007 (we are donating one of our mallets to the NYCC pool of mallets for new players to try)

"I just purchased two Fenwick Elliott Series 4 mallets: one heavy, and one light.

"I play in Hawaii, rather than England; but I found that the Series 4 head is so efficient, that the light Series 4 mallet takes less effort than my Alan Pidcock 2001 mallet.

"The efficiency also results in almost no impact being transmitted back up the handle. Its hard for me to even feel when the head impacts the ball.

"I would not worry about the Series 4 mallet being too light. In fact, I would recommend the lightest model."

Leo Nikora; Maui Croquiet Club, Hawaii

31st August 2007, posted on the Nottingham List