From a recent posting by Reg Bamford on the Nottingham Board:Here are some observations - and some interesting sequences of play - from the Egyptian Open in 2005:
1. They ALL play with an Irish grip. I didn't see one player with a Solomon or Standard grip (and this included watching the final stages of a local competition). I suspect that this is because they haven't been exposed to these other grips, or that they are simply taught the "Egyptian way" when they learn to play (even though that learning process only takes about 3 minutes). I don't believe that this Irish Grip, though, gives them any sort of advantage over someone player with a Solomon or Standard.
2. They ALL hit the ball VERY hard, with the exception of Salah who is very much a "touch" player. This also manifests into shot selection - he'll rather lag up than shoot.
3. With the exception of Khalid, their mallet shafts tend to be about 3/4 the length of a "normal" length shaft. If we assume that the ideal length of the shaft results in the top of the shaft coming up to the height of one's wrist when standing upright, then theirs may come up to the tips of their fingers (i.e. theirs are about 6 inches shorter).
3. With the exception of Khalid (who grips near the top of the shaft), they all tend to grip quite low down the shaft. Most start their stance with their grip a third of the way down the shaft, and then just before they start their backswing, they lean forward, and drop their hands lower down the shaft. The result is that they end up gripping about half-way down the shaft. This allows for a very whippy action, with the result that they can strike the ball very hard. In one game, I saw a Walid scatter shot bounce off another ball, and take-off high into the air. It went like a bullet over the 4 foot perimeter fencing, and fly - head high - between two spectators sitting next to the court. Very serious injuries would have occurred if it had struck one of them on the head. Normally, players will warn spectators of their intention, and it is not uncommon to see spectators being asked to move away from the line of a shot.
4. Many of them have interlocking, or overlapping, fingers in their grip. Take Ahmed Nasr (the current World Champ) as an example. Imagine that you interlock your own fingers, with your palms facing upwards. The shaft will be squeezed between the middle fingers and the ring fingers so that four fingers are in front of the shaft, and four fingers behind. Then squeeze the palms together around the shaft. The two thumbs rest against the front of the shaft.
5. None of them "cast" over the ball. This may be because they've never been exposed to it, or because they're concerned of the risk of flicking the top of the ball while casting - deemed a shot in GC.
6. They ALL insist on the hoop being firmly in the ground if a hoop shot is attempt. They will ask the ball-boy or referee to knock the hoop further into the ground (or even do it themselves with their mallet) before they attempt a hoop shot. This is quite contrary to what AC players do (and prefer?). Personally, I've always found that loose hoops are easier to run, but there may be a specific GC reason for their practice.
Another area that I'll comment on is their supposed ACCURACY:
Their top players ARE accurate, but I believe that fundamentally they're just as accurate as AC's top shots are. However, you cannot dispute that Egyptian GC players have raised the stakes in what is considered as good shooting vs what is considered as great shooting. When they are playing well, the 8-yard hoop shot (I believe this to be the definitive shot in GC, and a benchmark of accuracy. It's a shot you've got to make consistently) is played with 80% success. For an AC player, that may appear unimaginable - top AC players may consider a 5 yard hoop shot at around 50%(?).
Let me relate to a sequence of shots in my quarter final game against Ahmed Nasr: I had won hoop 6 with BLUE. He took position in front of 1 back on the boundary (a standard play, given that he then can't be scattered) with RED. I took position alongside his ball on the boundary with BLACK. He then played YELLOW to between 1 back and 2 back(!). I then tried to block his RED ball by taking position in front of 1 back with BLUE. He then ran 1 back with RED. I took position at 2 back with BLACK. He ran 2 back with YELLOW(!). I then took position in front of 3 back with BLUE (on the boundary). He does the same with RED. I then learn my lesson, and play BLACK to between 3 back and 4 back. He does the same with YELLOW. I then run 3 back with BLUE. All in all, 4 hoops in 12 shots.
Let me relate another sequence of play in the same match - but a different game. I run hoop 3 with BLUE from the boundary, and fortuitously run hoop 4 in the same shot(!). Ahmed takes position at hoop 5 with RED. I take position at hoop 5 with BLACK. His YELLOW ball is on the South boundary 5 yards East of the mid-point (he got to this position by scattering one of my balls at hoop 3). He runs hoop 5 with YELLOW(!). I take position at hoop 6 with BLUE. Ahmed runs hoop 6 with RED to the boundary(!). I go to the boundary in front of 1 back with BLACK. YELLOW takes position between 1 back and 2 back (2!!). BLUE takes the same position. RED shoots at 1 back from end of B baulk (where it finished up after running hoop 6, and almost runs the hoop (!!!). BLACK runs 1 back from the boundary. 4 hoops in 6 shots, and 5 hoops in 11 shots (but so nearly could have been 10 shots!!). Now this wasn't a practice game - it was a knockout match in a money tournament, and the primary source of income for Ahmed who is a croquet pro. For the record, I got my revenge on Ahmed, winning 7-4, 7-2. Very sweet revenge, I must add, after my 7-6, 7-6 loss to him at the Worlds.
I strongly agree with Stephen Mulliner's assertion (made in a previous posting) that continuous shooting during a game of Golf Croquet DOES increase one's accuracy. The continual shot-making enables a player to "find" his swing and get it "grooved". I can also relate this to my own experiences in practice. My practice routines do not vary, and I've used them for the last 3 years: 16 shots on a swing trainer, 16 8-yard hoop without the trainer, and 16 shots at the peg from the side boundary. I do around 10 such circuits during a practice session, and nothing else. At the start of the session, my success % for the 8-yard hoop shots will be around 30%, and my peg shot % will be around 40%. By the end of my practice session, my 8-yard hoop shots will be around 95% (my best is 32 in a row) , and my peg shots will be just under 100% (my best is 64 in a row). So here's the lesson: you can ONLY achieve those sorts of % at the END OF A PRACTICE session, and not at the beginning. And if you transfer this theory to the courts, you can only reach your "purple patch" during, or at the the end of, a game of GC. That said, I'm currently working on one or two ways of replicating this at the BEGINNING of a game of GC or when taking the lift shot in AC. It will involve some sort of mental conditioning and a mild form of self-hypnosis (which I've used successfully in the past), but it's still work-in-progress.
