Good morning!
I am writing this from my casita in Phoenix ... back home after a wonderful week in Palm Springs.
The wind was kicking up on my flight back and I got a 20 knot tailwind. Can I consider this as a "clean air" carbon reduction? My gas bill was 20% less.

I enjoyed the tournament in spite of my loss to Rich Lamm who played wonderfully.

I missed seeing the plate finals between Carl and Gino. I suspect that the 19 point game was quite interesting. Carl played spectacularly well whenever I watched him playing and even during practice games, he seemed happy as a clam playing on the wonderful lawns at Mission Hills. His only comment was that his jump shots were not too good, but I suspect he got them to work before the end of the week or managed a way not to have to employ them.

I would like to thank everyone for their help in setting up court strings, half-way pegs and for picking up the court. All games started on time.

As tournament referee, I would like to also thank you for your patience and willingness to learn some of the new Golf Croquet rules (as well as myself). I encountered very few contentious players and everyone willing to try to get it right.

The one ruling which seemed to attract the most calls was (and will likely continue to be) "playing the wrong ball".

The commentary at the end of section 10 seems to be useful in clarifying what is meant by the wording "playing partner ball" and I wanted to go back and check with the folks that had a copy of the "yellow" USCA rulebook whether it contained the commentary sections. The "blue" GC rulebook by The Croquet Association has the commentary clarifications.

For example, in a game of singles, if yellow is to play and "the striker" plays red instead of yellow, then the non-offending side chooses whether to "replace and replay" or "ball swap". In the first case, red is replaced and yellow plays the striker's correct ball. In the second case, the striker's turn is over, the red and yellow balls are swapped, and the owner of the blue ball is now the striker.

Prior to the striker playing a wrong ball, the opponent (or referee, if present) should forestall play. And after playing a wrong ball, the opponent (or referee, if present) should forestall play until it is established how play should continue. The rules are unclear as to whether the crowd may forestall play ... and after a week of play, we all felt obliged to correct the strikers absent mindedness.

I see nothing in the rulebook which would indicate that the "ball swap" option should only be used when multiple "wrong balls" have been played. The "ball swap" option is not be used: when the striker plays an opponent ball, or if his partner (in doubles) plays an opponent ball or the correct ball to play but not his ball. In the first case, it appears to me that rule 10.5.4 may apply if multiple turns have taken place with opponent balls, otherwise the ball is replaced and the correct striker ball is played. In the second and third cases, 'replace and replay' apply.

I ruled incorrectly on one case which I believe rule 10.5.4 applies. Pat had played blue (an opponent ball) followed by Mike with yellow (also an opponent ball). I was called out to referee and after sorting out that two opponent balls had been played, I ruled that ball swap was an option and that red was the correct ball to play. It seemed a acceptable solution, but after the day's play, I re-read the section of the rule book and found that the correct ruling was a "penalty area continuation".

In this case, a coin is flipped, and the winner chooses which ball to start play, while the loser chooses which penalty spot to play all four balls from. The players then lag up to and continue play to their next wicket.

As this type of error could go on for some time, this does seem to be a reasonable way to "restart play and continue".

Paul Bennett