When Jackie and Fred Jones moved from Newport RI to Venice, FL, they convinced the developer at Waterford to pay half the cost of a croquet lawn. Jackie and Fred started playing and teaching at Waterford and from that humble beginning, in the early 1990s, the Sarasota County Croquet Club was born. In the early 2000s, Jackie worked with local government officials to enter a joint venture with the newly formed club to use some “dead space” in nearby Wellfield Park to build croquet courts and have them maintained by the county. 

Now, 20 years later, the Sarasota County Croquet Club has completed its second major expansion. We now have 7 full-sized courts. We are the largest public croquet club in the country and, one of the largest croquet clubs in the United States. We are the site of numerous national competitions and recently hosted our first international competition. We remain true to Jackie’s original social values: For her, the social aspect of croquet is the glue that binds the club together. For many of our members, the club is the center of their social lives. For others, it is the venue at which they have achieved national recognition for their croquet skills. We also actively support local youth programs and teach croquet to the next generation of players.

We are club maintained by volunteers, not a country club. We are a club dedicated to croquet and to promoting an active, healthy lifestyle for members of the community which we serve.

Even though the members support the maintenance of the facility, we remain open to the public and give free instruction to guests and all our members. Our membership, more than 240, is drawn from the local area as well as all over the US and world

SEE YOU ON THE CROQUET COURTS SOON

Our club runs on volunteers. We are not a country club with a paid staff which sets up courts and waits on its members.

We estimate that our volunteers put in 6000 or more hours every year serving our club through their volunteer efforts. That translates to the equivalent of three full-time employees. If we were to hire three full-time employees, our dues would soar to over $1000 per member per year. Dues of that level would drastically change the nature of our club.

We need everyone to pitch in.  Volunteering is a great way to meet new friends while helping our club. Please let any of our board members know if there is an area in which you would like to volunteer.