On a Thursday afternoon at the Creekside Amenity Center, the loudest sound isn't a driver off the tee. It's the click of mallet on ball, followed by someone groaning about a missed hoop. This is Wine N' Wicket, the weekly gathering that anchors the Grand Haven Croquet Club's calendar, and it runs on three regulation courts tucked behind a community better known for its Jack Nicklaus Signature Design golf course.
Most people who move to Grand Haven come for the golf. Fewer realize that just past the fairways sits a club with a 25-year membership history, a spot in a countywide league, and a roster that has quietly beaten nationally ranked players at tournaments outside Flagler County. The golf course gets the brochure photos. The croquet club built the community.
From Six Neighbors to a Waiting List
The Grand Haven Croquet Club started in 1999 with six members playing on courts at the Creekside Amenity Center. In 2024, the club marked its 25th anniversary, and by then membership had grown past 100. That kind of growth in a private, amenity-based hobby club doesn't happen by accident. It happens because the entry point is deliberately easy.
New members don't need to own equipment or know the rules going in. The club offers free lessons several times a year, taught by instructors certified through the United States Croquet Association, and mallets are furnished for beginners. Membership itself comes in two tiers: a Gold membership that pairs club access with USCA registration for those who want to play in sanctioned events, and a Silver membership for residents who just want court time and the social calendar.
That social calendar is where the club shows its personality. Beyond the weekly Wine N' Wicket sessions, the year includes a National Croquet Day celebration, a Halloween "Spook-tacular," a Battle of the Sexes tournament, and a holiday party that capped off 2025 on December 11. These aren't garden parties with mallets as props. They sit on the same schedule as USCA-sanctioned tournaments, and the club treats both with the same seriousness.
Vincent Marmo, a longtime club member who moved to Palm Coast from Long Island in 2004, once described the appeal of the game as a combination of "golf, billiards and chess." That framing explains why a rec amenity most residents drive past has produced a membership base deep enough to field competitive teams against other private clubs across Northeast Florida.
The League Nobody Advertises
Grand Haven's croquet rivalry isn't informal. It runs through the Flagler County Croquet League, a structure that pits Grand Haven against a small set of named opponents in home-and-away matches the club calls "Charger" matches.
| Opponent Club | Match Format |
|---|---|
| Hammock Dunes Croquet Association | FCCL Charger Match and social mixers, alternating host sites |
| Ponte Vedra Croquet Club | FCCL Charger Match and rally events |
| The Plantations at Ponte Vedra | FCCL Charger Match, typically early fall |
| The Florida Yacht Club | FCCL Charger Match, typically mid-winter |
The presence of Hammock Dunes on that list is worth pausing on. Two private communities inside the same corner of Palm Coast, known publicly for oceanfront golf and gated exclusivity, also send teams to face off on croquet courts. It's a rivalry that never shows up in either community's marketing, but it's been running long enough to have its own recurring rhythm on the club calendar.
Sanctioned, Not Just Social
The distinction that separates Grand Haven's club from a casual backyard game is USCA sanctioning. The club's Club Championship tournaments in both American Six-Wicket Rules and Golf Croquet carry that designation, and this year's Club Championship ran January 8 through 10. A few weeks later, the club hosted the Grand Haven Loggerhead Golf Croquet Open, a USCA-sanctioned singles and doubles event held February 5 through 8, 2026, on the club's three courts.
That event listing sits on the same national tournament calendar as clubs in West Palm Beach, the home of the National Croquet Center, the largest facility of its kind in the country and headquarters of the USCA. Grand Haven members have traveled there and held their own. In one widely covered trip, nine club members competed against 33 nationally ranked players and swept first and second place across three flights.
The club's roster has produced repeat winners at outside events for years, including strong showings at tournaments in Sarasota and as far away as Bald Head Island, North Carolina. Names like Nancy Crouch, Bill Todd, Marsha Cargill, and Jim Hester show up across multiple seasons of tournament results in local coverage, a sign that Grand Haven's competitive depth isn't built around one standout player but a bench that keeps producing finishers.
The Neighbors Behind the Rankings
Vincent and Antonia Marmo are probably the club's best example of how far a hobby can go. They moved to Palm Coast in 2004, the year four hurricanes hit the region in quick succession, looking to trade Long Island winters for Florida retirement. They didn't start playing croquet until 2006. By 2012, both had climbed into the Top 10 of their respective flights in the USCA's Grand Prix rankings, with regional championship wins to their names.
Their story isn't unique inside the club. It's the pattern. Someone retires to Grand Haven, takes a free lesson because a neighbor mentioned it, and a few years later is representing the community at a national tournament three states away. The Marmos themselves practiced three or four days a week to stay sharp, treating the sport less like a pastime and more like a second job they chose for themselves.
If You're Already a Resident
The courts sit at the Creekside Amenity Center and are open to all Grand Haven residents and their registered guests, not just club members. Reservations open one day in advance starting at 7 a.m. through the Sign-up Genius system on the community amenity site, or by calling the Village Center CDD office at (386) 447-0192 after 8 a.m. Courts that aren't reserved are first come, first served.
For anyone curious about trying it out:
- Free beginner lessons run several times a year, with mallets provided
- Thursday Wine N' Wicket sessions are the easiest entry point for a first look
- The club welcomes both Gold members who want USCA-sanctioned play and Silver members who just want social court time
- Regular Thursday morning clinics offer coached instruction for members at any skill level
None of this requires a golf handicap or a country club fee structure. It requires showing up on a Thursday afternoon.
What This Says About the Neighborhood
Grand Haven markets itself around the golf course, and that course earns its reputation. But the club that quietly grew from six founding members to a roster of national tournament winners tells a different story about what the community actually rewards: people who show up consistently, take instruction seriously, and build something with their neighbors that outlasts any one season. The rivalry with Hammock Dunes, Ponte Vedra, and the Florida Yacht Club didn't come from a developer's amenity list. It came from residents who kept playing long enough to need one.
If you're curious about what else makes this stretch of Palm Coast tick, from the amenities residents actually use to the details that don't make it into a listing description, the Goellner Team tracks Grand Haven and the surrounding Hammock communities closely. Reach out anytime you want the kind of neighborhood detail that only comes from paying attention.
