The 2011 North Carolina Club Teams was both familiar and new. The setting was familar — the beautiful high mountain valley of Linville, home to this tournament for fourteen of its sixteen years. The atmosphere was unchanged too — spririted competition, yet fun, sociable, and relaxed. But while many NC Club Teams veterans were in the field, there were more new faces than in many years. And, largely because of those new faces, the tournament had a new winner for the first time since 2003.

Six clubs entered a total of thirty-one doubles pairs. The Club Teams format rewards participation, and as usual the eight-time defending champion Meadows Mallet Club sent a strong contingent, ten pairs well distributed across the four flights. But they were evenly matched by High Country, a confederation of the three Linville-area clubs. Pinehurst had six pairs, Stoneridge had three, and Etowah and Fearrington one each. Notable by absence: Bald Head Island, one of the larger clubs in the state, twice winner of the tournament.

With five lawns available the blocks were finished by the Saturday lunch break, even using only five playing periods per day. This allowed nearly all pairs to advance to the playoffs. But block games were still important. The Penwell Trophy competition awards points to the top four finishers in each flight, so high playoff seeding is valuable. Also, block results are used to determine which losing semifinalists get third place.

The three smallest entries — Etowah, Fearrington, and Stoneridge — harbored no illusions about winning the Penwell Trophy. So instead they held their own competition for the Pineola Challenge Cup, an unofficial consolation event started as a joke in 2008, when most of their players were staying at the Pineola Inn. Stoneridge retained the dubious honor yet again.

First Flight block was the first to finish, gaining a head start on the quarterfinal round. Meadows pairs earned the #1 and #4 seeds, while High Country pairs claimed #2, #3, and #5. High Country won all three of their quarterfinals, guaranteeing they would outscore Meadows in this flight.

By the time the First Flight quarterfinals finished, playoffs in the remaining flights were ready to start. Third Flight was dominated by High Country, with five of the seven pairs entered, and they earned three of the top four playoff seeds. However, a mild upset in the #4 vs. #5 quarterfinal kept one of these pairs from reaching the semifinals. This gave Meadows a chance of outscoring High Country for the flight, despite being outnumbered five to one.

The situation was nearly reversed in Second Flight, Meadows outnumbering High Country four to one. They advanced three pairs to the semifinals, guaranteeing a flight win (Penwell Trophy scoring is six points for winning a flight, four points for second place, two points for third, and one point for fourth).

High Country players David Maloof & Steve Johnston went through the Championship block undefeated to earn top seeding. They were the only High Country pair in the flight; Meadows earned the #3, #5, and #6 spots. With #3 and #6 meeting in the quarterfinals they could advance only two pairs to the semifinals, which they did.

By the end of play Saturday, Meadows had a guaranteed 15 points while High Country had at least 16, practically a dead heat. But the seeding favored High Country in three of the four flights. They were certain to outscore Meadows in Third Flight, possible point spread ranging from five to eight points; they would pick up another one to five points in First Flight. Meadows had the edge in Second Flight, but here the possible point spread was immense, from one to eleven points. And Championship flight was wide open, possibilities ranging from a three-point advantage to High Country to an eight-point pick-up for Meadows.

The Sunday 8:30 round put High Country over the top. Every match affecting the balance went High Country’s way, giving the locals a certain twenty-five points and limiting Meadows to a maximum of twenty. Meadows players Jeff Brinkley and Tom Yates salvaged the day for their club, winning the First Flight final over High Country players Bill Hartmann & Mark Kaylor. The game opened with Yates holding back yellow at #1; Kaylor attacked to set Hartmann for a break. Hartmann’s break included a cannon on yellow to push it away from easy position, and an attempt to position partner at #2. But it ended with a failed penult hoop, an easy pickup for Brinkley, and deadness problems for Kaylor and Hartmann. This gave the Meadows pair the edge for a 16-12 win.

Arguably the top performers of the day were Pam Johnston & Michael Grasley. The only High Country pair in Second Flight, it was up to them to limit the potentially large point loss to Meadows in this flight. This they did to the maximum, beating the only two teams to have beaten them in the block, and winning the flight to push the High Country total even higher.

As in all the other flights, the top two seeds in Championship Flight advanced to the final. Maloof, the High Country summer croquet pro since 1999, was easily the most consistent player of the tournament; Johnston did his share with many fine attacks and breaks. Jeff & Eileen Soo had lost only to Maloof & Johnston in the block, their success largely due to Eileen Soo’s steadily improving performance despite little practice or play in the past nine months.

Eileen Soo made the first attack, rushing black from corner 4 to within a few feet of the treacherous corner 3. Johnston played red to corner 1, and Jeff Soo started his three-ball break. He straight-peeled blue at 2, then picked up red after 2-back, leaving blue a few yards out of the corner. A bad approach to 4-back ended the turn with a failed hoop and opponent deadness.

Maloof played yellow to 2 to set a break for Johnston. Eileen Soo took the thirty-yard shot at black and roqueted to steal the break. After scoring 1-back she positioned partner at 4-back, but a long approach to 3-back led to a stuffed hoop. Johnston hit and rushed ball-to-ball to score 2, but failed 3.

The Soos, each dead on opponents, regrouped in corner 1 with a rush for Eileen Soo to 3-back. Maloof then played a massive pickup, scoring 2 off partner, rushing to south of 5, taking off to corner 1, rushing to 3, and finally taking off from well north of 6 back to the ball just out of corner 1. A reasonable split and rush to 4 and the rest was trivial by comparison. He peeled partner and went round to the peg.

Eileen Soo had an open twenty-four-yard shot on black at her hoop, but a miss would give Johnston an easy four-ball pickup. With about twelve minutes left on the game clock the Soos opted to corner, hoping Johnston’s turn would end with time still on the clock. His three-ball break turned ragged after 6, but he managed two more hoops, just enough to get to last turns and a strong defensive leave, croqueting yellow off the lawn next to blue in corner 3.

Jeff Soo took a gentle shot at the thirty-five yard double target, hoping at least to interfere with Maloof’s yellow, last dead on black. The shot missed on the wrong side to block yellow, but close enough to give Maloof a hampered stroke as he attempted to destroy blue and get to the peg. He faulted, grazing black with his mallet, and Eileen Soo now had a less-than-desperate chance to tie or win. She under-cut the rush to 3-back, nearly rushing yellow out of bounds, and her long roll-up to the hoop left a tough angled shot. This failed, giving Maloof & Johnston a 20-17 win and putting the exclamation point on High Country’s victory.