I haven't played croquet since I was a kid, but thought it might be a fun game to have now that I live in a home with a yard large enough to better enjoy the game with visiting friends or relatives, so after considerable review of various sets....shocked at the prices of some until I kept reading....I chose to go with this set from GoSports. Between having nice long handles and what looked to overall be a lot of positive reviews, I decided it would be best to NOT spend a lot for the game until I know I'm going to enjoy it. Quite often, I tend to buy higher-end products from what I initially considered, and was very tempted to go with one of the Amish-made sets, or one from North Meadow. I like the idea of an 8-player set, but those are hard to find, hence why I liked the Amish sets. Again though, better judgement told me to not to overboard at the start, so I went with this set. My initial impression? Simply carrying the delivered box inside, I was already wondering "Is this a full croquet set?", as it seemed surprisingly light. I'd not paid attention to the 11.8 pound shipping weight, which is an obvious clue that this is a lightweight set, but upon looking at other sets on Amazon of similar style (carry bag, 6-player), I found many are even lighter, but the Triumph All Pro (shorter handles, larger mallet heads), North Meadow Scottsdale, and Hathaway Deluxe sets all appear heavier. I overlooked the Hathaway set at the time of this purchase and it may well have been a good mid-tier set to go for. When I opened the box for this GoSports set, I really mulled over for a while whether to remove the plastic-wrapped parts or just ship it back. After a bit more comparison to other sets and seeing that, again, for this price range they are quite similar, I carefully cut open the plastic wrap around each of the handles, mallets, and balls so as to remove a single item of each, assemble it, and take it outside to try a few hits. First things first...while the set is lightweight and each assembled mallet weighs a mere 1 pound, the mallet does feel better in hand than I expected. There is enough weight there to perform what feels like a pretty solid strike of the ball. The head size is only 1.8 inches in diameter, which seemed small but appears well-matched to a 3-inch diameter ball. The ball itself weights 9.35 ounces, that number sounding lighter than it really is. My mental perception of weight is apparently not very good! The ball felt substantial enough, so between the assembled mallet and ball weights actually in hand, I was feeling better about my purchase. This was confirmed once I laid the ball down in the grass which probably was about 2 inches tall. With a good, solid strike, I probably hit the ball about 18-20 feet, and that too seemed reasonable. A few more strikes were similar and I did feel that with practice, I'd get a good sense of how to play the ball. In the process however, I must have had a glancing strike on the ball, as I found it to already have a divot in it (see provided photo) showing that the balls in this set are not especially durable. Hit the balls clean and square, and they appear to take the hits well, but they do not stand up well to what might be called a "chip shot". I'm assuming higher-quality balls, pricier ones, will take the abuse better, so here you are probably getting what you pay for. Regardless, I still dock the product 1 star for the reason of the balls not being as durable as I feel they should be. The provided carrying bag is of canvas, appearing to be perhaps vinyl coated on the inside to give a measure of protection from moisture. The bag is quite ample in size and could likely carry two, fully-assembled croquet sets if so desired, keeping in mind the set is relatively lightweight, so even a 22-lb bag should be manageable. Nothing is provided for secondary storage of either the wickets or balls, so you're on your own there. I found a long rubber band is quite adequate for the wickets, while an old, thick and long hiking boot sock works great for the balls, the sock folded over at the top end with a rubber band to hold it closed. I found no problems in the assebly of the mallets and handles....all items were in good condition with no obvious cracks, and the handled tightened securely into the heads without causing the wood to spli. While GoSports makes no claim to this being a product made in the USA, their warranty states "GoSports is a US company with US customer support 100% satisfaction guarantee", so just be advised that this product is clearly labeled on the box as "Made in China", if that concerns you any. Overall, this is probably a good croquet set for the money, that should hold up well enough to decide whether you want to go for a more premium, expensive croquet set at a later time.
