Cape Town-born Reg Bamford was crowned British GC Open Championship for an astounding 13th time on Sunday.
Bamford beat England’s Jamie Burch in the championship final at the Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club in Devon.
Bamford, now 57, confirmed on his LinkedIn profile page that there “was still life in this old dog”.
“I won my 13th British Open GC croquet title this weekend!
“After a five year drought, some extra time spent on my new Swing Trainer paid dividends.
“Eight of the players in the last 16 were under 30 years old, so the competition is getting fierce.
“There’s still life in this old dog – my 50th year of playing this great game!” Bamford concluded.
Swing Trainer
The Swing Trainer that Reg Bamford referenced is still in its development stage and isn’t yet available to the public – but is coming soon.
It’s the first of three croquet products – the others being a high-spec mallet and an aiming target device – that he hopes to make available to the general public before the end of the year.
The purpose of the Swing Trainer is to groove one’s swing through repeated use – the key to continued success in any sport.
Bamford’s brief to his design/manufacturing team was to create a Swing Trainer that achieved four requirements:
- Weighed no more than 5-7kg
- Could be assembled in under 5 minutes
- Could be transported easily (including on an international flight)
- Was so beautiful you wanted to lick it!
Bamford was thrilled to confirm that they’re close to achieving all four!
The Swing Trainer will go into production once the new modifications have been tested (an updated prototype is coming in the next couple of weeks) and when they’ve ironed out their supply chain.
Bamford expects that it will then be available for sale – to individuals and clubs – by the end of 2025, making for the perfect Christmas present.
Those interested are urged to view the links below:
- An explanation and description: Click HERE
- Hitting 8 balls in the Swing Trainer: Click HERE
- Hitting 16 balls after using the Swing Trainer: Click HERE
Sporting success
Bamford has successfully juggled elite-level sporting success with high-level entrepreneurship for the last three decades.
His name is synonymous with world croquet, having first competed at the highest level in the mid-1980s.
Bamford remains the only player to have won both versions of the World Championships (Golf Croquet and Association Croquet) and held both titles simultaneously in 2013.
Bamford has won the Association Croquet World Croquet Championship five times (2001, 2005, 2009, 2012 and 2020), and the WCF World Golf Croquet Championship twice (2013 and 2017).
He has won the British AC Open Championship 12 times – and the British GC Open Championship 13 times now – the premier events in the UK of each code.
He was ranked 29th in the 100 Best Sportspeople in the World for the year 2020 by Sports Pedia.
‘AmaCrockoCrocko’
Earlier this year Bamford captained the South African national team to a creditable sixth-place finish at the World Team Croquet Championships Tier 1 in Tasmania in Australia in February.
The main aim for the team was to avoid a relegation battle for eighth place – and that they managed to achieve in fine style.
As a result, ‘AmaCrockoCrocko’ will remain in the Tier 1 top division for at least another four years.
Sable International
Off the sporting field, Bamford is a qualified Chartered Accountant having completed his articles at Deloitte South Africa in 1992.
Now based in London, Bamford went on to establish Sable International, a multi-service firm helping expatriates with financial, immigration, and property services across three continents.
The company currently employs over 200 staff globally.
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