Mallets and the small world of polo

So we killed our polo mallets, literally. On mine, the mallet head is disintegrating while Manjeev’s broken in several places. Nick and Dan mentioned that there happens to be a well reputed mallet maker in the neighbouring town. We were pretty surprised since we are in the middle of nowhere but it was a perfect opportunity. We drove to Wood Mallets’ workshop, about 15 minutes out of the small town of Waipawa. The workshop is in the middle of…fields. Basically, there is no chance you’d ever find it if you didn’t know it was there. 

The owner told us that he was processing a big mallet order for several players at the Singapore Polo Club, some of whom we personally know. What a sales pitch - the fact that players in Singapore come all the way to him. We didn’t need much more convincing. 

Polo mallets are traditionally made out of cane. The specific cane required used to be easily available but since it takes on average 70 years to grow one stick the world is now running out of them. With this cane becoming rarer more and more players are switching to mallets made from fibre instead. Initially, fibre mallets weren’t as popular because when connecting the ball they don’t absorb the shock as well as cane mallets but they are getting better with time and as technology improve. All this to say we have officially switched to fibre mallets. I’m delighted with the change, the mallets feels (is) much lighter and precise but Manjeev is not as convinced (yet at least).