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This stroke is used when you want to hit both the striker's ball and the croqueted ball to a specific destination.

Aussie Croquet. In the process of evolving Aussie Croquet to Association croquet, I introduce the split shot into the game as a hoop approach stroke. Up to this stage the player has started with the original one ball version, then to roquet-croquet-continuation with the Take Off. With the Take Off they will have found that often, when having just gone through a hoop, there is not a ball waiting on the other side of the hoop for them to hit and continue a break.
So when the player is becoming familiar with roquet-croquet-continuation with the Take Off, I will stop a game at hoop 2 when there is no ball waiting on the other side and bring the problem to their attention.
I will then introduce the stop shot approach to the hoop into the game, teaching the concept of placing the striker's ball BEHIND the roqueted ball to direct that ball forward and the concept of aiming the strike of the mallet to produce the intended pathway of the striker's ball. The game then resumes with the take off and the split shot as a hoop approach.
This way the player learns the valuable stop shot approach to the hoop first before rolls are introduced.

The Split Croquet Stroke has four elements to it:
1. Aiming the croqueted ball
2. Aiming the mallet to produce the direction of the striker's ball
3. Deciding the ratio between the two balls
4. How hard to hit the stroke

1. Aiming the croqueted ball.
With striker's ball in hand, stand behind the roqueted ball facing the destination you want the croqueted ball to go. Then walk up and place the striker's ball behind the roqueted ball (see photo).
The striker's ball propels the croqueted ball through its point of contact with that ball regardless of what part of the striker's ball is hit with the mallet. Try it out:

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With upright stance strike red in positions (a), (b), (c). Notice that generally blue will be propelled along the same pathway which is the direction that red points blue through its contact point.

(a) Goes exactly straight ahead. You can have fun using this fact to propel the croqueted ball through a hoop as in (d) called peeling blue. This can score the hoop for blue if the hoop is the one blue is due to go through. In (e) blue can be shunted (croqueted) onto the centre peg, which happens at the end of a game when both balls have scored their 12 hoops and both need to hit the centre peg to finish. Black pegs out in the following continuation stroke.

In (b) You will notice that, because the mallet is striking red to the right, blue will be pulled slightly to the right by red in the stroke and in (c) slightly to the left by red because the mallet is striking red to the left.

So, once again to be really accurate you have to allow for the pull on the croqueted ball by aiming the croqueted ball slightly in the opposite direction to the likely pull.

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Aiming the striker's ball.
Not as easy as in the Take Off (where the striker's ball proceeds toward its destination because of where the right angle or arrow is set) because it is where you aim the mallet that determins the pathway of the striker's ball in the split shot. So....

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Aiming the mallet in the split shot.

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The pathway of the striker's ball is determined by where the mallet hits the striker's ball. The mallet hitting the ball SPLITS the two balls into two equal pathways like a knife splits an orange in half - one pathway to the right and the other to the left. So in the diagram above, the arrow is the direction aimed by the mallet. The blue ball has travelled the pathway predicted in 'aiming the croqueted ball'  above, and the yellow ball has split off to the left as equally as blue has angled to the right.

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Deciding the ratio between the two balls.

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How hard to hit the stroke.
Once you have determined the direction of the croqueted ball, the aim of the mallet and the ratio of the stroke, you need to concentrate on the strength needed to place the striker's ball accurately - see the 'Priority Principle' below. Repetition of the strokes will gradually build the right strength of hit into your muscles.

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The Priority Principle.
This important principle states that in any croquet stroke the striker's ball is the most important ball because, unlike the croqueted ball, wherever it ends up will determine whether you will be able to hit another ball or run a hoop to enable you to continue. It is the ratio you choose that will look after the croqueted ball. If the striker's ball is in position and the croqueted ball not, you stay alive. If the croqueted ball is in perfect position and the striker's ball is out of position, your turn will probably end.

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