He is a skilled player at the classic game and won a New Zealand junior doubles title with Jim Ussher (Napier) in 1996 to prove his credentials.
But it was his first golf croquet tournament and he did not know what to expect when he started the New Zealand handicap golf croquet singles tournament for the Papakura Trophy on Saturday.
Smith (61), a technician in the physiology department at the Otago Medical School, had no reason to be apprehensive because he came through the tournament unbeaten with 10 wins.
Smith was followed by Richard Bone (Dunedin) with eight wins and Gretchen Benvie (Tauranga) on six wins.
Smith played with a handicap of four and had big wins against the elite of Dunedin croquet.
He beat June McDougal 7-3, Lynley Browne 7-3, Ann Sharp 7-1 and Mervyn Garthwaite 7-2. His most difficult games were against Bone 7-5 and the Tauranga combination of Graham Benvie 7-5 and his wife, Gretchen Benvie, 7-6.
"It's a completely different game to association croquet,'' Smith explained. "I carried over my old skills and just hit straight and aimed for the hoops.''
He admitted that he is still learning the tactics of the quick-fire game.
"I just tried things and they came off,'' Smith said. "I bounced the balls of other balls and they went through the hoop".
Retired Dunedin bookshop owner Russell Julian (74) won his first New Zealand title in orthodox croquet in the premier handicap singles for the English Rose Bowl trophy.
The Egyptian scoring system was used for the event Julian won with 113 points from his Forbury Park club team-mates Colin Browne on 111 points and his wife, Lynley Browne, on 105.
"I'm chuffed,'' Julian said. "Nothing went wrong and I felt as though I was walking on water. I got every roquet and hoop I went for".
His only loss was to top Dunedin women's player Ann Sharp 15-26. He beat Lynley Browne 26-21 and Nairn Smith 26-20.
Colin Browne's only loss was to his wife Lynley 16-19 and it cost him a possible New Zealand title.
