There are a number of different techniques that you can use to find suitable petanque terrains in your city or county.
Dedicated facilities
One of the best ways to find local dedicated facilities is to find local clubs. That means looking for local petanque clubs.
Non-dedicated facilities
If you can’t find a dedicated petanque facility, you’re not out of luck. Unlike many other sports, petanque does not require a dedicated facility. Possible terrains include —
- a suitable patch of ground in your local park. See some pictures in our post on open terrains.
- areas around the outside of a baseball field at your local high school or public park. See our post on night play at the baseball fields.
- a gravel walkway in a public park
- a gravel parking lot
Some community or country-club facilities have many bocce courts, not all of which are fully used. It can’t hurt to approach the administrator(s) of the facility about re-purposing one of the bocce courts as a petanque court. The worst that can happen is that they say NO.
Places NOT to play
An unused and abandoned bocce court can make a great petanque terrain. The same is true of an abandoned clay tennis court, an old baseball infield, or a running track at a closed school. But be careful and be considerate. Bombarding a patch of ground with metal petanque balls will damage it for its original purpose. So use such facilities only if they are CLEARLY abandoned and no longer used for their original purpose. Don’t assume that a facility is unused simply because YOU never see it being used. If it is clean and in good repair, it is probably being used by somebody.
All About Petanque 