The short answer: St. Croix Polo Club is a small club in western Wisconsin, east of the Twin Cities, and it's where I had one of the most informative and creative lessons of my whole tour. For $80, I got an hour and a half of stick and ball with an instructor named Nacho, a change of horses partway through, and one cue repeated over and over: relax.
These notes come from my 2021 and 2022 tour, when I tried to visit every polo club in America as a playing USPA member. Seasons, contacts, and prices change, so check each club's Instagram or the U.S. Polo Association before you go.
St. Croix Polo Club at a glance
Where: Western Wisconsin, near Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Season: Summer into fall, like the rest of the upper Midwest.
What I paid in 2021: $80 for 90 minutes of stick and ball instruction.
Best for: Players who want focused, one-on-one work on their swing and seat.
Getting the lesson
It took some work. I emailed Laura and Nacho, called Laura (I couldn't even leave a voicemail), and sent an Instagram message. Eventually I got Laura on the phone, and we set up a Wednesday morning lesson with Nacho.
That's normal on the polo road. Most of my tour was emails, texts, voicemails, and Instagram messages before I ever saw a horse. It's a big part of why I'm building PoloFlow.
The lesson
Nacho was so kind, and it was one of the most informative and creative training sessions I've ever had. We did stick and ball for an hour and a half. Partway through, we changed horses. And over and over, he came back to the same two things:
"Relax, relax, relax."
"Bring the mallet higher. Higher."
I put those cues together with the rest of the coaching I got on tour in the best polo tips I got from coaches across America.
What to ask for in a polo lesson
Here's what made this lesson work, so you can ask for the same thing anywhere:
Enough time. Ninety minutes is long enough to work on something more than once.
More than one horse. We changed horses partway through. If your lesson is long, ask whether you'll switch.
A few cues, repeated. Nacho kept coming back to the same two things instead of trying to fix everything at once.
A fair price. $80 for 90 minutes was one of the best values of my tour. Compare it with what polo costs at other clubs.
Tips for visiting
Reach out early and more than once. Email, call, and message on Instagram.
Come before fall. On my tour, I missed clubs in Minnesota and Iowa because their seasons had already ended. See when polo season is.
For the rest of the region, see my guide to polo clubs in the Midwest.
Booking one lesson shouldn't take five messages. PoloFlow is the app I'm building to fix that. Polo, wherever you are. Join the waitlist.
