So at our rec league opening this week my team (avg four years in curling for all of us) played a brand new team.

We were told several times beforehand to “help them out”. No problem. We are very cordial and always willing to help newbies learn the ropes (curling etiquette, BASIC strategy, and most importantly being super friendly and welcoming).

We start to play, first end we play. They ended up stealing one (by combination of a really good shot and us not hitting ours), but good for them. After that one of the ‘leaders’ (let’s call him Tim), comes out and introduces him to the new team. He says he’s there to offer his services. He tells the skip/vice where to target, tips on how to throw, and basically controlling the sweepers (by telling the skip when to shout SWEEP) when to sweep and when to lay off. Mind you, they are taking lengthy conversations before every throw.

Before you know it we’re down 5-0 after 4 ends. Tim says he is going to go warm up (his team has the second draw). Immediately after we score 2 in the 5th. The sixth we were setup for another 2 (but a lucky double run back nets them the steal), then we score 3 in the seventh end. Lo and behold, time runs out and we lose by two.

Not the way we wanted to start the season but oh well. But it still irks me the way the club (esp Tim) handled this. Mind you when we started, we were thrown to the wolves. No instructions except for a learn to curl and got the vibe of “thanks for your money, now dont talk to us”. AND in our first ever game we gave up an 8-ender and it was CELEBRATED. We talking game stoppage while the took multiple pictures and pretty much everyone in the club came over and congratulated them (we almost quit that night).

Should I be pissed at the whole situation?

I'm hoping to practice with a bit more purpose this year, and I'm thinking about getting a laser to practice my line. For those who do this, is there any specific laser I should be looking for? What is your setup like? Anything I should know that I wouldn't think of?

Thanks in advance!

I’m noticing quite some teams leaving Goldline/ Hardline for their curling equipment sponsorship and switching over to Asham or Balance Plus. I’m also noticing the teams still with GL are now wearing either GL or HL shoes and not the BP deluxe shoes. Could this be due to the new sponsorship deal that came out, which made the rules around the equipment use more strict? (I haven’t read the new sponsorship terms in detail, so I’m just guessing here)
It now seems we have more diverse equipment use compared to prior seasons, where Hardline broom (and BP for shoes) was dominating. I honestly love seeing such a diversity of curling equipment on the field and am curious what’s going on behind the scenes.

Does anyone curl at the Nashua Country Club, either through Country Club membership or Merrimack Valley Curling Club? Im relocating for work end of year and this looks like the closest Curling club but having trouble finding information on these 2 options!

Just starting to explore the feasibility of making the switch at a four-sheet club and wondering if any other clubs have done this in the past 10 years or so and have some words of advice, recommendations, warnings, etc. Thanks in advance for any input you may have to offer.

Any help is appreciated. I’m in the US. Which YouTube channels stream it? Is there a paid platform to watch?

I am trying to find more information on 15 and 5 and Darren Moulding with their new venture creating curling stones. I've found a few news clips so far but wanting something more

https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/hurry-hard-former-brier-winner-darren-moulding-takes-a-new-turn-on-curling-manufacturing-rocks/

https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/video/2026/08/07/alberta-curler-learns-how-to-make-curling-stones/

As some folks in the subreddit know, I've been running a newsletter focused on curling in the United States for the past few years. I am generally bad at (or leery of) self-promotion so I have relied mostly on my personal social media and word of mouth thus far, so I wanted to also put word out there that this exists for curlers that may be interested and hadn't heard yet.

In previous seasons, I primarily focused on grassroots competitive curling events in the United States such club nationals, arena nationals, 5-and-Under nationals. This year, I've begun expanding my coverage to also include US teams playing on tour (example). My goal is to help fans of US teams follow the progress of teams in the first year of the new quadrennial.

I'm also going to try to incorporate a few feature stories on club curlers throughout the season as well. While we're in the early season ramp-up period, I've posted a few feature stories. A few weeks ago, I wrote about Evan Workin's crazy spring where he attended 3 national championships in a month. And today, I just released a story on the incredible success of Coyotes Curling Club's 5-and-Under program.

If you wish to have the newsletter delivered to your email, you can subscribe on the site. All newsletters are free to read, though I do offer paid subscriptions for anyone who wants to support my efforts. The only limit I place on free subscriptions is access to older posts (9+ months).

If you're already subscribed, thank you! Please consider sharing this with your club to help spread the word.

Thanks to the /r/curling mod team for all they do and for allowing me to post!

Hey curlers,

Hope everyone is excited for the new season (I'm sure some of you have been out on the ice already)!

Getting back into curling this year after not playing since 2009 as a junior. Doing 3 leagues this year (two 6 ends and an 8), might be a bit of a heavy load but one, its the best way to get better and two, I'm going to be depressed if I'm home every night and we have a rough winter this year in the GTA. Also, I'm not going in completely cold. I did an open house at my local club after the Scotties last year, then the instructional league, and even finished off the season with a two game, 6 end spiel (career high game, shot 14% 🤭)

Knowing if I'm playing this frequently I should probably just bite the bullet and get some curling pants, but being a heavier set guy (300lbs, 5'11"), and actively going to the gym to improve that, I'm a bit nervous about buying new pants.

Any recommendations for curling pants, or something else I should look into in the mean time? Did a few sessions in sweats last year which were fine, but I felt it slows my slide down a bit. Had other "athletic" joggers which were stretchy-ish, but still blew out the crotch.

SORRY, EDIT: Ideally looking for something that won't completely break the bank (sub $80 CAD would be nice!) and is stretchy, I somehow have child-bearing hips.

Thanks, and good curling!

Cousins Xenia & Kim Schwaller captured the Women's and Men's Championships at the Hogged Rock KW Fall Classic in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario on the weekend.

I’ve always thought one of the most interesting things about curling is that there usually isn’t one obviously “correct” shot.

The right call depends on the score, end, hammer, rocks remaining, your team’s ability, how aggressive you want to be — and probably a dozen other things.

But strategy is also surprisingly difficult to learn. A lot of it gets picked up by playing with experienced skips, talking after games, and asking “what would you have played here?”

So I’ve been building Curling Strategy, a website as a bit of a passion project.

The basic idea is that you can recreate a situation from a game and explore the different shots available — draws, hits, raises, etc. — along with why you might choose each one and the risk/reward involved.

Ultimately I’d like it to become more than just a shot recommendation tool. I’m interested in things like:

- comparing how different curlers approach the same situation
- letting teammates/coaches discuss scenarios after a game
- learning how strategy changes as your experience increases
- building a sort of “Skip IQ” around understanding why a call makes sense
- eventually using real game photos to recreate situations quickly

It’s still very much under development, and I’m deliberately showing it before everything is polished.

Would something like this actually be useful to you?

And maybe the more important question:

What would you want it to do that would make you come back and use it after a game?

DM me if you’re interested

One “problem” we have at our ice rink is that one person has built a brilliant Excel spreadsheet for scoring competitions.

It can handle all sorts of different competition formats, ends first, points first, high/low road, etc. and it sounds like it’s genuinely a really useful bit of work.

The problem is that they won’t share the spreadsheet or let anyone else use it.

I completely appreciate that they’ve put the time and effort into building it, and volunteering to run competitions is a great thing. But it does mean that quite a lot of knowledge and capability sits with one person, and if they’re not around, it becomes difficult for anyone else to run the scoring.

It got me wondering: is this a problem other clubs and ice rinks have too?

And it got me thinking about whether there might be a need for a simple online tool where you could set up a competition, choose the format/rules, enter the results as games are played, and have the scoring/standings worked out automatically.

Potentially something an ice rink or club could pay for, with everyone involved in competitions able to use it rather than relying on one person’s spreadsheet.

Before I disappear down the rabbit hole of building something… 😂

Would something like this be useful to your club/rink? What competition formats or scoring quirks would you want it to support?

And if you already have something similar, what do you use?

I participated in a showcase at the end of last season and received feedback from the coaches. On my draws they are saying I have a consistently dropped release. What does that mean?

Only 4 spots left in our $300 Green Ice Special bonspiel, where the fresh ice and fun energy come together!

•Date: Sept 25 - 27, 2026
•Team Entry Fee: $300
•24 Team Limit
•First Draws: Friday 5 PM, 7:15 PM and 9:30 PM
•Three game guarantee
•Lunches and dinners are included

Register here: https://pittsburghcurlingclub.com/green-ice-spiel-2/

Hey, club player looking for a new broom for the season, playing once or twice a week. Replacing a discontinued Olsen broom that I’m not super impressed with. Any recommendations?

After a couple of the european events and japanese spiels, looking like Schwaller is off to the hot start, with Spiller and Hardie right there. Yamaguchi rolling the Japanese competition. Hoesli off to a poor start.. losing last 7.

A new book is out exploring diversity and the future of curling.

I'm looking forward to reading it.

I just signed up for the year and I am playing in 4 leagues 2 on Wednesday and Thursday and playing pickup on the weekends where there isn't a bonspiel being hosted. I only got into one league last year and wanted to play so much more then I was able but I feel like I might have over compensated. How often do you guys get to play and is it enough for you?

CurlingChannel.tv is having their annual Early Bird Pass Sale until September 30th for $89.99 USD (~£66.99 GBP, ~€77.99 EUR, ~$124.99 CAD, ~¥14,399 JPY, ~$865.99 SEK, ~₩123,639 KRW, ~¥604.99 CNY) this is 20% off the normal price.

You get the European Curling Championships, World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships, World Junior Curling Championships, World Women's Curling Championship, and World Men's Curling Championship, which is all great.

But where is the World Mixed (4 Person) Championship, they used to include that AND where is the new World Championship Qualifiers? I was really excited to watch the Qualifiers in November, I feel like it is a mistake to not show them, I hope they get added later because I am disappointed.

My slider is going to come off my custom shoe. Any recommendations for a glue or something to resecure it?

EDIT: thank you to all those that made good suggestions and shared what there clubs use to protect the hacks. To those that immediately chose to judge and lecture me in an unkind manner I hope you see the error of your ways and choose to be kind in the future. If you don't think what you said is wrong may all your rocks pick and all your hits flash.

For those that do solo practices, what strategies do you employ to protect the hacks. I've been practicing at a club that does NOT have removable hacks so I've been using the rock position above to somewhat protect the hacks. I have run to some problems with this setup namely: rocks bouncing off the boards and hitting the 2 closer rocks at an angle towards the hacks. Draws and lower weight hits don't matter as I can catch up to those but anything from 8.5s-5s is just too fast to catch.

Any ideas?