Pub Golf

Paul over at The Real Ale blog has posted about an encounter with screaming hordes of enthusiastic pub golfers. Pub golf is a great game that will see you wildly pissed in a short period of time. It was a firm favourite with my Rugby mates back in the day and one that I would like to get involved with at some point in the future. It just makes a pub crawl that little bit more exciting! I have copied the unofficial rules of pub golf below. We used to set the benchmark as 9 holes, with every hole a par 3, 45 minutes per hole. Each 'stroke' would be a 'middie' (which is 285 ml, same as a half pint). If you kept on par, you would have had roughly the equivalent of a case of beer over roughly 7 hours - plenty enough to guarantee a good night at (insert dodgy local nightclub here) .

Pub Golf:
1.Overview and basic rules:
Pub golf is a sport, much like normal golf, that takes place over 9 or 18 holes. It can be played by any number of players and each player has the option of using a caddy. The target of the game is to end on as few strokes as possible.

2. Terminology:
Hole – A pub/bar/somewhere that serves alcohol.
Stroke – A sip/gulp of the beverage
Par – The guideline amount of gulps a drink must be downed in.
Eagle – Ending the hole two under par.
Birdy – Ending the hole one under par.
Bogie – Ending the hole one over par.
Water hazard – An establishment whereby the players are allowed to visit the toilet. (optional)
Pro – A person partaking in the actual drinking game.
Caddy – Someone who fetches the drinks for his/her pro. (usually a member of a Jnr Rugby side in our case)
Bunker Coin – A marked 20 cent coin that stays with the players throughout the night (starting with a random player). To bunker coin someone the player throws the coin into the targets drink, the target must immediately down his current drink in one gulp. The target then becomes the bunker coin controller.
Scorer – The person in charge of keeping the scores.

3. General Gameplay:
The planners of the event must organise a course of 9 or 18 holes (ensure that you have enough time to get round them all!). It is advisable to set a time limit for time spent in each hole. For every hole two drinks should be decided on, both drinks must be of the same strength and volume eg. A pint of lager would equate to two vodka and cokes. Try to make the two drinks cover the majority taste of your party, so not a choice of two different pints of lager!

4. Rules:
All drinking must take place in front of at least two other pros in the group, including the scorer. Every stroke must be recorded, this includes every possible scenario eg. Penalty drinks and accidental sips. Any caddy caught helping a pro in drinking their drink at that hole will instantly cause the pro to end the hole on a score of seven. The bunker ball may only be used once per hole, if there are more players than holes then an extra bunker ball may be introduced. Any player caught being sick is instantly dis-qualified from the game. Cheating is viewed in a very dim light and any action taken by a player that is perceived by the other players as cheating will result in a hole score of seven. Any player spilling their drink must go and get a refill immediately, if a player spills another persons drink then they must get the refill and drink it themselves. There is also a one stroke penalty for either of these scenarios. The group must all stay together at all times. Any player unable to finish their drink at a hole will end the hole on a score of seven.